Evidently... John Cooper Clarke

Last updated

Evidently... John Cooper Clarke is a 2012 television documentary about the life of the Salford performance poet John Cooper Clarke. It was directed by John Ross and produced by Scotty Clark and was first aired on BBC Four in May 2012 as part of BBC Four and BBC 6 Music's "Punk Britannia" season. It features testimonies from Bill Bailey, Pete Shelley, Paul Farley, Steve Coogan, Mark Radcliffe, Craig Charles, [1] Plan B, Kate Nash, Alex Turner, Miranda Sawyer and Paul Morley; [2] and poems by Clarke including "Things Are Gonna Get Worse", "Evidently Chickentown", "Twat" and "Beasley Street". [1]

Contents

Critical reception

John Crace, writing for The Guardian , described the documentary as "a film that dealt in myths rather than reality" but assessed Clarke as "still clever, funny and relevant." [3] Mark Monahan in The Daily Telegraph wrote that the programme "veered too close to comfort towards hagiography" but "was nevertheless perhaps a fair reflection of the affection with which [Clarke] has been widely regarded." [4]

Related Research Articles

John Cooper Clarke English poet

John Cooper Clarke is an English performance poet, who first became famous as a "punk poet" in the late 1970s. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he released several albums. Around this time, he performed on stage with several punk and post-punk bands and continues to perform regularly.

Great Ormond Street is a British television documentary series. It was first broadcast on BBC Two on 6 April 2010. Each episode focuses on a different department at the Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children in London.

This is a list of events that took place in 2011 related to British television.

<i>Twenty Twelve</i>

Twenty Twelve is a BBC television comedy series written and directed by John Morton. Starring Hugh Bonneville, Jessica Hynes and Amelia Bullmore, the programme is a spoof on-location mockumentary following the organisation of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. It was first broadcast on UK television station BBC Four in March 2011 to coincide with the 500-day countdown to the opening ceremony.

Evidently Chickentown Poem by John Cooper Clarke

"Evidently Chickentown" is a poem by the English performance poet John Cooper Clarke. The poem uses repeated profanity to convey a sense of futility and exasperation. Featured on Clarke's 1980 album Snap, Crackle & Bop, the realism of its lyrics is married with haunting, edgy arrangements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal</span> Sexual assault allegations against English media personality

Jimmy Savile (1926–2011) was an English media personality who, during his lifetime, was well known in the United Kingdom for his eccentric image and was generally respected for his charitable work. He was knighted in 1990. In late 2012, almost a year after his death, reports surfaced that Savile had sexually abused hundreds of people throughout his life, with alleged male and female victims, ranging from prepubescent to adult, following a 2007 police interview and 2008 allegations by The Sun. Savile often came into contact with these alleged victims through his creative projects for the BBC and his charitable work for the National Health Service (NHS).

<i>King George and Queen Mary</i>

King George and Queen Mary: The Royals who Rescued the Monarchy is a 2012 British documentary series produced by the BBC. The programme premiered on BBC Two and consists of two episodes, each an hour long. The first episode, King George V, premiered on 3 January 2012, and the second, devoted to Queen Mary, premiered on 4 January 2012. Rob Coldstream produced both episodes, and Denys Blakeway served as the executive producer of the series.

<i>Hestons Fantastical Food</i>

Heston's Fantastical Food is a television cookery program starring chef Heston Blumenthal which broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK during late 2012. The programme follows Blumenthal as he supersizes a variety of food for presentation to members of the public.

<i>Inside Claridges</i>

Inside Claridge's is a British documentary television series that first broadcast on BBC Two on 3 December 2012. The final episode aired on 17 December 2012. The series documented a year behind the scenes of Claridge's, a five-star hotel located in Mayfair, London.

Fox Wars is a British documentary that was first broadcast on BBC One on 22 October 2013. The documentary is about foxes in Britain, and shows people's stance on foxes.

<i>Britains Great War</i>

Britain's Great War is a British documentary television series that broadcast on BBC One 27 January 2014. The documentary series is presented by Jeremy Paxman and was produced by the Open University and BBC Productions. The series shows how World War I affected Britain and its people. The series leads the BBC World War I centenary season.

<i>Supermarket Secrets</i> British television series

Supermarket Secrets is a British documentary television series, presented by Gregg Wallace, that first broadcast on BBC One on 4 July 2013. The series shows how British supermarkets make and move the food they sell. A new series started in 2019

<i>The Whale</i> (2013 film) 2013 television film

The Whale is a British television film that was first broadcast on BBC One on 22 December 2013. Terry Cafolla wrote the film about the Essex incident in 1820, which also formed the basis of Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick. The Whale was also broadcast on Animal Planet in the United States during the summer of 2014.

Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond is a 2014 British miniseries of four instalments detailing the military career of James Bond creator Ian Fleming. The somewhat fictionalised biography spans the period from 1938 to 1952, dwelling on Fleming's romantic adventures as well as his espionage for the Royal Navy. Actor Dominic Cooper stars as Fleming, while Lara Pulver plays his love interest, Ann O'Neill.

<i>Benefits Street</i> British documentary series

Benefits Street is a British documentary series broadcast on Channel 4. It was first aired on 6 January 2014, and ran for five episodes. The show was filmed by documenting the lives of several residents of James Turner Street, Winson Green, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom, where newspapers reported that 90% of the residents claim benefits. It shows benefits claimants committing crimes, including a demonstration of how to shoplift, and portrays a situation in which people are dependent on welfare payments and lack the motivation to seek reliable employment.

Francesca Hayward English ballet dancer and actress

Francesca Hayward is a Kenyan-born English ballet dancer and actress. She is a principal dancer in the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden in London. In 2019, she starred as Victoria the White Cat in the musical film Cats, an adaptation of the stage musical of the same name.

Michael Palin in Wyeth's World is a 2013 British documentary film directed by Eleanor Yule and featuring Michael Palin. It is about the American painter Andrew Wyeth and the people who inspired his paintings.

Tom Service British classical music presenter and journalist (born 1976)

Tom Service is a British writer, music journalist and television and radio presenter, who has written regularly for The Guardian since 1999 and presented on BBC Radio 3 since 2001. He is a regular presenter of The Proms for Radio 3 and has presented several documentaries on the subject of classical music.

References

  1. 1 2 Green, Thomas H. (31 May 2012). "Evidently... John Cooper Clarke, BBC Four". The Arts Desk. Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  2. Ellis, Geoff. "Evidently – John Cooper Clarke". Radio Times . Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  3. Crace, John (30 May 2012). "TV review: Evidently John Cooper Clarke; 24 Hours in A&E". The Guardian . Retrieved 31 May 2012.
  4. Monahan, Mark (31 May 2012). "Evidently: John Cooper Clarke, BBC Four, review". The Daily Telegraph . London. Retrieved 31 May 2012.