This Country series 2

[Blue Jam]

Best mates/cousins/country bumpkins Kerry'n'Kurtan will be back in late Feb/early March, according to Charlie Cooper's Twitter. I'm starting the thread now as there's been quite a bit of news out already, and a preview screening of the first two episodes, followed by a Q&A with Charlie and Daisy-May Cooper, has just been announced for the 5th of Feb- if anyone can make it to Cirencester, you can apply for tickets here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/showsandtours/shows/this_country_screening_5feb18

They're going along the Alpha Papa route and keeping it local, with the screening to take place in Cirencester and 80% of the tickets to be reserved for Gloucester postcodes.

Old interview here but I only saw this recently:

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/this-country-waiting-for-mucklowe-bbc-daisy-cooper-charlie-cooper-kurtan-kerry-mucklowe-a8012096.html

Kerry is looking bigger because Daisy-May Cooper was pregnant during the filming (she gave birth to a daughter last week- awwwwww) and it made more sense to have her disguise the bump with a fat suit than to write the pregnancy into the plot (Kerry being even vaguely maternal? Nope). On the subject of plots, Kurtan now has a girlfriend, Slugs is still with Princess Eugenie Kayleigh, we meet the vicar's family, and Big Mandy is back (YEEEEEESSSSSSSSS), now as some sort of scary martial artist (double YEESSSSSSSSSS).

If anyone does get to that preview screening please do report back...

[itsfredtitmus]

bit rich for him seeing that he's now dead

[Blue Jam]

I might go along and throw a tomaaaaaaato.

[Blue Jam]

What the actual fuck? How did I not know that This Country has a podcast dedicated to it?

Lots of interviews with various involved peeps here:

http://www.pancast.co.uk/wtaf-a-this-country-podcast

[Blue Jam]

Did anyone make it to that screening in Cirencester then...?

No definite air date yet but it's looking like late February. Meanwhile, here's an interview with Daisy-May Cooper from The Grauniad:

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2018/feb/11/daisy-may-cooper-actor-writer-this-country-tv-sitcom-return-james-norton

What can you tell us about series two?
Kurtan [Charlie's character] gets a girlfriend. We have more of the unrequited love story between Kerry [Daisy's character] and her estranged dad... Kerry also attracts an admirer who sends anonymous letters, which freaks her out. Kerry's like an asexual slug or a buffalo, so the thought of someone fancying her blows her mind.

What were your comedy influences?
We're huge Office fans. Our parents used to watch Spinal Tap and The Day Today. We loved seeing them laugh, and I suppose that's how it got into our psyche.

Daisy May and Charlie may be Chris Morris fans then... I didn't know she did the voice of Kerry's mum, I had thought that was the Coopers' actual mum.

Interesting to see that that Mr Perkins is real and is an actual woodwork teacher but is not dead. Whether or not he is a prick is not discussed.

[Blue Jam]

New series will be up on BBC3 on Monday the 26th of February...

[paruses]

... and Big Mandy is back (YEEEEEESSSSSSSSS), now as some sort of scary martial artist (double YEESSSSSSSSSS).

I only had one quick pass of the first series but really enjoyed it. Anyone know if it's possible to find it online for a repeat viewing?

Big Mandy was a fantastic creation and well handled. I am now chuckling at the conceit that she can only do massive tattoos and that Kerry (?) had to have the tattoo as it all the gear had been got out already.

[Blue Jam]

Series 1 is all on iPlayer:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/group/p04qv4jc

Mandy is my favourite episode too. "Tharrr's Friends" had me howling.

[Utter Shit]

Can't wait for the new series to start. The first somehow managed to feel horribly bleak and depressing, but cosy at the same time. Might rewatch it before the second begins.

[paruses]

Series 1 is all on iPlayer:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/group/p04qv4jc

Mandy is my favourite episode too. "Tharrr's Friends" had me howling.

Thanks - I am in Ireland and it doesn't work without a VPN so I forget about iPlayer but will get it up and give it a rewatch before the new series - don't think I saw that last ep for some reason.

