IRISH comedian Dara Ó Briain is back fronting a new series of Mock the Week, three years after it was last on our screens.
The topical satirical panel show ran for 21 series over 17 years during its initial run on BBC Two, regularly pulling in 3m viewers.
The show ended in November 2022, with the BBC saying it was ‘proud’ of the show but took the decision ‘in order to create room for new shows’.
However, it will return to screens with a new one-hour format at 9pm on Sunday evening in its new home on TLC.
“The return of Mock the Week is something we are hugely excited by, and we hope fans of the show will enjoy more of what they loved with new one-hour episodes, Dara Ó Briain back at the helm, and a series that includes the nation’s favourite comedians,” said Graham Lafferty of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), which owns TLC.
Previews of the new series show the panellists take a satirical look at recent high-profile stories in the media including the Beckham family feud, Andy Burnham’s failed bid to become an MP and even the show’s own return.
Produced by Angst, which was behind the original BBC version, there will be nine one-hour episodes in the first series of the Mock the Week revival.
Despite the extended run time, WBD say the show will stay true to the original format, with returning rounds including ‘If this is the answer, what is the question?’, ‘Wheel of News’, ‘Picture of the Week’ and ‘Scenes we’d like to see’.
However, the show will also introduce new rounds within the extended format.
Series regular Ed Byrne will once again feature in the new show, with the Dubliner joined by Irish-Canadian comedian Katherine Ryan.
Other familiar faces returning include Hugh Dennis, Russell Howard, Milton Jones and Sara Pascoe.
Upon the end of the show’s original run, Ó Briain quipped that Britain had ‘finally run out of news’.
“The storylines were getting crazier and crazier — global pandemics, divorce from Europe, novelty short-term prime ministers. It couldn’t go on,” he joked.
However, there’ll certainly be no shortage of material for the show’s revival on TLC.
TLC is free-to-air in Britain as well as Ireland (HD only).
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