Frank Skinner's Opinionated | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Presented by | Frank Skinner |
Opening theme | "No Bulbs" by The Fall |
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 3 |
No. of episodes | 18 (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Producer | Avalon Television |
Running time | 30 minutes |
Original release | |
Network | BBC Two |
Release | 16 April 2010 – 15 December 2011 |
Frank Skinner's Opinionated is a British television comedy talk show hosted by the comedian Frank Skinner and produced by Avalon Television for the BBC. The show focusses on various topics in the previous week's news, with Skinner joined by two celebrity guests, also interacting with the studio audience. Each half-hour episode is filmed in a different location around the country. It was first shown on BBC Two, with a first series of six episodes broadcast from 16 April 2010, and a second of six more beginning on 25 March 2011. The third and final series began broadcasting on 10 November 2011.
The show is a studio based light hearted talk show focussing on events of the past week, with a large amount of audience participation while also having supporting film clips. Skinner opens the show on his own, and in the opening piece outlines what the general themes of the night's show will be. The two celebrity guests then enter the studio, and they proceed to discuss those topics in more detail, with Skinner guiding the discussion and inviting questions and comments from the audience, some of whom are pre-selected to talk about a specific topic.
The two celebrity guests each week are all primarily known as or having originated in stand-up comedy, in addition to other regular appearances on comedy or light entertainment television. Some have appeared on more than one episode. The show has featured:
A pilot for the show was recorded in December 2009 at BBC Television Centre in London. After the first series was completed, two more series were commissioned. [1] Due to the nature of the series, filming of each episode occurs in the days just before broadcast. As such, when promoting the upcoming second series on the BBC's The One Show , Skinner could only refer to film from the previous series.
The studio set consists of just a red sofa and chair, with Skinner sitting in the individual seat, and the two guests on the sofa. The show is filmed in various studios around the UK, with the location also forming part of the discussion topics. Across the three series, Skinner visited Epic Studios in Norwich, Waterfront Hall in Belfast and regularly visited Dock10 at MediaCityUK, Greater Manchester. Other filming locations included Glasgow, London and Maidstone.
Each series contains 6 half hour episodes, broadcast weekly in the 10pm slot on Friday nights on BBC Two. The first series ran from 16 April to 21 May 2010. The second series began on 25 March 2011 and finished on 29 April 2011.
# | Title | Guests | Location | Original broadcast | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1.1 | "Episode 1" | Miranda Hart and Al Murray | London | 16 April 2010 | |
Topics included plastic surgery, Frank's "lightbulb shaped" head, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton and Dennis Avner (Cat Man); the forthcoming election, class and Prescott: the Class System and Me ; marriage, Elizabeth Taylor's possible ninth marriage and Kerry Katona; speed dating, ophidiophobia (fear of snakes), with the audience including famed speed dater Joseph Ireland, an elocution coach and a woman who set the 2000 Guinness World Record for most cosmetic procedures – 47. | |||||
1.2 | "Episode 2" | Dave Gorman and Laura Solon | London | 23 April 2010 | |
Topics included binge drinking; infidelity and snooping on partners and neighbours, rear view sunglasses; the postponement of the 23rd James Bond film; the air travel disruption caused by an Icelandic volcano, with the audience including a publican, two volcanologists and an air stewardess. | |||||
1.3 | "Episode 3" | Lee Mack and Sarah Millican | London | 30 April 2010 | |
Topics included spiritualism, the increase in ghost sightings; dieting, the Obamas favourite chocolates and Beyoncé's maple syrup diet; driving, White Van Man – the rudest drivers, driving tests; and Gordon Brown's bigotgate election gaffe; with the audience including a dieting woman who lost 10 stones 6 pounds in 13 months, a worker at the reputedly haunted Hampton Court Palace and Tower of London, and Professor Richard Wiseman who studies unusual phenomena. | |||||
1.4 | "Episode 4" | Sarah Millican and Al Murray | Norwich | 7 May 2010 | |
Topics included the renaming of Norwich Union to Aviva, the American grandmother Pearl Carter's incestuous relationship; lying, snooker player John Higgins, common lies; beauty, Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba on Vanity Fair , strange crushes, the stress of relationships; and laughter and World Laughter Day; with the audience including Miss England Katrina Hodge, an expert on lying Glenn Wilson, a woman who fancies Ian Beale, and a Laughter Yoga instructor. | |||||
1.5 | "Episode 5" | Jason Manford and Karen Taylor | Manchester | 14 May 2010 | |
