Supernova (British TV series)

Last updated

Supernova
Mount Conner, August 2003.jpg
Created by
Starring
Country of origin
  • United Kingdom
  • Australia
No. of series2
No. of episodes12
Production
Producer Sue Vertue
Running timeapprox. 30 minutes (per episode)
Production company Hartswood Films
Original release
Network BBC Two
Release20 October 2005 (2005-10-20) 
7 September 2006 (2006-09-07)

Supernova is a British comedy television programme produced by Hartswood Films and jointly commissioned by the BBC in the UK and UKTV in Australia. It follows Dr Paul Hamilton (Rob Brydon), a Welsh astronomer, who leaves a dull academic post and unloved girlfriend for a new job at the Royal Australian Observatory, deep in the Australian outback. The comedy centres on his difficulties adjusting to life in the outback and his eccentric fellow astronomers. The first series was released in the United Kingdom and Australia in October 2005 and consisted of six 30-minute episodes. The second series began airing on 3 August 2006 in the UK.

Contents

The exterior scenes were shot at Broken Hill in New South Wales, Australia. The observatory itself is a CGI creation, according to the DVD commentary, and only a partial doorway was constructed on site for filming purposes.

Plot

During the series, Paul grapples with, amongst others, his attraction to his colleague Dr Rachel Mann (who is engaged to an astronaut), the arrival of his girlfriend at the observatory, and a bout of fatalism that comes on when he creates a simulation of how the universe will end.

Cast

Main

Recurring

Crew

Episode list

Series 1 (2005)

  1. "The Black Holes"
  2. "God, Are You Out There?"
  3. "When You Wish Upon A Star"
  4. "Venus Rising"
  5. "Unity"
  6. "Where Men Are Men"

Series 2 (2006)

  1. "Wild Oats"
  2. "How's Your Father?"
  3. "Big Red"
  4. "Perseverance"
  5. "Something Wicked This Way Comes"
  6. "May The Best Man Win"

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angus Deayton</span> English television presenter, actor, writer, and comedian (born 1956)

Gordon Angus Deayton is an English actor, writer, musician, comedian and broadcaster.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Coogan</span> English comedian and actor (born 1965)

Stephen John Coogan is an English comedian, actor and screenwriter. He is most known for creating original characters such as Alan Partridge, a socially inept and politically incorrect media personality, which he developed while working with Armando Iannucci on On the Hour and The Day Today. Partridge has featured in several television series and the 2013 film Alan Partridge: Alpha Papa. In 1999, he co-founded the production company Baby Cow Productions with Henry Normal. For his work he has garnered numerous accolades including four BAFTA Awards and three British Comedy Awards as well as nominations for an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rob Brydon</span> Welsh actor and comedian (born 1965)

Robert Brydon Jones is a Welsh actor, comedian, impressionist, presenter, singer and writer. Brydon gained prominence for his roles in film, television and radio. Brydon was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in Queen Elizabeth II's Birthday Honours in 2013 for services to comedy and broadcasting, and for charitable services

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Eldon</span> British actor and comedian

Kevin Eldon is an English actor and comedian. He featured in British comedy television shows of the 1990s including Fist of Fun, This Morning with Richard Not Judy, Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge, Big Train, Brass Eye and Jam. In 2013, Eldon appeared in his own BBC sketch series It's Kevin. He has also appeared in minor speaking roles in the HBO series Game of Thrones.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia Davis</span> English actress

Julia Charlotte L. Davis is an English actress, comedian, director and writer. She is known for writing and starring in the BBC Three comedy Nighty Night (2004–2005) and the comedies Hunderby (2012–2015) and Camping (2016), which she also directed. Davis has been noted by critics for creating boundary-pushing black comedy that centres female anti-hero characters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Winterbottom</span> English film director

Michael Winterbottom is an English film director. He began his career working in British television before moving into features. Three of his films—Welcome to Sarajevo, Wonderland and 24 Hour Party People—have competed for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. He and co-director Mat Whitecross won the Silver Bear for Best Director at the 56th Berlin International Film Festival for their work on The Road to Guantanamo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alice Lowe</span> English actress, writer, and comedian

Alice Eva Lowe is an English actress, writer, and comedian. She is best known for her roles as Dr. Haynes in Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and Madeleine Wool/Liz Asher in Garth Marenghi's Darkplace. She wrote, directed, and starred in the 2016 film Prevenge and starred in and co-wrote the 2012 film Sightseers. She also starred in the educational children's television series Horrible Histories.

