The Midnight Beast | |
---|---|
![]() Season 1 DVD Cover | |
Written by |
|
Directed by | Ben Gregor |
Starring |
|
Country of origin | United Kingdom |
Original language | English |
No. of series | 2 |
No. of episodes | 12 |
Production | |
Producers |
|
Editors |
|
Running time | 25 minutes |
Release | |
Original network | E4 |
Original release | 6 July 2012 – 27 February 2014 |
Related | |
The Inbetweeners |
The Midnight Beast is a British sitcom that was released by the UK comedy band The Midnight Beast in 2012. The show had been in production for almost a year before release and featured most of the songs from the band's debut album. It was announced on The Midnight Beast's YouTube channel that the show has been renewed for a second and final series.
The show follows the lives of the band as they try to become better musicians. They live in a rubbish flat and are almost broke. Their creepy neighbour Sloman (played by Simon Farnaby) is often trying to impress them or join them in various events. The band has not achieved anything yet; they are broke and starving. Their manager, Chevy (played by Ryan Pope) is not much help, as he is a drug addict and only interested in them to make money for drugs. Stefan's girlfriend Zoe (played by Sophie Wu) also appears in all six episodes. They come across various problems, such as an eccentric artist making a disgusting music video of them, Dru spending too much time playing games and selling themselves to a bad and controlling record label.
The second season follows the boys as they finally get a proper job as cleaners at a run-down ex-Bingo Hall. They are asked to do additional task by employer Sylvia (Julia Deakin) to ensure they keep their jobs as they continually make mistakes and anger customers. They also enter competitions regularly in an effort to improve their financial state. The band also temporarily splits, as Ash leaves to pursue a solo career, but re-joins the band following his rise to success, only to be discovered as a fraud as he "doesn't actually release any music". Their past and the creation of the band is also revealed during a flashback when returning to their old school together. The final episode of the season involves the band entering in a pub quiz to try and win enough money to pay off their employer's gambling debt. It is revealed that all the entrants are cheating, and it is up to them to avoid being caught by quiz-master Sloman to cheat their way to victory.
The show was first aired in the UK on the channel E4 in 2012. One episode was released each week over a six-week period. After each episode, you could buy the soundtrack in the form of a Single on iTunes. The lead up to the first episode featured a live performance by the band, and a tweet of #UnleashTheBeast [1] going up on Twitter and a Live Q&A on YouTube. The first episode of the show was premiered in Australia on the channel SBS2 on 22 April 2013. The DVD of the first season is for sale (in Region 2 format) on Amazon. [2]
Character | Cast member | Appearances |
---|---|---|
Stef | Stefan Abingdon | 12 episodes, 2012–2014 |
Ash | Ashley Horne | 12 episodes, 2012–2014 |
Dru | Dru Wakely | 12 episodes, 2012–2014 |
Sloman | Simon Farnaby | 10 episodes, 2012–2014 |
Zoe | Sophie Wu | 7 episodes, 2012–2014 |
Chevy | Ryan Pope | 6 episodes, 2012 |
Hope | Ria Zmitrowicz | 5 episodes, 2014 |
Ronnie | Esther Smith | 4 episodes, 2014 |
Sylvia | Julia Deakin | 3 episodes, 2014 |
Bogdan | Mihai Arsene | 3 episodes, 2014 |
Series One | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
# | Air date | Episode | Plot | Track listing |
1 | 6 July 2012 | "Someone Called Sam" | The Midnight Beast are a young, potty-mouthed band trying to make it big in the music industry. The band move into a high-rise dump in East London, where they scam free pizzas and eat cat food to stay alive. Their geeky neighbour Sloman is suspicious of his new neighbours but soon finds common ground over his love of their music. Led into chaos by their manager Chevy, the band attempt to set up a gig in a trendy club only to be kicked out for stealing drinks and lemons to stave off scurvy. With the help of Stef's sassy and streetwise girlfriend Zoe, the band manage to put on a successful gig in their flat and make some money to pay for beer. |
|
2 | 13 July 2012 | "Father's Day" | Stef stays up all night editing a rubbish animated video for the band's new track Booty Call. And Dru miraculously receives a maintenance cheque from his long-estranged dad. But when Ash unplugs the computer to make space for his video game, the entire music video is lost. Dru offers up his father's 'dirty money' to make a new video to be directed by art world icon Falco, played by Gerald Kyd. But the band soon realise it may be better to keep creative control... |