Topics included football, the forthcoming World Cup, Wayne Rooney, Manchester City and Manchester United; the new coalition government, Sky News bias, Lembit Öpik's resemblance to a banana; protesting, anti-war demos, the Greek Riot Dog, Leila Deen's attack on Peter Mandelson; sleep disorders and odd positions, sleepwalking and narcoleptic dogs; with the audience including a Plane Stupid activist, a couple who protest nude, and the couple behind the Sleep Talkin' Man blog. | |||||
1.6 | "Episode 6" | Patrick Kielty and Sarah Millican | Glasgow | 21 May 2010 | |
Topics included celebrity and fame, the final Big Brother series, the knighting of Simon Cowell, Sheena Easton's hostile Glasgow gig, the attack on Leona Lewis, celebrity disguises; a survey suggesting 20% of women would rather give up sex then chocolate; the Labour leadership election; the Lord Triesman bribery allegations; with the audience including X-Factor winner Steve Brookstein, a teenager undergoing a sex change, and Doctor Martin Toby, talking about evolutionary psychology. |
# | Title | Guests | Location | Original broadcast | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2.1 | "Episode 1" | Miranda Hart and Lee Mack | London | 25 March 2011 | |
Topics included Midsomer Murders ; Charlie Sheen; religion, rising atheism & potential bias in the forthcoming census, recognition of The Druid Network; animals, the death of Knut, human's relationship with their dogs, dog-hair jumpers, dog sex-toys and clothing, Miranda's new dog Peggy, Greyfriars Bobby; The Budget and Muammar Gaddafi's Amazonian Guard; with the audience including Andrew Copson of the British Humanist Association, Arthur Uther Pendragon a Druid Chief, Catrima Gabrielle a telepathic animal communicator, and a woman who uses a website to date older rich men. | |||||
2.2 | "Episode 2" | Katy Brand and Ross Noble | Salford | 1 April 2011 | |
Topics included April Fool's Day, practical jokes and Jeremy Beadle; living in the country; who has not completed their census form; the Big Society, community spirit and real-life superhero crime-fighters such as "The Statesman" in Birmingham and "Man in Black" in London; with the audience including a social scientist, an investment banker who quit the city, a Jewish community assistance group, and the "Knight Warrior" who patrols Salford. | |||||
2.3 | "Episode 3" | Victoria Coren and Greg Davies | Glasgow | 8 April 2011 | |
2.4 | "Episode 4" | Sarah Millican and Ross Noble | Norwich | 15 April 2011 | |
2.5 | "Episode 5" | Chris Addison and Andi Osho | Norwich | 22 April 2011 | |
2.6 | "Episode 6" | Katy Brand and Alan Davies | Maidstone | 29 April 2011 |
# | Title | Guests [2] | Location | Original broadcast |
---|---|---|---|---|
3.1 | "Episode 1" | Katy Brand and Dave Gorman | Salford | 10 November 2011 |
3.2 | "Episode 2" | Alun Cochrane and Sarah Millican | Maidstone | 17 November 2011 |
3.3 | "Episode 3" | Victoria Coren and Greg Davies | Maidstone | 24 November 2011 |
3.4 | "Episode 4" | Chris Addison and Katy Brand | Norwich | 1 December 2011 |
3.5 | "Episode 5" | Russell Howard and Jamelia | Norwich | 8 December 2011 |
3.6 | "Episode 6" | Reginald D. Hunter and Sarah Millican | Glasgow | 15 December 2011 |
The first episode was watched by 1.877 million viewers, an 8.8% audience share, ahead of the first episode of Facejacker (1.186m) on Channel 4, and an episode of Grey's Anatomy (0.853m) on Five. [3]
The song played during the credits and the interludes is "No Bulbs" by The Fall, Skinner's favourite group.[ citation needed ]
Have I Got News for You (HIGNFY) is a British television panel show, produced by Hat Trick Productions for the BBC, which premiered on 28 September 1990. The programme focuses on two teams, one always captained by Ian Hislop and one by Paul Merton, each plus a guest panelist, answering questions on various news stories on the week prior to an episode's broadcast. However, the programme's format focuses more on the topical discussions on the subject of the news stories related to questions, and the satirical humour derived from these by the teams. This style of presentation had a profound impact on panel shows in British TV comedy, making it one of the genre's key standard-bearers.
David James Gorman is an English comedian, presenter, and writer.
Richard Keith Herring is an English stand-up comedian and writer whose early work includes the comedy double act Lee and Herring. He is described by The British Theatre Guide as "one of the leading hidden masters of modern British comedy".
Room 101 is a BBC comedy television series based on the radio series of the same name, in which celebrities are invited to discuss their pet hates and persuade the host to consign those hates to oblivion in Room 101, a location whose name was inspired by the torture room in George Orwell's 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four which reputedly contained "the worst thing in the world". Orwell himself named it after a meeting room in Broadcasting House where he would sit through tedious meetings. It was produced independently for the BBC by Hat Trick Productions.
Robert Harper, known professionally as Bobby Ball, was a British comic, actor, singer and television host. He was best known as a member of the comic double act Cannon and Ball, with Tommy Cannon.