I hope they keep a hold on Mandy - she is a grotesque (I think I'm using that roughly right) but at the same time accurately portrays so many women (and a few men) I have met in my home village and other less metropolitan areas I have lived - those who see everyone as working an angle and will not be victims, and seem to take everything as a potential sleight or an inconvenience while at the same time believing they are salt of the earth types.

[Blue Jam]

Every village has a Big Mandy and it seems that a surprising number have their own Kerry- a girl who enlists a posse of younger boys and swaggers about outside the local shop, trying hard to be the cock o' the village. The Kerry from my own boring little rural village now appears to have grown up to become a Big Mandy... there's so much I recognise in this show, I love it even when it makes me cringe.

Ashley Maguire's performance as Big Mandy is incredible, she's genuinely terrifying. I'm glad she's back, I just hope she's used sparingly, but I'm sure she will be.

You might want to check out that podcast I linked to above- it's by two guys who grew up in Cirencester and know the Coopers, Michael Sleggs (who plays Slugs) etc. They have some good interviews with the actors and writers, including various Coopers and Ashley Maguire. They discuss lots of little in-jokes and references that you'll only get if you're a local- stuff like how Kerry's "I've got enemies in Cerney Wick" boast sounds even more ridiculous if you're aware that Cerney Wick consists of one street full of little tea rooms and elderly tourists- again, even as someone who's not from that area there's a scary amount of stuff I can relate to just from having grown up in a tiny village.

[paruses]

Mandy is a very good choice of name too. I would also have accepted Janet. Possibly Sue (but never a Susan).

Yes - I'm from the mining bit of Nottinghamshire rather than where this is all set and it's probably changed a lot now community-wise but I can really relate to all those largely imagined Albanian-style blood feuds passed down a couple of generations based on things like disputed Tote winnings.

Will give that podcast a go - I've been listening to Monkey Tennis a lot lately while at home which I like because it is just talking about Alan Partridge programmes but I don't really find it very engaging - and often find myself thinking that the hosts don't really deserve to watch AP. This sounds like it has more to it and it's good to hear people who can relate to the stories discuss then from a real world perspective.

[sprocket]

Thanks - I am in Ireland and it doesn't work without a VPN so I forget about iPlayer but will get it up and give it a rewatch before the new series

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/search/beebs

[Blue Jam]

A couple of clips, yaaaaaay:

Kurtan's girlfriend:

https://mobile.twitter.com/bbcthree/status/963699360562204672

Some of last year's filming- an old clip but I've only just seen this (contains Mandy):

https://youtu.be/6Y2KEfFhzbA

[BritishHobo]

Oh fuckin hell I've missed this.

[paruses]

I can watch Youtube but have no headphones at work so just clicked it up to have a look. Laughed sharply and loudly at Mandy's sudden aggrieved appearance.

Looking forward to watching later.

Think I will wrap myself up tonight with tea and biscuits with series 1 for some desolate comfort watching.

[Utter Shit]

I'm watching this again at the moment, I liked it the first time around but am enjoying it much more on a second viewing. It's a beautifully-drawn world, and the two main characters are so well-rounded - naive but not thick, conniving but not heartless. Great stuff.

I love the use of unexpected use of certain words and phrases, Kurtan's repeated use of 'livid' in particular makes me laugh, and the little back stories they refer to are all great - Kurtan's obsessions are so good, especially his compendium of Emmerdale production errors...the detail to everything in this is fantastic.

You can really tell it's a labour of love from people who really know the world they're inhabiting - I know it's an obvious comparison, but in that respect it reminds me of The Office, the details smack of writers who have lived the lives they're showing on screen.

[Utter Shit]

I've been listening to Monkey Tennis a lot lately while at home which I like because it is just talking about Alan Partridge programmes but I don't really find it very engaging - and often find myself thinking that the hosts don't really deserve to watch AP.

Haha, I know what you mean here - I wouldn't go so far as to say they don't deserve to watch it, but it does come across at times like they enjoy it more for the catchphrases than anything else.

[Blue Jam]

Will give that podcast a go - I've been listening to Monkey Tennis a lot lately while at home which I like because it is just talking about Alan Partridge programmes but I don't really find it very engaging - and often find myself thinking that the hosts don't really deserve to watch AP. This sounds like it has more to it and it's good to hear people who can relate to the stories discuss then from a real world perspective.

