Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive

Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive
Rob Brydon & Dave Willson on the set of Annually Retentive for Series 2 Ep. 2
Genre	Comedy, parody
Presented by	Rob Brydon
Starring	Dave Gorman Jane Moore
Country of origin	United Kingdom
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	12
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Three
Picture format	16:9
Original run	11 July 2006 (2006-07-11) – 4 June 2007 (2007-06-04)

Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive is a British television show, first aired on BBC Three in July 2006. Devised by Paul Duddridge, it concerns the making of a comedy panel game show called Annually Retentive, themed around historical events, and hosted by Welsh comedian Rob Brydon. The show is deliberately parodic, as Brydon plays a hyper-realised (and exaggeratedly nasty) version of himself, while the game show blatantly steals ideas from other, similar shows such as Have I Got News For You, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Mock The Week and QI.

Its "show within a show" format is reminiscent of The Larry Sanders Show which explored the blurring of reality and fantasy except with the focus of a talk show as opposed to a panel game. The show cuts between fictionalised scenes that see Brydon and the producers making the panel game, and scenes from the game show itself. These latter segments were filmed in full, as if Annually Retentive were a real show, in front of live audiences at BBC Television Centre who, initially, were not made aware of its intentionally derivative and uninspired nature. A good portion of the game show segments were scripted; however, the panellists were allowed to 'play out' the game as if it were real, and occasionally improvise.

The two team captains are Dave Gorman and Jane Moore.

Each episode was made available to UK viewers to watch on the BBC Three website a week before it aired. A second series began airing on Monday 30 April 2007 at 10.30pm, the 'gameshow' portion was filmed on the 11 and 12 January 2007.

The first series has been released on DVD. The second series was released on 23rd November 2009.

The theme tune used is "Reelin' In the Years" by Steely Dan, though on the DVD release the song is replaced with an original piece.

Dave Gorman stated in 2008 that a third series of the show is doubtful. In November 2009, Rob Brydon stated "Never, but you can buy the second series soon" when asked by a Twitter follower when the series would return.

Episodes guide

Series one

Air date	Episode number	Dave Gorman's team	Jane Moore's team	Also featuring
11 July 2006	1	Richard Bacon and Gail Porter	David Mitchell and Lucy Porter	Jonathan Ross
18 July 2006	2	Steve Furst and John Inverdale	Alistair McGowan and Dominik Diamond	David Walliams
25 July 2006	3	Josie D'Arby and Robert Webb	Russell Brand and Marcus Brigstocke
1 August 2006	4	Boyd Hilton and Ronni Ancona	Jo Brand and Paul Foot	Kirsten O'Brien and Dave Chapman
8 August 2006	5	Alexei Sayle and Dave Berry	Omid Djalili and Bob Mills	Sir Elton John, Kirsten O'Brien and Dave Chapman
15 August 2006	6	Trisha Goddard and Rob Deering	Gyles Brandreth and Sue Perkins

Series two

Air date	Episode number	Dave Gorman's team	Jane Moore's team	Also featuring
30 April 2007	1	Rhys Thomas and Abi Titmuss	Richard Herring and Jimmy Carr	Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford
7 May 2007	2	Dave Willson — a member of the BBC Studios lighting team, who stood in for June Sarpong after she failed to appear — and Phil Hammond	Jennie Bond and Chris Corcoran	Claudia Winkleman and Anton du Beke
14 May 2007	3	Richard Park and Olivia Lee	Griff Rhys Jones and Paul Ross	Rhys Ifans
21 May 2007	4	James Corden and Hal Cruttenden	Robin Ince and Dave Johns	Jimmy Carr
28 May 2007	5	Frankie Boyle and Kate Lawler	Russell Howard and Rory Bremner	Tim Key
4 June 2007	6

• For episode 2.6, the usual gameshow format was changed to show Brydon appearing in a mock episode of the BBC's Who Do You Think You Are? series. This episode 6 opens with the end credits of an episode of the gameshow which featured Rufus Hound, Mathew Horne and Kirsten O'Brien (they are not seen in the episode itself).

Regular cast

Hosted by

• Rob Brydon

With

• Ruth Bratt
• Dave Chapman
• Steve Furst
• Dave Gorman
• Russell Tovey
• Dominic Holland
• Sharon Horgan
• Katy Brand
• Alice Lowe
• Jane Moore
• Phil Nichol
• Kirsten O'Brien
• Dave Skinner
• Curtis Walker
• Ken Bruce (second series - voice only)

Reception

Previewing a rerun of the first series, Ed Potton for The Times said that the series "provides the perfect platform for host Brydon, playing a demonic version of himself, to mimic (often hilariously) and abuse (often brutally) his guests". Ahead of the second series, Mark Wright for The Stage said it was an "acquired taste", but he liked "the nonsense that is the panel quiz that successfully apes some of the nonsense panel games we are subjected to for real." Closing his preview for the final episode, he said: "One of the most intriguing comedies to come out of BBC3, and one that easily deserves a third commission."

See also

• The Larry Sanders Show
• It's Garry Shandling's Show
• The Show

External links

• Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive at BBC Programmes
• Rob Brydon's Annually Retentive at the Internet Movie Database