Rhod Gilbert's Work Experience

Click this image to go to the BBC Arts page to make your own Rhod doll!

Series three of this brilliant show is currently airing on BBC1 Wales, with repeats on BBC2 yet to come for the rest of the UK. That said, it is obviously available on the Iplayer for catch-up, so be sure to take a look.

Anyway; I am sure I have spoken of the show before and you ought to have watched some of the previous episodes- but for those amongst you who have not seen it, here’s a mini-breakdown:

Each week Rhod Gilbert takes on a different job, immersing himself into the role in his unique way and injecting his own brand of humour and mockery into the daily grind of his hosts.


The selection of jobs is thus:

Series one was the kind people we all take it for granted have a fairly easy job but in actual fact don’t. In this series, he was a bin-man, a mum, hairdresser and soldier.

Series two was the sexual fantasy series, seeing Rhod work firstly as a farmer -okay, not particularly sexy at first thought, but think more carefully! Rugged and outdoorsy; strong and manly whilst also showing his sensitive side with the animals… with me now?! Next he donned the finery to work as a butler, before getting his kit off to be tattooed and pierced, then leaving us with the image of Firefighter Rhod. And I’ll leave you with that mental image for a moment or two.



Back with us now?

Okay, so now to series three. You have unfortunately missed the airing of the first two episodes in which Rhod worked as a teacher at a fantastic school and as a Zookeeper at the Welsh Mountain Zoo in Clwyd, North Wales; although there is the BBC Two repeat to look forward to (I think it’s usually a couple of weeks after the last episode airs in Wales) and obviously the Iplayer. Yet to come we get to see Rhod as a Drag Artist and Policeman (honestly, I suspect series four might have to end on the Gladiator episode or something! There must still be Gladiators, aren’t there? … and obviously I mean the ‘killing Christians’ type, not the ‘very camp 80’s muscle-bound meathead’ ones you may be thinking of)

As you would expect from Rhod Gilbert, the show is hilarious. There really is something about the way he interacts with those he works with which brings out the best in everyone to the point where even the most mundane of daily chores becomes an adventure into the unknown. I also find myself taken with his humility; he is never afraid to show his fallibility and doesn’t ever duck out of doing the demeaning parts of the job on the basis of his status.
Equally hilarious of course is the simile-laden narration as Rhod talks us through his working day.


I don’t think I need say more than that – tune in Monday’s 10.35pm to catch the last two episodes, watch (and rewatch) the current two on the Iplayer…

Just wanted to add a little update here in the form of images. The final episode was unfortunately not shown due to legal issues. Not being a person to speculate or start rumour, I am simply conveying what information is available at the moment.

1st August: A small update since I see there are a few search hits for information on the final episode: Still no news as regards when we can expect it I am afraid.
The official line is simply that there are legal issues which need to be resolved and I will not make any attempts to guess what these issues might be - why is the least relevant factor, to be honest!

NEWSFLASH!!
The awaited Policeman episode will be shown this coming Tuesday, 10pm on BBC1Wales


You can buy the series one and two DVD here:



Absolutely brilliant DVD... well worth the money for the extras alone!



If you need to learn more about the show, each image below links to the relevant BBC programme page:

Sarah Millican's Television Programme

I was asked whether I had bothered to watch this show given my review of Sarah Millican’s DVD, but those who read that should at least have been able to notice I did acknowledge that she was still every bit as funny as ever; I just didn’t think it came across well on DVD…

So with that in mind, you should know that the programme is absolutely brilliant! It is great to see Sarah moving beyond stand-up and I really think the format suits her well. Interacting with guests and audience alike, she is able to fire off quick-witted responses and just be her natural hilarious self in a way which stand-up doesn’t necessarily allow. Don’t take my word for it, either… for once I have been so prompt with this review you might actually catch every episode! And that is how good this is!

In this first episode, we were treated to a great sketch based on flirting tips from guest, Tracey Cox and an incredibly revealing interview with Chris Packham.

As an aside, not sure what gives with him… for the most part, the guys I spent my teen years lusting after have matured into incredibly attractive men; Packham is very much the exception! Sure I am not the only one who spent the interview with my eyes closed imagining he still looked like this:

But I digress… not that you’d expect anything else from me!

It’s a fabulous show, so watch the first episode on the Iplayer now. New episodes air BBC2 Thursdays at 10pm (11.30 in NI) and are repeated on Saturdays at 11pm.

