That Mitchell and Webb Look

That Mitchell and Webb Look
Starring	David Mitchell Robert Webb Olivia Colman Paterson Joseph
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	18
Production
Executive producers	Kenton Allen, Jon Plowman
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC Two BBC HD (2008-present)
Release	14 September 2006 – present

File:Numberwang.jpg

Robert Webb as the host of Numberwang

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 three six-part series. The first episode of the third series aired on June 11 2009. The first episode originally aired 14 September 2006 on BBC Two. A second series was commissioned later that same year. 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. 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, Jonathan Dryden Taylor, Joel Morris, Jason Hazeley and John Finnemore. It is produced by Gareth Edwards. Other cast members include Olivia Colman, James Bachman, Mark Evans, Abigail Burdess, Gus Brown, Sarah Hadland and Paterson Joseph.

The third series began on 11 June 2009 on BBC Two.

Recurring sketches

• Numberwang - a deliberately nonsensical game show, starring Robert Webb as the ebullient presenter, and two seemingly permanent contestants, Simon and Julie (Paterson Joseph and Olivia Coleman). The game itself involves calling out random numbers until the host declares "That's Numberwang!", although what constitutes a Numberwang or how it is achieved is never explained. Midway through the game, before the final "Wangernumb" round, the board the contestants are seated on is randomly rotated, briefly revealing a non sequitur scene, such as the birth of Jesus or two soldiers playing Russian roulette with a loaded pistol. Related sketches have included a German version presented by David Mitchell, a spinoff using words entitled Wordwang, a documentary on the history of the show, a trailer for a film called The Numberwang Code, and an advert showcasing a home version of the game (featuring a small pair of 400-sided dice and a 37 volume set of rulebooks).

• The Quiz Broadcast - A television game show transmitted by the British Emergency Broadcasting Service in the year 2013 some time after "The Event", a never-explained incident which led to the apocalypse approximately two years before. As "The Event" destroyed much knowledge of the previous society, many of the questions asked either have unknown answers or blatantly incorrect answers accepted as correct. Prizes can be won in the "Conveyor Belt Round" (in parody of The Generation Game), where contestants can win prizes by correctly recalling them after being presented them carried by staff (as no one knows how to operate the conveyor belt itself). Prizes in the round include fuel, food, tablets (of both medicinal and holy varieties), various stones, items that are unknown to post-Event society, and plush toys of "frightening animals." Other rounds have include the "Film Round" (where contestants try to guess what happened next in the only surviving video from before "The Event"), and "Sudden Death" (shortly after this round was announced, a contestant suddenly passed out). The broadcast contains continuing messages for viewers to "stay indoors".

• Ted and Peter - A pair of alcoholic, chain-smoking snooker commentators, known for their absurd banter and dishevelled appearances. Ted is played by David Mitchell and Peter by Robert Webb. They seem more interested in swapping anecdotes about the players than covering the game at hand, and these exchanges are sometimes laced with homoerotic overtones, such as when Ted delivers a short monologue praising one competitors prettiness, causing Peter to ejaculate. In a later episode Peter comes out as gay, a decision he discusses with Ted, who admits to having been homophobic before meeting his colleague.

• The Surprising Adventures of Sir Digby Chicken Caesar - A drunken, drug-addled tramp played by Robert Webb, who seems to be under the impression that he is a brilliant and intrepid Victorian detective, in the style of Sherlock Holmes. He and his companion Ginger - another derelict, played by David Mitchell, who serves as his Dr. Watson - commit various crimes (usually either theft or petty assault) whilst supposedly engaging in battle against the henchmen of their so-called "nemesis", a vague and undefined entity described simply as "some bastard who is presumably responsible". The sketch often ends with the pair being chased by somebody they've fleeced to the tune of Devil's Gallop. Although Sir Digby's past remains a mystery throughout the show, Ginger is provided with a certain amount of backstory. In one episode he alludes to having been sexually abused and repeatedly asphyxiated by his father, while in the third series we learn that his real name is Guy Pelly, and that he once had a wife and 12-year-old daughter whom he lost (and has since seemingly forgotten about) as a result of his severe alcoholism.

• Big Talk - A debate show in the same vein as Question Time and hosted by the confrontational Raymond Terrific (Robert Webb), who loudly bullies his panel of so-called "boffins" into giving yes or no answers to huge social and philosophical questions (i.e. "is there a God?"). The bemused panel then try and reason with him by starting a sensible discussion, but never to any avail. In one episode Big Talk underwent a format experiment whereby, instead of the usual boffins, mindless 'celebrities' were brought on to discuss laughably small matters (i.e. "how's your day been?"); this new version was appropriately called Small Talk, and the embittered Raymond Terrific frequently voiced his disapproval of the change being foisted upon him throughout.