Pauline Perpetua Sheen is an English actress. She began her career with roles on various television series, before fronting her own comedy sketch show, Pauline's Quirkes, in 1976. She later starred as Vicky Smith on the BBC drama series Angels (1982–1983), and achieved fame with her portrayal of Sharon Theodopolopodous on the long-running sitcom Birds of a Feather, for which she won a British Comedy Award and was nominated on three occasions for a National Television Award. In 1997, she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress for her role in the BBC miniseries The Sculptress. Between 2010 and 2012, Quirke played Hazel Rhodes on the ITV soap opera Emmerdale.
Extras is a British sitcom about extras working in television, film, and theatre. The series was co-produced by the BBC and HBO, and written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, both of whom starred in it. It follows the lives of Andy Millman (Gervais), his friend Maggie Jacobs and Andy's substandard agent and part-time retail employee Darren Lamb (Merchant) as Millman muddles through life as an anonymous "background performer" who eventually finds success as a B-list sitcom star.
Genius is a BBC Radio 4 comedy gameshow presented by comedian Dave Gorman. Listeners send in 'genius' ideas which are considered by Gorman and a guest before a studio audience, with a different guest for each show. One series of five episodes was broadcast between 27 October and 24 November 2005, with a second series of six episodes broadcast between 7 September and 12 October 2006 and a third series between 1 October and 5 November 2007. A Christmas special was broadcast on 22 December 2008. An unbroadcast television pilot was made in November 2007, with a full series recorded for BBC Two in September 2008.
Mathew Frazer Horne is an English actor, comedian, singer, television presenter and narrator. He is best known for appearing on several BBC sketch shows and sitcoms, most notably Gavin & Stacey, The Catherine Tate Show, Horne & Corden, and Bad Education.
Daniel Renton Skinner is an English actor and comedy writer, working in stage, film and television. Skinner often performs as the character Angelos Epithemiou, and is also one half of the Brian and Roger podcast.
Miranda Katherine Hart Dyke is an English actress, comedian and writer. Following drama training at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, Hart began writing material for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and making appearances in BBC sitcoms, including Hyperdrive (2006–2007) and Not Going Out (2006–2009).
Not Going Out is a British television sitcom that has aired on BBC One since 2006 and is the second-longest-running British sitcom, behind Last of the Summer Wine. Series 1 starred Lee Mack, Tim Vine and Megan Dodds; as of Series 13, the main cast are Mack, Sally Bretton, Deborah Grant, Geoffrey Whitehead, Hugh Dennis, and Abigail Cruttenden.
Would I Lie to You? is a British comedy panel show aired on BBC One, made by Zeppotron for the BBC. It was first broadcast on 16 June 2007, starring David Mitchell and Lee Mack as team captains. The show was originally presented by Angus Deayton, and since 2009 has been hosted by Rob Brydon.
Outnumbered is a British sitcom about the Brockman family, starring Hugh Dennis as the father, Claire Skinner as the mother and their three children played by Tyger Drew-Honey, Daniel Roche and Ramona Marquez.
Genius is a comedy game show on BBC Two, adapted from the original radio series hosted by the comedian Dave Gorman. On Genius, members of the public submit a range of unusual ideas and inventions for Gorman and guest celebrity judges to decide whether the idea is "Genius". The first series began airing on 20 March 2009, following the success of an unbroadcast pilot.
Life of Riley is a British comedy television series, shown on BBC One and BBC HD that aired for three series between 2009 and 2011. The programme stars Caroline Quentin and Neil Dudgeon as a recently married couple, and is set around their dysfunctional family. The show also features the couple's four children, Danny, Katy, Ted, and Rosie. After three series the show was cancelled.
Miranda is a British television sitcom written by and starring comedian Miranda Hart. It originally aired on BBC Two from 9 November 2009, and later on BBC One. Developed from Hart's semi-autobiographical BBC Radio 2 comedy Miranda Hart's Joke Shop (2008), the situation comedy revolves around socially inept Miranda, who frequently finds herself in awkward situations. The show features actors Sarah Hadland, Tom Ellis, Patricia Hodge, Sally Phillips, James Holmes and Bo Poraj. It was taped in front of live audiences at the BBC Television Centre and The London Studios.
The Bubble is a British television quiz show hosted by David Mitchell, and made for the BBC by Hat Trick Productions. Each week, three comedians are tasked to differentiate real news stories from fake ones, after four days of isolation in 'The Bubble', a remote country house. A first series was broadcast on BBC Two from 19 February 2010, running for six episodes. A second series was planned but later abandoned due to Mitchell's commitments to the Channel 4 series 10 O'Clock Live.
Benidorm is a British sitcom written and created by Derren Litten and produced by Tiger Aspect for ITV that aired for ten series from 1 February 2007 until 2 May 2018. The series features an ensemble cast of holiday makers and staff at the Solana all-inclusive hotel in Benidorm, Spain over the course of a week each year.
Them There is a theatrical production collective made up of a group of comedy writers and performers, notable for working on a range of projects together including Horrible Histories, Yonderland, and Ghosts. They are also informally referred to as the Horrible Histories troupe and The Six Idiots.