GLC: Snog Marry Avoid

Those who know me will know I do not usually indulge in nonsense television… unless it is nonsense disguised as comedy, of course.

That said, child one came running down the stairs last night in full fangirl-mode “OHMYGOD, OHMYGOD, MUM…. MUM… MUM… SNOGMARRYAVOID….NOW….GOLDIELOOKINCHAIN….QUICK” and proceeded to switch off the DVD being watched by Miss-Middle to make us all join her in watching.

It may be obvious (and certainly is to anyone with access to my ‘real-world’ Facebook) that Child One does quite like a bit of the GLC – to a worrying degree… but who am I to judge?



And so I found myself watching some of the most peculiar television I have seen since… well I don’t know… and I am aware it isn’t the most bizarre thing on right now, just that as a person with so much to fill a day I don’t indulge in the mindless drime nowadays! (and really? my ‘generic’ document-writing software is still trying to tell me Drime isn’t a word!)

But anyway… for those as ill-informed as I was, the premise is this:

A girl (it might always be a girl, maybe not – honestly I don’t intend to watch another episode, so I will never know!) walks down the street in her underwear to be picked apart over such things as:

• Her ridiculous fake tan
• Her trowel-applied make-up
• Hair resembling… well I don’t know… but definitely not hair. Actually, I do know – you know those über-fluffy cats? Imagine one of those unbrushed for about 8 years. Then think about the matted mess that would have to be clipped off once you realised you *should* have brushed it – THAT is what her hair was… only completely void of colour.
• Oh and the thing on her face that made her look as though she’d tripped and fallen into Amy Childs’ vagina…(or onto, I guess…regardless, who the hell has a vajazzled face??)

And the men/boys asked had to say which they’d rather… snog, marry or avoid her… predictably, the result was a resounding ‘avoid’ – although I would have thought the law of averages would state they’d have found a few guys who – well to be frank, would snog just because she looked pretty much a sure thing… but I guess those results are removed from the score, otherwise what would be the point?



So anyway, Miss-middle is humphing at the fact she is being made to miss her DVD for this, I am thinking about all the things I could be doing instead and Child One is squealing something about if we hang on GLC are going to be on, she promises and we can’t miss them, we have to all watch it… I have to say, I was intrigued to see what would be created of them… not only that, but if we turned off it meant the time spent watching thus far was just time spent watching a mediocre, pathetic excuse for television… so we waited.


Now here’s the thing… I am sure they don’t dress that way all the time… I mean, the whole chav thing is just an act, right? I hope it is – and have always assumed it is… if I’m wrong, well… then I worry for them all.

So that said, I can see the irony in how they were transformed. The setup was that the computer which creates the new look quite likes Take That and since they are a band and GLC are a band, that was the look for them…

So did they look like the Take Twats? No… not even vaguely resembling a poorly constructed tribute act… in fact, the impression they gave was that it was 10pm and a YFU disco somewhere was turning out for the evening.

But it was good to see them enter into the spirit of the show…which was incredibly funny indeed!

Oh and a shameless plug for their brilliant “Half Man, Half Machine”

So I will add that here - cos it's brill and they don't get anywhere near enough mainstream air time:

*Just to clarify for those who have been in touch, I was aware this isn't a new show, but I wanted to write about it, so I did... on TV right now makes it topical enough for me to talk about it! KThxBii!*

Sketchy with Diarmuid Corr

I often bemoan the fact that the I-player opens automatically on the TV page. As a listener rather than a viewer, I would like at least to be given the choice! But today I stumbled across this little gem.

I do not know if it was always there, but today there was a section of the player titled “Just For You” in which was a link to Sketchy. I must say, I think they need to expand the demographic slightly; or maybe show it somewhere other than in NI, unless of course they lie and it isn’t ‘just for me’ at all.


I very much enjoyed the show. It felt a lot like some of the comedy shows I grew up watching, with a great mix of sketches and stand-up.

In a time where the majority of the comedy characters to which we are exposed are reliant entirely on catchphrases and in-jokes, it is refreshing to see sketch-based comedy which is more heavily focussed on the writing and performance.

This show gave plenty of laughs, so you should definitely check it out!

Episode two is tomorrow (Weds) at 10:35pm on BBC One (NI) – or if that clashes with other shows you need to watch, catch it on the Iplayer any time thereafter!