• The Party Planners - A couple, played by Mitchell and Webb, discussing who to invite to their next party. The list is usually comprised of either historical figures or fictional characters, such as in one episode when they decide to ask Moneypenny along, but then worry that she may bring James Bond with her. The humour is derived from the way they sneer at the prospective guest's behaviour at previous parties; for instance, whilst deciding weather or not to invite the Scooby-Doo gang, they deride Shaggy Rogers' excessive eating habits and general cowardliness.

• The British Broadcasting Corporation - An old fashioned black and white broadcast, in which characters talk about the wonders of the new medium of television, and how it enables people to see them talking to each other, or if it works like a telephone, but as 4 of the 5 televisions were in use at the centre, they were not sure if they were hearing through television or an open door.

• Barry Crisp - Crisp (Mitchell) 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 "She/He's gone, they're all gone, and we're back!" Jobs have included being a vicar, waiter and a tailor.

• The Helivets - A pair of heroes clad in pink jumpsuits who claim they can rescue any pet in peril. A parody of TV shows following the Emergency Services.

• Lazy film/TV writers - In a parody of film and TV genres, two script writers, John Gibson (Webb) and Andrew Turner (Mitchell), can never be bothered to be original for their next project. Instead, they pick a genre, take its signature aspects, and put them together, to create something that is clearly a cheap cash-in on the genre. For example, in series 2 episode 3, they endeavored to write an "underdog" sport film about cricket despite knowing nothing about the sport.

• Colin and Ray - Webb and Mitchell are co-workers in the same office, who 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 sale - A car boot seller (Webb), amongst the normal tat, has unique items, such as the Holy Grail and the Wardrobe from the Chronicles of Narnia books, at ridiculously low prices.

• Get Me Hennimore! - A parody of 1970s sitcoms, each episode featuring Hennimore (Webb) being given an important task by his boss (Mitchell) which always ends in disaster due to Hennimore's often understandable confusion as the items and rooms he must not mix up actually look identical. For example, in one episode he is told that a group of Korean chefs in Room 1 should not come into contact with a group of dog lovers in Room I, but the room signs get mixed up.

• Food Advertisements - A series of parodies of some already heavily over-advertised foodstuffs (these aired in series 3). For example, a parody of Lucozade shows a runner drinking a bottle of 'Glucozade Port', the world's first alcoholic, isotonic drink or Cressps, which taste terrible despite the slogan Once you cressp you can't splessp whereas another advertises 'Mar-mitts' Marmite flavoured gloves that are 'completely unsuitable for human consumption' and finishes with Webb collapsing and Bachmann announcing "I think he's dead!"

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?"

A pilot for the show was filmed on 27 January, 2006 at BBC Television Centre, with a full series being later commissioned. 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.

Following the first 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.

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 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.

Two preview nights for series three were announced on 30 June, 2008 on the BBC Tickets website; all tickets were booked in less than 24 hours. The first preview night took place on 13 July, 2008 at The Drill Hall, with the second held there on 10 August, 2008. Two audience recording sessions at Television Centre — with additional live sketches — were announced on 3 October 2008, and took place on 31 October and 7 November, 2008, again in high-definition in studio TC8. A third recording session at the BBC Radio Theatre was announced on 10 October, 2008, taking place on 18 November, 2008. Then came again at 2009

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. However, the show did go on to receive a BAFTA in 2007, in the category "Best comedy programme or series".

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 was released on DVD in the UK on 20 October, 2008.

The third series was released on DVD in the UK on 20 July, 2009.

Worldwide broadcast

Region	Channel
United Kingdom	BBC2 / BBC HD/ Dave (TV channel)
Israel	Yes stars Comedy
Australia	ABC
Arab League	ShowComedy
Canada	bold
Sweden	TV4 Komedi
Finland	Sub (TV channel)
Denmark	DR2
United States	BBC America
Netherlands	Nederland 3
South Africa	BBC Entertainment
Argentina	Film&Arts

External links

• That Mitchell and Webb Look at BBC Online
• That Mitchell and Webb Look at IMDb
• That Mitchell and Webb Look at the British Comedy Guide
• Template:TV.com
• Numberwang at UKGameshows.com