That Mitchell and Webb Look

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That Mitchell and Webb Look
Format	Comedy sketch show
Starring	David Mitchell Robert Webb Olivia Colman
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Language(s)	English
No. of episodes	12
Production
Executive producer(s)	Kenton Allen, Jon Plowman
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Two BBC HD (2008)
Original run	September 14, 2006 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

That Mitchell and Webb Look is a BAFTA award winning British television sketch show starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb, that has currently run for two six-part series. The first episode originally aired 14 September 2006 on BBC Two.^[1] A second series was commissioned later that same year.^[2] The second series, consisting of six episodes, aired on BBC Two from 21 February 2008 to 27 March 2008 and was simulcast on BBC HD.^[3] Many of its characters and sketches are first featured in the duo's radio show That Mitchell and Webb Sound.

It is directed by David Kerr, who also directed Mitchell and Webb's previous television sketch show The Mitchell and Webb Situation. As well as Mitchell and Webb themselves, the writers include Jesse Armstrong, James Bachman, Sam Bain, Mark Evans, Toby Davies, Chris Pell and John Finnemore. It is produced by Gareth Edwards. Other cast members include Olivia Colman, James Bachman, Mark Evans, Abigail Burdess, Gus Brown, and Paterson Joseph.

Contents 1 Recurring sketches 2 Production 3 Reception 4 DVD release 5 Worldwide broadcast 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Recurring sketches

Here follows a list of reccurring sketches in the series.

Ted and Peter, a parody of television snooker commentary. Ted and Peter (Mitchell and Webb respectively) are a pair of jaded ex-players, who are generally more interested in getting drunk than actually commenting on the match. Their commentary comprises mainly revelations of bad habits, infidelities or crimes committed by players, mixed with mildly homoerotic praise of the players' style and looks. Every single sketch begins with Ted saying "Oh, and that's a bad miss" with the exception of the final episode in the series where Ted says "Oh, and that's a...cracking pot!"

Numberwang, a parody of game shows, with a presenter played by Webb. The game involves two contestants calling out random numbers, until the presenter announces: "That's Numberwang!"; the contestants are always "Julie" and "Simon", played by Olivia Colman and Paterson Joseph, respectively. Partway through the game, the area where the contestants sit rotates, briefly revealing something else (such as a Nativity scene) before returning to where it started.

Episode 5 featured a version done entirely in German, titled "Nümberwang", with Mitchell as the host, while Episode 6 featured a spin-off entitled "Wordwang", in which the contestants guessed random words instead of numbers. Numberwang was reintroduced in Series 2, including a trailer for a film based on Numberwang ("The Numberwang Code"), parodying The Da Vinci Code and the "Numberwang play Numberwang at home Numberwang board game", parodying popular quiz show board games. Also, in the last episode of the second series, one sketch was about the history of Numberwang. It showed that Numberwang was invented by Bertrand Russell leaving one room and entering another then randomly exclaiming: "That's Numberwang!".

The Party Planners, who prepare a party guest list, and realise that one of their guests will bring along a famous literary or historical figure such as James Bond and Scooby-Doo

Big Talk, hosted by Raymond Terrific (Webb), who shouts at his panel of "boffins", demanding they solve the world's problems. The experts try to solve these in a calm-headed way, while Raymond yells at them to get results faster. Raymond also chaired (extremely unwillingly) a spin-off called Small Talk, in which a panel of mindless celebrities discussed 'matters of no importance', such as "What is your favourite flavour of crisp?", although he visably detested it.

The Surprising Adventures of Sir Digby Chicken Caesar (Webb), and his sidekick Ginger (Mitchell), who believe that they are a pair of detectives in the style of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson when in fact they are drunken tramps. They are so poor that they have to hum their own theme tune (Devil's Gallop), which is usually sung as the intrepid duo are escaping from a crime scene. This purposely recall the classic radio programme Dick Barton - Special Agent, where Barton and his sidekick solve crimes. They believe that plots are constantly being hatched against them by their "nemesis" described as "some bastard who is presumably responsible". Henchmen of their nemesis turn up in the shape of the police or whoever stumbles in front of them. Sir Digby first appeared on radio in the show's precursor, "That Mitchell and Webb Sound" but was known then as Sir Digby Caesar-Salad.

The British Broadcasting Network, an old fashioned black and white broadcast, in which two characters constantly talk about the wonders of the new medium of television, and how it enables people to see them talking to each other.