|
3 | 20 July 2012 | "Hardcore" | When the Beast's manager Chevy finally gets them a gig on a TV show, the boys are hit by a crisis of confidence after bumping into a mouthy hardcore band who are also appearing. They decide to try to change their image to compete, but discover that they should have had more faith in their own quirky style, as it might have avoided them being thrown off live TV when their performance doesn't quite go to plan... |
|
4 | 27 July 2012 | "Hey Ladies" | The Midnight Beast are at crisis point... Dru has become hypnotised by his war-themed video games and Ash is being led around by the lump in his pants, leaving Stef to keep the band together. In an emergency intervention, their manager Chevy bans Dru from video games and urges him to get a girlfriend. Ash is forbidden from touching any girl until the band's problems are solved. Meanwhile, a wild-eyed obsessive girl called Frog, played by Hannah Tointon, falls head over heels for Dru, much to the horror of his flatmates. |
|
5 | 3 August 2012 | "Boyband" | The Midnight Beast have had enough of their budget starving-artist lifestyle. Chevy is just not cutting the mustard as their manager any more. The guys want money and fame, and they want it now. Unbeknown to the band, Dru takes matters into his own hands and makes a devil's pact with major label boss Jay Chitole, played by Patrick Baladi. Will the group trade in their independence for sexy motorbikes and intergalactic superstardom and become just another boyband? |
|
6 | 10 August 2012 | "The Sloman Show" | Sloman breaks into the band's flat after a massive party and sets up a makeshift studio in their front room, where he broadcasts all their secrets and videos. |
|
Series Two | ||||
1 | 23 January 2014 | "The Twilight Beast" | Stef, Dru and Ash get a job in a local ex-bingo hall run by fearsome East End granny Sylvia and her granddaughters Ronnie and Hope. Their first task is to put on a birthday party for 16-year-old Hope and her friends, but Stef is reeling from discovering that his girlfriend Zoe is now his ex-girlfriend and is going out with chart-topping rapper Sexual P, played by Jazzie Zonzolo. While Stef works on his own crazy idea for the party, Ash and Dru decide on a Twilight theme. But when everyone turns up for the party, it's not exactly what they had hoped for. |
|
2 | 30 January 2014 | "Fight or Flight" | The guys are skint, in spite of their new job at the bingo hall. Having entered a bunch of competitions, all they've won so far is a packet of Femidoms. They are now pinning their hopes on the local Birdman competition, but preparation is delayed while they help their neighbour Sloman come up with a convincing plan to win back his wife, played by Sofia Hayat, who wants a divorce. Dru trains Sloman up for the big showdown, which sees Sloman take on his wife in the ring at the bingo hall. But will Sloman put up enough of a fight to win her back? And will the boys make it to the Birdman competition on time? |
|
3 | 6 February 2014 | "Beast Holiday Ever" | The guys have saved up enough money to go on holiday. They're all set to go until Stef discovers that Ash has changed all of their passport photos for selfies. In light of this, they have to set their sights closer to home and end up camping under a holiday billboard in a local car park. But will the boys survive the week without killing each other? |
|
4 | 13 February 2014 | "Going Solo" | The band play a lesbian wedding gig at the bingo hall, but Ash's decision to perform their hit song Lez Be Friends doesn't go down well and a huge row erupts that results in Ash going solo. Taking advice from Sloman on how to be a rock star, he launches his new look and new guitar on an Open Mic night at a local hipster bar. The problem is, he doesn't have a song and can't play the guitar. Meanwhile, Stef and Dru fail to recruit a new band member, so they both end up going solo too. Will they all survive on their own or are The Midnight Beast ultimately destined to be together? |
|
5 | 20 February 2014 | "They Came Upon a Midnight Beast" | The guys have been invited back to their old school for Careers Day. Hope from the bingo hall stumbles across them, and finds out that the former students became friends over the production of the school Nativity. Flashback to the boys' school days where it's Stef's first directing gig, and he has to choose between three options: a traditional Nativity to please the headmaster, played by Rupert Vansittart, a Star Wars-based show to please school geek Jason, and a feminist piece to please the school's most attractive girl, Alaska, played by Chloe-May Cuthill, who Ash has the hots for. |
