Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe

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Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe

4 / 5

Series: 3

Aired: 2013 - present

Channel: BBC Two

Writer: Charlie Brooker

Cast: Charlie Brooker, Al Campbell, Diane Morgan, Limmy, Jake Yapp et al

Versions: Weekly Wipe, Screenwipe (BBC Four), Gamewipe, Newswipe

I'd put this in the same kind of laugh-and-learn category as The Revolution Will Be Televised and Have I Got News For You. I am forever trying to understand politics, yet they themselves haven't quite come up with a way of explaining it to the common man on the street: I'm sure they prefer it that way. If we understand politics they wouldn't have such a stranglehold on us all.

Whilst not solely a comedy show about politics, it does include that kind of thing within its scope: Charlie Brooker is a successful satirist and writer for many comedies (though I confess to have seen none of them). I was under the impression, the terrible impression, that I did not like Charlie Brooker. I cannot understand why this may have been the case, because Weekly Wipe is one of the best shows around at the moment and I only wish the BBC would get off it's arse and give more than six episodes to quality television, instead of trying to show us what working at KFC is like.

I use comedy for lots of different things: to cheer me up, to remind me of why I'm here, to remind me of what I can and will do, to tell me a story, to escape and to learn. Weekly Wipe combines satire and commentary to filter through the weeks television-both fictional programmes and news items-and Brooker goes to town on them. He has a satirical comedy edge that is reminiscent of Jack Dee mixed with Paul Merton; a kind of angry, unimpressed outward appearance with a verve deep inside that breaks through almost unwillingly.

Weekly Wipe has a great format and the set is pretty much perfect. At first we see Charlie sitting behind a desk alá the news as he introduces the programme, and then we transfer to an imagined front room where he sits, often surrounded by the paraphernalia and chattels that one would expect to find around a TV consumer (empty beer cans, food containers and remote controls).

There are also add-in segments from other contributors, commenting on aspects of television in their own way. Diane Morgan plays a character called Philomena Cunk, an investigative journalist who interviews real-life experts in the most naive, amateur manner. It can sometimes be crude, as the name Philomena Cunk illustrates, but it is intellectual in a way that Politicans can't quite seem to grasp. Comedy and Education go together far often than you may think.