Philomena Cunk is back and, almost certainly, no less stupid.
The British comic character, created by Diane Morgan (who plays Cunk) and Charlie Brooker and known for her deadpan style and ill-informed questions as host of several satirical documentaries, is returning for another mockumentary series, this time examining the world’s love affair with movies, Variety can reveal.
“Cunk on Cinema” — which follows “Cunk on Britain,” “Cunk on Earth” and “Cunk on Life” — is billed as a her “most glamorous series to date.” The three-part series, now in production, will air on the BBC and Netflix globally outside the U.K. and Ireland.
Made by Pacesetter Productions, “Cunk on Cinema” will follow Philomena as she asks experts about the history of cinema, from the invention of the camera, to the New Wave filmmakers of the 60s, right up to entrance of CGI and what the future of AI holds.
As per the description, “Cunk will attempt to demystify it all while sitting in lumpy seats with stale popcorn, asking herself where did cinema come from? And why? What does it want? And why can’t it tell us?”
“Cinema has given the world some of the most profound, memorable and moving visual moments in its unswerving depiction of the human condition: the shower scene in ‘Psycho,’ Death playing chess in that Swedish thing, and Tom Selleck’s glistening moustache in ‘Three Men And A Little Lady,’ to name but all three of the only examples I can think of at the moment,” said Cunk. “There will, unfortunately, be some bits in black and white, but we’ll keep that to the barest minimum.”
Added Brooker: “Now that Sora has killed off Hollywood and itself (presumably as part of a murder-suicide pact), it’s the perfect time to look back at two hundred centuries of cinema, in the company of an idiot we’re apparently cursed to employ: Philomena Cunk.”
Jon Petrie, director of comedy at the BBC said: “Philomena Cunk is back! As our leading intrepid documentary filmmaker, who better to investigate the world of cinema? This series follows in the hugely successful footsteps of other Cunk projects, so we can’t wait to see what she unearths this time around. A huge thank you to the incredibly talented team at Pacesetter, Diane and Charlie for bringing Philomena back onto our screens.”
“Cunk On Cinema” is a Pacesetter Production for BBC iPlayer and BBC Two. It was commissioned by Petrie and written by Brooker, who is also an executive producer alongside Morgan and Sam Ward. The director is Al Campbell. Jessica Rhoades executive produces and Mark Kinsella is co-executive producer for Pacesetter Productions. The commissioning editor for the BBC is Navi Lamba.