|
6 | 27 February 2014 | "Quiz Night Beast" | Just as the Midnight Beast are finally settled into their new jobs at the bingo hall, owner Sylvia declares that she can't pay the rent and she desperately needs to raise some money or she'll lose the hall. Dru comes up with the brilliant idea of a high-stakes pub quiz, with a £5000 prize. Sloman is the quiz master and presides over five teams who are fighting it out. It soon becomes apparent that each team has its own very hidden agenda... The whole event goes completely Usual Suspects, but will the boys manage to win the quiz and save the bingo hall? |
|
The Red Hot Chili Peppers, commonly abbreviated as RHCP, are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1982, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates elements of alternative rock, funk, punk rock, hard rock, hip hop, and psychedelic rock. Their eclectic range has influenced genres such as funk metal, rap metal, rap rock, and nu metal. With over 120 million records sold worldwide, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are one of the best-selling bands of all time. They hold the records for most number-one singles (15), most cumulative weeks at number one (91) and most top-ten songs (28) on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. They have won six Grammy Awards, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, and in 2022 received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Anthony Kiedis is an American singer, songwriter and rapper, best known as a founding member and lead vocalist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis and his fellow band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.
Are You Afraid of the Dark? is a horror anthology television series. The original series aired on Nickelodeon from 1992 to 1996; the pilot episode aired respectively on YTV and Nickelodeon in 1990 and 1991. It led to two revival series, with the first airing from 1999 to 2000, and the second airing from 2019 to 2022.
Phil of the Future is an American science fiction comedy television series that originally aired on Disney Channel from June 18, 2004, to August 19, 2006, for two seasons. The series was created by Douglas Tuber and Tim Maile and produced by 2121 Productions. It follows a family from the future that gets stranded in the 21st century when their time machine breaks down.
Timothy Mark Vine is an English comedian, actor, writer, and presenter best known for his one-liners and his role on the sitcom Not Going Out (2006–2014). He has released a number of stand-up comedy specials and has written several joke books.
The Whitest Kids U' Know (WKUK) is an American sketch comedy show starring a comedy troupe of the same name. The group consisted of Trevor Moore, Zach Cregger, Sam Brown, Timmy Williams and Darren Trumeter, though other actors occasionally appeared in their sketches. They were accepted into the HBO U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in 2006 and won the award for Best Sketch Group.
The Cadbury Bournvita Quiz Contest is an Indian quiz contest that began on 12 April 1972. Sponsored by Cadbury India, it is one of India's most famous quiz contests. Originally held live in cities across the country, it later became a radio show and then, in June 1992, a television show on Zee TV. Later, the show was shifted to another television channel, Sony Entertainment Television. After a hiatus, it moved in a truncated version to Pogo, before landing its last TV outing in the channel Colors. In 2015, BQC completed its first YouTube-only season with Centre Point Nagpur as All India Champions. It then moved to its app called BQC where the viewers can play along. The show is hosted by Derek O'Brien. The original quiz master on the radio show was Hamid Sayani, a prominent Indian broadcast personality. After the first four years, Hamid died and the show was taken over by his brother Ameen Sayani.
Mark Andrew Labbett, also known by his professional nickname The Beast, is an English professional quizzer and television personality. Since 2009 he has been one of the "chasers" on the ITV game show The Chase as "The Beast" and from late February 2022 rejoined the Australian version of the show. He previously appeared between 2013 and 2015 on GSN's American version as their sole chaser; between 2016 and 2020 as one of six chasers on the Australian version; and as one of four chasers in the second season of ABC's American revival.
Fonejacker is a British comedy programme broadcast on E4 featuring a series of prank calls involving a number of different characters performed by British Iranian television actor Kayvan Novak. It first appeared in May 2006 and became a full series in 2007.
