February 2011 / News Archive Home

28/02/2011 - And The Winner Is...

Despite our trip to London yesterday was mostly with myself having to hold an umbrella due to the not so fantastic weather, it was a great day! The aim of the day's trip was to be an audience member of Matt Lucas' 'And The Winner Is...' for BBC Radio 2 at the BBC Broadcasting House.

We arrived an hour before doors to the studio opened, as even though we had tickets, it was on a first come first serve basis. As an added bonus, it was great to meet some well known faces as they walk in and out of the BBC entrance whist we queued, including Matt Lucas, Sir Tim Rice and also Bill Nighy, who was doing a voiceover for an upcoming film.

By the time the doors to the security airport-style checkpoint opened, there were about 150 other ticket holders queuing behind. As the first ones in, we were sent straight to the bar, and about half an hour later, we were directed to the studio to be seated. Being at the front of the queue outside does pay off - we managed to grab the front row. The audience members started to arrive into the studio, and fifteen minutes later after everyone was seated, Matt Lucas arrived on stage to brief everyone on the show.

Each week Matt welcomes three funny guests on to the show to nominate people, places, songs, films and every other kind of thing for the "Lucases", handed out to the best, worst, funniest, ugliest and scariest - as well as every other possible superlative - before Matt decides on the winner of the coveted award. The nominations are provided by the guests - but the ultimate decision is down to the whim of the host. Who will walk off with their very own Lucas?

Matt then introduced the three members of the panel, one being Sir Tim Rice. The show got underway without any hiccups, and two and a half hours later, the show came to an end. Matt kindly stuck around after the show, and we had a nice chat and a photo opportunity session where we got to find out that the next series of Come Fly With Me will not be for the next twelve months atleast, due to other work commitments such as a six-month stint in the musical Les Mis. We also learnt that the radio show 'And The Winner Is...' will get filmed in a couple of weeks time to create a pilot episode which will be broadcast on the BBC.

23/02/2011 - Matt Lucas signs up for more Les Miserables

Matt Lucas is to appear in the West End production of long-running musical Les Miserables, the show's producer has confirmed. The three-month engagement follows his role in its 25th anniversary show at London's O2 arena in October. Lucas will play innkeeper Thernadier from 23 June to 10 September.

The comic actor will be joined in the show by tenor Alfie Boe, who will play the lead role of Jean Valjean from 23 June to 26 November. Boe and Lucas joined producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh on Wednesday to unveil a plaque commemorating Les Miserables' status as the longest-running musical in London's West End. The show, currently at the Queen's theatre, began life as a Royal Shakespeare Company production at the Barbican before moving to the Palace theatre. Les Miserables was the recipient of three prizes at Sunday's What's On Stage awards, with two for the O2 concert and one for a separate anniversary staging at the Barbican. Source.

19/02/2011 - Walliams' Doctor Who appearance

David Walliams is to star in Doctor Who - as a cowardly alien who looks like Mole from Wind in the Willows. Producers were keen to land Walliams, known for donning over-the-top make-up and outfits in Little Britain and Come Fly With Me. An insider said: "They thought he would be perfect for the role of alien Gibbis. "He is well known for his love of using prosthetics to get into character on his comedy shows, so this won't be much different for him. But it will be a lot scarier than the stuff he normally does." Walliams told The Sun he couldn't wait to star with the Time Lord, played by Matt Smith He said: "I am a huge fan of Doctor Who and am so looking forward to working with Matt and running up and down some corridors with him." The episode of the BBC sci-fi series is being penned by Being Human creator Toby Whithouse and is due to air later this year. Source 2. Source 3. Source 4.

16/02/2011 - Lou and Andy, sorry, I mean Andy and Dennis...

The Beano's Dennis the Menace met his mischief-making match when he teamed up with Little Britain’s Lou and Andy for Comic Relief. David Walliams said: "I've said yes to a lot of things in the name of Red Nose Day but this was by far the least painful." He continued: "No swimming cap, no cycling shorts, I didn't even have to pick up a pencil - the Beano team did all the work. Lou and Andy have now fulfilled every boy's childhood dream - to hang out with Dennis the Menace in Beano Town. I can't wait to see who was a bigger menace, Dennis or Andy." The special edition of the Beano is on sale now.

15/02/2011 - David Walliams to face Red Nose Day challenge

David Walliams is bringing his love of tough endurance challenges to his day job when he takes on the role of anchoring the UK's first ever 24-hour panel show for Red Nose Day – a live online event that will then broadcast on both BBC Three and BBC One.

24 Hour Panel People is set to be an incredible one-off occasion that will require David to be at his comedic best for 24 hours as throughout the day he switches between the roles of host, team captain and panellist, along with some other surprising challenges as well.

