{"id":624787,"date":"2026-09-14T22:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T22:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/624787\/"},"modified":"2026-09-14T22:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-14T22:30:10","slug":"how-comedy-show-mock-the-week-found-new-life-on-tlc-after-bbc-cancellation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/624787\/","title":{"rendered":"How Comedy Show ‘Mock the Week’ Found New Life on TLC After BBC Cancellation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWhen long-running BBC comedy show \u201cMock the Week\u201d returned to television screens<\/a> after a three-year hiatus this past spring, fans may have noticed some changes: not only was the show longer and \u201clooser\u201d but it was also airing on TLC, the Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a>-owned network.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was also a surprise for me that it was TLC,\u201d says comedian Rhys James, a regular on the series. \u201cThe first episode back was just loads of jokes about \u2018Where are we?\u2019 \u2018Where have we woken up out of this coma?\u2019 but TLC were well up for having a laugh about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCreated by Dan Patterson and Mark Leveson in 2005, \u201cMock the Week\u201d originally debuted on the BBC, where it spent 17 years until it was axed in 2022 due to budget cuts. But this past February the satirical news show (think \u201cSNL\u2019s\u201d Weekend Update but more off the cuff) finally returned with a new length \u2014 45 minutes instead of 30, excluding ad breaks \u2014 and slightly different feel after it was resurrected by TLC.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI sort of expected it to be wildly different, but it\u2019s not,\u201d says comedian and fellow regular Angela Barnes, who made her first appearance on the show in 2014. \u201cThe set feels like home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNot only was the set largely the same but so was host Dara \u00d3 Briain, who has been the face of \u201cMock the Week\u201d since it launched in the pre-iPhone era. \u201cIt has been a journey,\u201d \u00d3 Briain says of the two decades he\u2019s worked on the show.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith such a venerable IP, it may have seemed nabbing the show from under the BBC\u2019s nose was a no-brainer but Patterson admits there were never any guarantees \u201cMock the Week\u201d would return to screens after it was axed. Hopes that Channel 4 or U.K. TV might pick it up fell through, as did a U.S. version<\/a> for Amazon, \u201cSo we sat there for a long time without it,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\n\tBy the time TLC (formerly The Learning Channel) finally called, he was doubtful they\u2019d make a real offer. But not only was it real, they revealed they wanted to relaunch TLC as a free-to-air comedy and entertainment-focused channel with \u201cMock the Week\u201d as their flagship show. \u201cIt was like, \u2018Let me think about that. [It\u2019s a] yes,\u2019\u201d Patterson says without missing a beat. (He adds a U.S. version is still in discussion).<\/p>\n

\n\tFor TLC, a venerable IP with a built-in audience might have seemed like an obvious choice, but Graham Lafferty, SVP for content strategy & networks for WBD U.K. & Ireland, say it was \u201cmore risky than it may have looked\u201d since they wouldn\u2019t be able to deliver \u201cBBC numbers\u201d in terms of ratings (the BBC being the most prominent broadcaster in the U.K.) and the format would need to change slightly to accommodate commercial breaks (as the BBC is publicly funded it has no commercials). But with the show\u2019s proven audience and the fact that news viewing is \u201cthrough the roof\u201d more generally, a satirical news discussion show was deemed worth the risk.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a way, the three-year hiatus was also helpful. \u201cI do think absence makes the heart grow fonder,\u201d says Patterson, pointing out that if the show had been picked up just a few months after being canceled on the BBC, people might have been more negative about it. \u201cIt just looks like we\u2019re taking their leftovers,\u201d he says. \u201cWhereas with this, we\u2019re not sloppy seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe ratings have borne that out. \u201cMock the Week\u201d Season 1, which launched in February and ran for nine episodes (the season finale was a special), peaked with 337,000 viewers for episode 5, more than the highest-rated episode of \u201cSNL U.K.,\u201d which launched the same weekend that \u201cMock the Week\u201d wrapped. Both shows returned for a second season this past weekend: \u201cSNL U.K.\u201d on Saturday Sept. 12<\/a> and \u201cMock the Week\u201d on Sunday Sept. 13. They will both air weekly, on Sky and TLC respectively, although \u201cSNL U.K.\u201d has a number of hiatus weeks built in.<\/p>\n

\n\tInterestingly, Lafferty says it isn\u2019t just the viewing figures for \u201cMock the Week\u201d but also the audience profile that ticks the right boxes, given TLC is a commercial channel that relies on ad sales. In fact, he was so happy with the results of the first season he quickly ordered a summer special plus four more seasons, taking the show through to Season 5 in 2027. \u201cIt is hard these days to cut through,\u201d Lafferty says. \u201cSo if you have something successful, double down on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe commercials are also why the show was extended to around 45 minutes from 30, which has subtly changed its rhythm, mostly for the better, the comedians agree. \u201cI think it\u2019s got looser,\u201d says James. \u201cBy looser I mean more conversational. It goes with the flow a bit more, people are a bit more present.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPatterson agrees, although said he had a few sleepless nights about the extra 15 minutes before they launched. \u201cI thought it worked at 30 minutes but actually, necessity being what it is, we had to expand it, and I think that\u2019s worked well,\u201d he explains. \u201cPartly because the whole show breathes a little bit more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThat one change has also had the knock-on effect of making the show more collegiate. James, \u00d3 Briain and Barnes all say that when it first started, \u201cMock the Week\u201d had a reputation for predominantly male comedians talking over each other as they each tried to get in their best jokes. That has now dissipated almost entirely. As well as the longer format, James puts it down to the fact most comedians now have podcasts, so they\u2019re better at listening, while \u00d3 Briain thinks it might be age and experience that have simply made them more mellow. <\/p>\n

\n\tWhatever the reason, \u201cit just feels like a better show for it,\u201d says Barnes. \u201cJust more balanced, a different energy, and it isn\u2019t that sort of alpha male fest that it used to be.\u201d (The show also features more female comedians).<\/p>\n

\n\tThat collegiate feeling may also stem from the fact there\u2019s currently something of a new dawn for comedy<\/a> on television, with the return of \u201cMock the Week,\u201d the launch of \u201cSNL U.K.\u201d earlier this year and the success of \u201cL.O.L: Last One Laughing\u201d on Prime Video. TLC in particular is building its slate around comedy, and recently commissioned a host of new shows<\/a> including a Top Trumps-themed panel show hosted by comedian Katherine Ryan and a second season of \u201cUnacceptable,\u201d which is fronted by Ed Gamble<\/a> and was renewed for a second season before the first had even launched.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u00d3 Briain says he\u2019s witnessed the repeated waxing and waning of comedy commissions throughout his career but even he has been surprised by the strength of feeling surrounding the return of \u201cMock the Week,\u201d particularly from TLC itself. \u201cTheir enthusiasm is incredibly infectious,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd the audience are happy to see us back. So it\u2019s a very positive thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When long-running BBC comedy show \u201cMock the Week\u201d returned to television screens after a three-year hiatus this past…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":624788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282,12481],"class_list":["post-624787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv","tag-warner-bros-discovery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=624787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/624787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/624788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=624787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=624787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=624787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}