Ask Rhod Gilbert

BBC 1, Wednesdays 10.45pm

Those who know me will have expected this review long ago, but it has taken many re-writes to make it not seem gushy! Much as I try to remain objective I do feel there is little these guys can do that I would not love so I have watched it over and again trying to bore myself to the point I can find something negative to say; but still I have nothing.

The show has a feel of intimacy to it, as though rather than watching people try to be funny you are just in the pub having a chat with them. With a huge array of panel shows featuring the same faces time and again each fighting for their camera time, this is a refreshing approach. And okay, nothing has really changed since the last series and I am aware I have (quite recently) criticised other shows for this very thing – but much as I hate the cliché thing: if it ain’t broke… blah blah!


This first episode featured guests David Hasseloff, Kimberley Wyatt and Phill Jupitus. I have to admit, having seen Jupitus live a few times I expected more of him than we saw in this programme, but I feel he was very much overshadowed by Hasselhoff! I have never particularly been a fan, even in the days of Knight Rider (Airwolf was more my thing, Michael Knight was far too clean-cut for my liking!) but I have to say I found him highly entertaining through this episode – not enough to persuade me to watch BGT (or X-Factor? – No it’s definitely BGT – see, researched a fact and came right back, I can do it!) but I would no longer turn a show off just because he happened to be on it.

I did notice during the first series that most of the questions posed were repeated from the brilliantly funny Irish comedy "Great Unanswered Questions" but thankfully that seems not to be the case this time around. It is far easier to roll with the jokes when you do not already know the true answer!

Ok, for some the humour might at times be a little puerile, nonsensical and juvenile but to my mind that suits the loose, easy flowing format well. This series is unpretentious and unapologetic, treating everyone with equal contempt regardless of status and as such brings out the best in its guests.


So there you are; another fabulous series! Watch it – many times – it gets funnier I assure you!


Showing Wednesday nights at the bizarre time of 10:45pm and repeated Sundays around midnight – or on the Iplayer at any time of course!


And for no other reason than to show off as usual; another of my baby's drawings!

Lee Nelson's Well Good Show

I tried to enjoy it; I honestly did.

My regular readers may remember I wrote a while ago about my inability to review something I had not enjoyed (here’s a link back to it, for those who do not remember). I do worry that giving only glowing reviews has an effect on my integrity, making me seem at best sycophantic, but having been brought up with the “if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing” attitude I find it difficult. That said, I did promise a concerted effort, so here goes!

Having been made to endure a couple of episodes of the previous series of this show, I was fully aware what to expect. Little surprise, then to see this new series follows the exact same pattern with nothing new or particularly creative added.

Obviously, I am fully aware that Nelson is purely a character and can accept that as such his attitudes and opinions are supposed to be exaggerated and affected, but I still see nothing funny in the belittling and humiliation of audience members we see in this programme.

It is a real shame, because as a character, Nelson works; Simon Brodkin’s appearances on Al Murray’s ITV series, “Multiple Personality Disorder” always had me laughing but I just find nothing in the current format worth even raising a smile.

Granted, he has great pace and energy which he maintains throughout, but this is misdirected into cruel taunts and jibes. Again, I know the comments are those of the character rather than the comedian, but still a constant flow of taunts shows little of the intelligence and writing skill of someone who has created such a potentially fantastic character.

Having grown up in the era of only one television per household, I spent much of my youth being forced to watch television comedy I really did not want to. Often, though, there would be a point during the show at which I would release a little smirk or even a chuckle in spite of myself. That, to me, is wherein the best comedy lies: something which can make its audience laugh even when they really do not want to. We have all had that moment I am sure; sitting in traffic with the window down, radio on and something is said which makes you compulsively laugh aloud to meet the confused stares of pedestrians or fellow slaves to the transport system. Those moments where you have no control of the volume or style of your laugh, they are when you know something is truly funny.

So stoically sitting to watch this programme, with my seventeen year old screeching hysterically at every last word I waited for that moment…. I am not sure how long one should ordinarily wait, but the show is a half hour long and having watched it through twice now (because I am nothing if not thorough!) I am still waiting…

Episode one is on the I-player until the end of October if you are so inclined. Next new episode is 22:30 on 1st September. If you enjoyed anything about the last series, then I guess you will equally like this one since it is a carbon print.

In the mean time, though, I have trawled around You-tube and found this for you; to my mind far more worthy of your precious time!