Joining him are some of the nation's top comedians celebrating some of the most famous and best loved panel shows from TV and radio, including Have I Got News For You, Celebrity Juice, They Think It's All Over, Never Mind The Buzzcocks, 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Just A Minute and many more.

There will also be variety of bespoke 24 Hour Panel People rounds. A huge team of comics will rotate throughout the course of the challenge, as hosts, team captains and panellists. Those taking part include Sean Lock, Jason Manford and Leigh Francis.

The whole 24-hour panel marathon will stream live on bbc.co.uk/rednoseday on the weekend of 5 and 6 March and will then be edited down to 5 x 30-minute shows for BBC Three to air in the run-up to the night of Comic Relief on Friday 18 March. Red Nose night will also broadcast highlights throughout the night on BBC One.

David Walliams, who famously swam the Channel, the Gibraltar Strait and led a team of celebrity cyclists on a non-stop Land's End to John O'Groats relay for Sport Relief, will yet again rise to the occasion in a bid to raise money for Red Nose Day. But if he thought those physical tests of endurance were hard, he's seen nothing yet as he paces himself to produce non-stop comedy gold for a gruelling 24 hours.

David Walliams said: "This is an amazing challenge. I just hope I don't fall asleep or burst into tears." Source.

12/02/2011 - Airline couple fly into the limelight after TV take-off

They're the real-life high-flying couple who give the lie to the squabbling husband-and-wife pilots portrayed in comedy Come Fly With Me. Debi and Jonathan Peskitt, from Rhoose Point near Cardiff Airport, have spent the past five years working together for budget airline bmibaby.

Debi is a first officer and Jonathan is a captain, meaning that flying together is part of the job. Yet, although the couple don’t always share a cockpit, it hasn’t stopped them from receiving a lot of teasing from fellow aircrew after comedy series Come Fly With Me featured bickering married couple Simon and Jackie Trent, played by duo Matt Lucas and David Walliams.

Debi, 37, who is originally from Buckinghamshire, first met Newcastle-born Jonathan when they were cadets at bmibaby nearly 10 years ago, but the pair only got together in 2006 and married seven months later. More info...

09/02/2011 - Matt Lucas is heading to the West End

Matt Lucas is following in the mighty footsteps of S Club 7 singer Jon Lee by landing a dream role in West End show Les Miserables. The Little Britain star will play ruthless villain Thenardier after impressing bosses with his one-off performance at the musical's 25th anniversary show in December. He's been given a six-month contract in the production, which is on at the Queen's Theatre in Shaftesbury Avenue. Dates to be announced.

08/02/2011 - Come Fly on the Wall, tonight on BBC1 at 10.35pm

Come Fly On The Wall takes a look at the making of Come Fly With Me. This one-off special goes behind the scenes of the new airport-based mockumentary and talks directly to its creators as they develop the series from pre-production discussions and rehearsals to filming at some of the UK's busiest airports. Viewers see Matt and David transforming into their new characters in the make-up chair, and bringing them to life in front of the camera. They also chat with interviewer Mark Lawson about the new series and give an insight into their working relationship and how it has developed over the years.

This hour-long series special airs tonight on BBC1 at 10.35pm and will be repeated on Wednesday 9th February 2011 at 9.30pm on BBC Three. Alternatively, you can watch online after broadcast.

And The Winner Is...

Matt Lucas is currently in the process of recording his new Radio 2 panel show (with the first recording session being last night with guest Graham Norton), 'And The Winner Is...' (This show has not yet been broadcast.)

Matt Lucas presents his very own comedy show. Matt and his guests will be handing out the most prestigious awards of the year - 'The Lucases'.

Each week Matt welcomes three funny guests on to the show to nominate people, places, songs, films and every other kind of thing for the Lucases, handed out to the best, worst, funniest, ugliest and scariest - as well as every other possible superlative - before Matt decides on the winner of the coveted award. The nominations are provided by the guests - but the ultimate decision is down to the whim of the host. Who will walk off with their very own Lucas?

The creator of littlebritainfans.com has been invited along to a recording session in a couple of weeks (special guests to be announced), where we will document the day's recording session soon after, right here.

06/02/2011 - Matt Lucas talks about Elton John, Shakespeare and gnomes

It's almost a shock when Matt Lucas turns up as himself, as we’re so used to him as the man of many faces. In the BBC1 mockumentary Come Fly With Me, he dresses up as Precious, the black woman who runs the coffee kiosk, demanding elderly passenger Hetty and check-in girl Keeley. All this transformation takes hours in the make-up chair, as revealed in Tuesday’s documentary Come Fly On The Wall. So it came as a pleasant relief for Matt when a role required him to do absolutely nothing to his appearance. Because even though he’s playing – wait for it – a garden gnome, Matt just had to provide his voice. He stars in the new animated film Gnomeo and Juliet, which opens on Friday. Full story...