I've got that problem with The El Dude Brothers podcast, which I enjoyed at first but quickly got bored of. I like SMERSH Pod and I like the idea of having the same format for a Peep Show podcast, discussing the episodes in chronological order, but while the two hosts clearly love the show they mostly they just end up describing the plot. It's a bit boring and you may as well just rewatch the show. I've been meaning to give Monkey Tennis a go for a while but people are getting a bit lazy with this format.

The guys behind WTAF used to do a podcast called Movie Heaven and Daisy May Cooper was a guest in 2016. That one's very interesting because they invited her onto the show after hearing the earth-shattering local news that someone was making a sitcom based in their beloved hometown, and she talks about the early development of it. It had the working title Kerry, and it grew from Daisy May's disastrous and very short-lived career in stand-up comedy, when she performed in character as Kerry. Eventually she roped her brother in, they developed a whole universe of characters around Kerry, and This Country was born.

There's also some interesting stuff about RADA- she hated every minute of her time there, "it's all Shakespeare" at the expense of everything else (especially comedy) and it's all about stage acting, so RADA graduates end up woefully unprepared for the shock of being in a TV studio for the first time. The worst thing was the relentless and excessively harsh criticism which led to many of the young students needing counselling, and the harshest words of all came from Alan Rickman- she had a "never meet your heroes" moment with him and now considers him to be "a cunt". That's a bit rich coming from him, who's now dead:

https://player.fm/series/movie-heaven/57-daisy-cooper

Off-topic, I notice Trevor and Simon were guests on another episode- I'm having some of that...

[paruses]

Not allowing them to watch might be a bit strong but when I first started  with it I did have that Professor Frink thing of "don't touch that. you won't appreciate it as much as me" and although they make a big thing about doing no research that always struck me as the "I'm playing a character" excuse that celebs use when they are photographed drunkenly punching people in nightclubs or just being massive twats. I think you nailed it that it smacks of them mainly liking the catchphrases - is there a thread about it because I want to complain about how I want something that I don't need and is free to be better.

Naïve but not thick is such an important part of the characters  - very much the right tone and affection that the People Just Do Nothing writers have so even with Grindr being a massive bell is tolerable.

And Kurtan's Emmerdale obsession (I've forgotten all these bits) is great too. It's no different to people you meet who are amateur experts in various things like Georgian architecture or WWI battlefields or specific producers of ceramics - it's just something that's accessible to him that he can control and invest in.

I'm welling up now - I think I'm over tired.

[paruses]

Sorry - to sidetrack but I felt the same about the El Dude Brothers podcast. I found it unlistenable despite their love for the programme. I think one thing that made it so was their almost complete lack of cultural understanding so it was a bit like when you see little Chinese kids wearing t-shirts that say "Fuck Toy" but not as funny. I skipped forwards several episodes to a Peep Show that I really like to get a better idea and they had drafted in an English woman - who also seemed to have very little understanding of England despite being English and living in England.

Now I want to see some more of those hilarious t-shirts.

[Blue Jam]

I skipped forwards several episodes to a Peep Show that I really like to get a better idea and they had drafted in an English woman - who also seemed to have very little understanding of England despite being English and living in England.

Oh gawd yes- I remember the episode where the American guy was asking about the JLB Credit office locations and she "explained" that they were all places where it would be really cheap to rent office space. Places like Croydon, Aberdeen and Bristol...

Sorry to sidetrack the thread further but thanks to you lot I am now about to have a hate-listen to Monkey Tennis... I'll be back with my verdict...

[paruses]

Oh gawd yes- I remember the episode where the American guy was asking about the JLB Credit office locations and she "explained" that they were all places where it would be really cheap to rent office space. Places like Croydon, Aberdeen and Bristol...

Sorry to sidetrack the thread further but thanks to you lot I am now about to have a hate-listen to Monkey Tennis... I'll be back with my verdict...

Damn you - now I want to go back and hate listen to the El Dude one where I think she was talking about the min-portable tv that is in the kitchen in the flat. It really annoyed me but I suppose on the other hand did make me really really appreciate the minutiae of the set design.

