Showing posts with label Channel 4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Channel 4. Show all posts

08/08/2011

Rory Bremner's Career History

Originally posted on www.the-experts.co.uk


Born in Edinburgh in 1961 Rory Bremner was educated at Clifton Hall school and wellington College, before studying Moder Languages at King’s College London.

The first step on his long career came when he released the song “N-N-Nineteen Not Out” in 1985 as The Commentators. The song was a parody of Paul Hardcastle’s number one single  “19.” Although pretty much-unknown Bremner’s single became a hit in the UK spending seven weeks in the charts and peaking at number 13.

After his musical success Bremner later began his career in comedy when he contributed to television shows Spitting Image and Week Ending during the mid 1980s, and by 1987 he had been given his own BBC Two show called Now – Something Else. After his venture with the BBC, Bremner then moved over to Channel 4 where he cemented his trademark satirical comedy in the television show Rory Bremner, Who Else?

As the 1990s began Bremmer had a semi-regular cameo role on the Channel 4 improvisation television series Whose Line Is It Anyway?

Towards the end of the 90s Bremner enjoyed his biggest success when he joined forces with John Bird and John Fortune to host; Bremner, Bird and Fortune, which went on to win numerous awards and is still running today. This is where Bremmer’s trademark impersonation of Tony Blair was born.

He has since lent his comedic talents to television shows like Mock The Week, when he became a team captain in 2005.

Bremner has since ventured out in to a number of different mediums such as radio, where he has performed on Sunday AM, once again impersonating politicians, and presented his own BBC Radio 4 series, titled, Rory Bremner’s International Satirists.

He has also presented his own BBC Four documentary based around the history of the Scouts helping the British Army called Rory Bremner and the Fighting Scouts.

Most recently in his career Bremner embarked on a 20 date Election Battlebus Tour, which was done in conjunction with the 2010 general election, and was his first tour in five years. He has also translated two operas and Bertolt Brecht play into English.

03/07/2011

We Remember: Queer as Folk UK

Originally posted on www.differentscene.co.uk

Now the last time we did one of these we looked at Queer as Folk USA, this time we’re going to look at the original British version of the show.
The programme courted controversy from the get go because of its unashamed portrayal of its openly homosexual characters and although the show only ran for 10 episodes between 1999 and 2000, the impact they had on openly gay representations in the media was enormous to say the least.
Queer as Folk achieved excellent ratings, produced a highly successful soundtrack, inspired the American remake (helping break boundaries across the pond) and was used to celebrate Channel 4s 25th birthday celebrations.
I like many other young fans of the show learnt about the show through its impact it had on British television and at the age of 15 bought the deluxe edition box set, and have been in love the show ever since.
From the underlying love between Vince and Stuart, the naivety and coming of age story that surrounded Nathan to the explicit sex scene and endless amounts of humour, shock, love and compassion that the show emits, it is truly one of the best television shows ever made, and is a significant piece in homosexual representation.
This programme is the essential must watch for anyone looking for a great piece of gay television. Plus it also contains Charlie Hunnam circa 1999, what more could you ask for?