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? is an American quiz game show. It originally aired on Fox where it was hosted by Jeff Foxworthy. It is produced by Mark Burnett. The show premiered as a three-day special which began on February 27, 2007, with the first two shows each a half-hour in length. Regular one-hour episodes began airing Thursdays from March 1 through May 10, and the first season continued with new episodes beginning May 31. Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? was picked up for the 2007–08 season, which began on September 6, 2007, and aired in the same timeslot. Following the end of the original run of the primetime version on September 18, 2009, a first-run syndicated version of the show ran from September 2009 to May 2011, with Foxworthy returning as host. On May 26, 2015, the program returned to Fox for a new, 4th season, with Foxworthy, again, returning as host. On February 14, 2019, it was announced that the program would be revived on Nickelodeon with new host John Cena, airing from June 10 to November 3, 2019.
4Music is a British music television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation that launched on 15 August 2008.
The Inbetweeners is a British coming-of-age television teen sitcom, which originally aired on E4 from 2008 to 2010 and was created and written by Damon Beesley and Iain Morris. The series follows the misadventures of suburban teenager William McKenzie and his friends Simon Cooper, Neil Sutherland and Jay Cartwright at the fictional Rudge Park Comprehensive. The programme involves situations of school life, uncaring school staff, friendship, male bonding, lad culture and adolescent sexuality. Despite receiving an initially lukewarm reception, it has been described a classic amongst the most successful British sitcoms of the 21st century.
The Midnight Beast, sometimes abbreviated as TMB, is a British comedy/parody music group from London. They are most famous for their YouTube cover-parody of the 2009 single "TiK ToK" by American pop artist Ke$ha. The group currently has three members: Stefan Abingdon, Dru Wakely and Ashley Horne.
Quizmania is a British interactive game show. The show was devised by Chuck Thomas, Debbie King, and Simone Thorogood and produced by FremantleMedia for Information TV and ITV. Similar to other premium-line call-in shows, viewers on the TV version of Quizmania were encouraged to phone a premium-rate number in order to provide an answer to a quiz question.
Made in Chelsea is a British structured-reality television series broadcast by E4. Made in Chelsea chronicles the lives of affluent young people in the West London and South West areas of Belgravia, King's Road, Chelsea and Knightsbridge, as well as their travels to other locations around the world.
Mamrie Lillian Hart is an American comedian, actress, writer, and performer. She gained popularity in 2011 through her YouTube show You Deserve A Drink, for which she has won two Streamy Awards: in 2014 for Actress in a Comedy and in 2015 for Writing. Hart currently hosts Food Network's Tiny Food Fight on Discovery+ alongside Darnell Ferguson. As of October 2021, she has over 1 million YouTube subscribers and her main channel has over 97 million views. She also co-wrote, co-produced, and co-starred in the 2014 film Camp Takota and the 2016 film Dirty 30.
Good Mythical Morning is an American comedy, talk and variety YouTube series created by Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal. The series stars Rhett & Link, and features the voice of Stevie Wynne Levine. The show first aired on YouTube on January 9, 2012, and continues to be uploaded every weekday during the seasons. As of January 2023, the show has twenty-three regular seasons and five summer seasons, one being part of season 11 and four being standalone seasons. The YouTube channel has over 18.1 million subscribers and more than 8.5 billion total video views.
Richard Lewis is a British esports journalist and livestream commentator from Wales. Having written technology articles for The Daily Dot, Breitbart News, and Cadred, he is best known as an esports journalist and as a former desk host of ELEAGUE.
The Try Guys is an American online entertainment group and media production company which produces content for their YouTube channel. The group was founded by Keith Habersberger, Zach Kornfeld, Eugene Lee Yang, and Ned Fulmer. The Try Guys are known for testing a wide range of activities, such as testing their sperm count, raising toddlers, shaving their legs, and wearing women's underwear. The four men created The Try Guys while working for BuzzFeed before forming their own company, 2nd Try LLC, in 2018. They have since expanded their company to include more than twenty employees, starred in a show on the Food Network, and released a book titled The Hidden Power of F*cking Up.