Back to it - I have two WTAF eps to listen to now so am going to have a walk and get back with insights.

[Blue Jam]

Actually, Neil from WTAF was a guest on one of the recent El Dude Bros episodes...

[Ignatius_S]

....There's also some interesting stuff about RADA- she hated every minute of her time there, "it's all Shakespeare" at the expense of everything else (especially comedy) and it's all about stage acting, so RADA graduates end up woefully unprepared for the shock of being in a TV studio for the first time...

That's rather different to other accounts what I've heard and sure that RADA has been preparing its students for non-stage work for years/well before Cooper's time there.

[paruses]

Just timed the first ep of the podcast with a walk up to the natural history museum and back. Spent a while peering at a wood sandpiper and laughing.

That is what I want from a podcast - although in everyone else's defense it's probably easier to get the cast of TC than Peep Show / Alan Partridge. That aside I found the hosts a lot more engaging and more interested in the programme than how great they are that they have watched it. 

Slightly gutted to learn that they had  script notes to make cuts like "a lot of stuff about Fred West" and "paedophile Wonga ad puppets".

[pigamus]

Didn't know there was a Comic Relief bit!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdGADBsW-0w

[Blue Jam]

That is what I want from a podcast - although in everyone else's defense it's probably easier to get the cast of TC than Peep Show / Alan Partridge. That aside I found the hosts a lot more engaging and more interested in the programme than how great they are that they have watched it.

I have now given Monkey Tennis a go and found it to be unlistenable. It's more of that thing of describing the plot of episodes, but with four of AP's most obnoxious fans showing off and trying to shout quotes and catchphrases over each other and sounding unbearably pleased with themselves. One of them also sounds like Will from The Inbetweeners- I know that's not his fault but it doesn't exactly add to my listening pleasure.

I've enjoyed the recaps of This Country series 1 in WTAF but that's because the two hosts seem to be analysing it rather than just explaining the plot to people who already know it, and I like the nice bits of trivia and local knowledge they throw in. I guess SMERSH Pod works because there's a different guest for every episode and that changes the dynamic a bit, and in spite of that there are some good running jokes- James Bond being "a shit spy" etc- so it's like they're actually trying to entertain.

In general though I think this "discuss the episodes in chronological order" podcast format probably needs to die out.

[paruses]

.......
In general though I think this "discuss the episodes in chronological order" podcast format probably needs to die out.

I agree with all your points but might as well make the internet a bit bigger.

The most infuriating thing about Monkey Tennis is that they have a clip of plagiarist and twat Chris Moyles mocking the concept but not realising that everything can be reduced to how he describes the concept - and then they almost prove him right. And that whole Cards Against Alanity is the worst example of millenial self-indulgence (and I don't use the word millenial lightly. Or possibly even spell it correctly).

Going to give SMERSH a go - always good to have a new recommendation.

Back to WTAF - although the hosts have varied the recap format and have guests I wonder if part of the reason that it is more listenable is that they don't struggle with references to things. They have the advantage that everything is current and local knowledge to them but the other pods like El Dude and MT really grate when the hosts miss what I think are really obvious cultural references. Admittedly they are often at two generations younger than me - and the El Dude thing relates to the English woman really as the guys are Americans - but I am sure I have more awareness of references when watching comedy of my my parent's generation or even older than the late 20-something podcast hosts are watching something from when they were early teens. After all I hear the toe-curling phrase "back in the day" regularly applied to events as long ago as 2010.

Loved the bit in the first ep about Michael Sleggs/Slugs being a terrible corpser but also finding his character hilarious and asking who it was based on only to find out he is playing himself.

Is the sound quality  in the Big Mandy episode terrible or is it my download? I find it cuts out a lot.

[Blue Jam]

It's not just you- to me it sounds like Ashley Maguire is talking to them via Skype, maybe that's why the sound quality is worse than usual.

In the recap episodes my favourite observation is that Len going "Me wife died on Monday, then me brother died on Tuesday" etc sounds like a very bleak version of Seven Days by Craig David.