04/02/2011 - Hectic schedule ahead for David Walliams

This morning, we exclusively announced some of David's hectic plans for the upcoming year over on Twitter, which brought in thousands of comments (thank you for those by the way!)

David Walliams was co-hosting with Chris Evans throughout this morning on BBC Radio 2, in which we got to hear some of his upcoming projects:

David to swim 200-miles along river Thames

David Walliams is to swim around 200 miles - along the length of the River Thames. The funnyman has previously swum across the English Channel and cycled the length of Britain for charity challenges. He announced that his next endurance test will see him following the course of the river from its source in the Cotswolds. Walliams's challenge is to be staged for Sport Relief and will begin in September.

The star, who married model Lara Stone last year, revealed the mammoth journey as he spoke to Chris Evans on Radio 2. The river is around 215 miles long although it is not possible to swim the entire length of the route. He joked: "You've got to walk the first (part) or run or jog - that's probably what I'll do, I'll jog. I'll jog when the cameras are on me and when they're off me I'll start walking."

David to host 24-hour TV panel show

Walliams will be taking part in a challenge for next month's Comic Relief activities, which will see him hosting a TV panel shows for 24 hours.

He said: "I'm going to be presenting a panel show for 24 hours. Basically all the current panel shows, Have I Got News For You, (Never Mind The) Buzzcocks, 8 Out Of 10 Cats - I'll be presenting all of them for a 24-hour period so I don't know how I'm going to be after about 12 hours - probably asleep.

"That's going to be streamed live and then highlights are going to be on the BBC on the night."

Fake That

David Walliams is set to launch a Take That tribute act as part of this year's Comic Relief. During an appearance on BBC Radio 2 this morning, the actor said he was currently casting people for the group, dubbed Fake That.

Walliams said he was hoping his Little Britain co-star Matt Lucas would be part of the line-up, while James Corden is earmarked to play Gary Barlow. Asked why he had chosen the Gavin & Stacey star to play Barlow, Walliams replied: “Because he’s sort of like how Gary Barlow used to look in the fallow period of before reforming Take That.”

"Fake That" tribute band are expected to perform with the real Take That during Comic Relief night, March 18th.

Doctor Who appearance

David will be making an appearance as an alien in Doctor Who in the near future. Filming begins in a few weeks.

New book deal

David's next children's book (title tbc) will be out in October.

03/02/2011 - Matt Lucas to be interviewed by Alex Zane

Alex Zane’s Guest List returns for its fifth series on Sky Movies Premiere / HD with a stellar line-up of guests including Matt Lucas, Jason Bateman and Sigourney Weaver. Zane’s movie-focused chat show will air on Sky Movies Premiere/HD every Thursday at 7.30pm, starting on 10 February. Guests will join movie aficionado, critic and presenter Alex for a compelling half-hour interview in which they share the movies which have special significance to them.

The series’ first guest this term is comedian, screenwriter and actor Matt Lucas. Having made a name for himself with his critically acclaimed comedy Little Britain, Lucas has gone on to enjoy a glittering Hollywood career which has seen him star alongside Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter in Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland and James McAvoy, Emily Blunt and Sir Michael Caine in Elton John’s Disney animation Gnomeo & Juliet. Lucas will discuss his own career and the films that inspired it in the first episode of Alex Zane’s Guest List which airs at 7.30pm on Thursday 10 February on Sky Movies Premiere/HD. More info...

02/02/2011 - David Walliams to co-host BBC Radio 2 this Friday

From 0800 on Friday 4 February, pop along to the Radio 2 website to watch David in the studio with Chris and the team via our world famous 'bank of cameras'. He'll take on Top Tenuous and struggle not to crown Moira the winner of Head To Headlines like all our other guests. He'll also be talking about writing and giving out his top tips to all the budding authors out there. As well as watching all the action, you'll be able to join the Breakfast Show chatroom to talk to other fans. So don't forget to save the date - we'll see you here at 0800 on Friday morning!

BBC Radio 2 have informed us that they will be running a live chat during Friday morning so people can come, add comments, chat and interact with the studio via the website, and photos will be published on the day too. If you miss any of Friday's live show, don't forget, you can also catch it on BBC iPlayer for up to one week.

01/02/2011 - Come Fly With Me heading to America and Australia

The Nine Network have picked up the rights to Come Fly with Me as well as BBC America who will also be showing series one of Matt Lucas and David Walliams' airport mockumentary. Schedule to be announced.