Barry Crisp (Mitchell), who runs a range of attractions which are all unsafe, including charging £2 to jump off a cliff, or offering the chance to swim with a great white shark but with the shark inside the cage along with the diver. His middle class customer (Webb) assumes everything is "fine" because Barry has a sign, so it must be legitimate, and is seemingly oblivious to the obvious danger, always eventually agreeing to take part, much to Barry's surprise.

The Honeymoon's Over. Mitchell plays a rude, mean, condescending man who takes a variety of different jobs, in all of which he does his best to demean his customers (Webb and Colman) and make them feel uncomfortable and inferior. When Webb and Colman ask about the nice people they had seen in a previous visit Mitchell would always reply "(S)he's gone, they're all gone, and we're back!"

The Helivets, a pair of heroes clad in pink jumpsuits who claim they can rescue any Pet in Peril, however, whilst Robert Webb talks in an overly positive manner, David Mitchell repeats the line 'It's Dead'. A parody of TV shows following the Emergency Services. (introduced in series 2)^[4]

The Lazy Film Writers, a parody of film genres. The lazy film writers can never be bothered to think of something new for their next film or TV project, so they take the bits out one genre that everyone recognises, and make their own, rather rubbish film. For example, in series 2 episode 3, they endeavored to write an "underdog" sport film about cricket (despite knowing nothing about it) which was a parody of a number of similar British films such as Wimbledon and Brassed Off.

Colin and Ray (Webb and Mitchell), co-workers in the same office, that have different jobs which tend to involve extraordinary plots. Colin works as a hostage negotiator, while Ray writes the plots to pornographic films.

Car Boot, a car boot seller (Webb) who, amongst the normal tat, has unique items, such as the Holy Grail and the Wardrobe from the Narnia books, at ridiculously low prices.

[edit] Production

The show follows on from the duo's earlier TV series The Mitchell and Webb Situation, and is an extension of their Radio 4 sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Sound. The show's producer Gareth Edwards commented that the show's pitch to the BBC "was the shortest pitch I've ever written", citing that the show "has worked on the radio, just like Little Britain worked on the radio and Dead Ringers worked on the radio, and they transferred successfully to TV, so why don't you [the BBC] transfer this one to TV as well?"^[1]

A pilot for the show was filmed on 27 January 2006 at BBC Television Centre,^[5] with a full series being later commissioned.^[6] Preview nights for the show were held at The Drill Hall in London on 11 January 2006 and 20 March 2006, and at Ginglik in Shepherd's Bush in London on 14 May 2006 and 21 May 2006. These took the form of a radio recording, with verbal prompting to the audience for any visual element that would be required. The series was shot on location in June 2006 and three audience recording sessions were held in Studio 4 at BBC Television Centre on 14 July 2006, 21 July 2006 and 28 July 2006.

A preview night for the second series was held on 18 May 2007 at The Drill Hall in London. This series was shot in high-definition^[7] on location during June/July 2007 and three studio recordings with an audience were held at TC8 in Television Centre on 3 August, 10 August and 17 August 2007.

Following the series, the pair went on a tour of forty-four UK venues between October and December 2006, entitled The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb, featuring many of the same sketches as That Mitchell and Webb Look.

[edit] Reception

The show was nominated for two British Comedy Awards in 2006, in the categories of "Britain's Best New TV Comedy" and the "Highland Spring People's Choice", it won neither of the awards.^[8] However, the show did go on to receive a BAFTA in 2007, in the category "Best comedy programme or series".^[9]

[edit] DVD release

The first series was released on DVD in the UK on 29 October 2007. Extras include Outtakes, Behind the Scenes footage and a Mitchell & Webb documentary.

The second series will be released on DVD in the UK on 15 June 2008.

[edit] Worldwide broadcast

Region	Channel
United Kingdom	BBC2 / BBC HD
Australia	ABC1
Canada	CBC Country Canada
Sweden	TV400
Denmark	DR2
United States	BBC America[10]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• That Mitchell and Webb Look at bbc.co.uk
• That Mitchell and Webb Look at the Internet Movie Database
• That Mitchell and Webb Look at TV.com
• Numberwang at UKGameshows.com

v • d • e Mitchell and Webb Members David Mitchell  · Robert Webb TV shows Bruiser  · The Mitchell and Webb Situation  · Peep Show  · That Mitchell and Webb Look Radio shows That Mitchell and Webb Sound Tours The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb Films Magicians See also: Get a Mac  · Olivia Colman  · James Bachman  · Paterson Joseph