<i>A Cock and Bull Story</i> 2006 film by Michael Winterbottom

A Cock and Bull Story is a 2005 British comedy film directed by Michael Winterbottom. It is a film-within-a-film, featuring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing themselves as egotistical actors during the making of a screen adaptation of Laurence Sterne's 18th-century metafictional novel Tristram Shandy. Gillian Anderson and Keeley Hawes also play themselves in addition to their Tristram Shandy roles. Since the book is about a man attempting but failing to write his autobiography, the film takes the form of being about failing to make the film.

<i>Ideal</i> (TV series) British TV series or programme

Ideal is a British dark comedy television series originally broadcast on TV channel BBC Three, created by Graham Duff and produced by BBC Comedy North and Baby Cow Productions. It stars Johnny Vegas as small-time cannabis dealer Moz.

<i>Rob Brydons Annually Retentive</i> British TV series or programme

Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive is a British television show, first aired on BBC Three in July 2006. Devised by Paul Duddridge, it concerns the making of a comedy panel game show called Annually Retentive, themed around historical events, and hosted by Welsh comedian Rob Brydon. The show is deliberately parodic, as Brydon plays a hyper-realised version of himself, while the game show blatantly steals ideas from other, similar shows such as Have I Got News for You, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Mock the Week and QI.

Claudia Sermbezis is an English actress, best known for playing Lema Eelyak in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. She is also a comedy writer and broadcast journalist specialising in wildlife.

<i>Would I Lie to You?</i> (game show) British comedy panel game show

Would I Lie to You? is a British comedy game 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.

Sandy Johnson is a Scottish director who has directed episodes of The Comic Strip Presents, Inspector Morse, A Touch of Frost, The Ruth Rendell Mysteries, Jonathan Creek and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. His first full-length film was Coast to Coast (1987) written by Stan Hey and starring John Shea, Lenny Henry and Pete Postlethwaite. In Scotland he directed Leaving (1988), The Gift (1989) and The Wreck on the Highway (1990) starring Lynn Anderson.

Dawn French's Boys Who Do Comedy is a British TV series in which comedian Dawn French interviews her favourite male comedians about how they came to be comedians. It is a follow-up and counterpart to Dawn French's Girls Who Do Comedy.

Paul Duddridge is a writer, comedy agent, producer and director.

The Rob Brydon Show was a British chat show hosted by comedian Rob Brydon. The first series started on 17 September 2010 and consists of six regular episodes, a compilation episode and a Christmas special. The second series had six regular episodes, a Christmas special and a compilation episode. The third and final series had six regular episodes.

The Trip is a 2010 British television sitcom series and feature film directed by Michael Winterbottom, starring Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as fictionalised versions of themselves on a restaurant tour of northern England. The series was edited into feature film format and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2010. The full series was first broadcast on BBC Two and BBC HD in the United Kingdom in November 2010. Both the TV series and film received very positive reviews.

SN 2010lt is a supernova located in the galaxy UGC 3378 in Camelopardalis. It was discovered by amateur astronomers Kathryn Aurora Gray, her father Paul Gray, of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and David J. Lane of Stillwater Lake, Nova Scotia, Canada. Upon discovery, Kathryn Aurora Gray became the youngest person to ever discover a supernova, being 10 years old when she did so. The previous record was held by the 14-year-old Caroline Moore.

Stargazing Live is a British live television programme on astronomy that was broadcast yearly on BBC Two over three nights every winter from 2011 to 2017. The series was primarily presented by scientist Brian Cox and comedian and amateur astronomer Dara Ó Briain with support from TV presenter and biochemist Liz Bonnin and astronomer Mark Thompson. For the first six series, the show was broadcast from Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire, and featured live links from scientific facilities in locations such as Hawaii, South Africa, and Norway. The seventh series in 2017 was broadcast from Siding Spring Observatory in Australia, and a special episode filmed at Kennedy Space Center was broadcast in July 2019 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.

<i>The Trip</i> (2010 film) 2010 British film

The Trip is a 2010 British comedy film directed by Michael Winterbottom. It is the first installment of Winterbottom's film adaptations of the TV series The Trip. The film stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon as fictional versions of themselves. Steve is asked by The Observer to tour the UK's finest restaurants, and when his girlfriend backs out on joining him, he is forced to go with his best friend, Rob. The film is largely improvised.