Four Squeamish About… episodes ordered

BBC Two has commissioned Matt Berry to make a new series of offbeat mockumentaries.

He will reunite with Father Ted co-writer Arthur Mathews – who previously wrote Toast Of London with the star – to pen the four quarter-hour specials, entitled Squeamish About…

They will be fronted by Berry’s alter-ego Michael Squeamish, as featured in last year’s mockumentary, The Road to Brexit.

As with that programme, each Squeamish About… episode will mix archive footage and voiceover to create a surreal take on the subject in hand.

The Road To Brexit attracted mixed reviews when it aired last March.

In a two-star write-up in the Guardian, Lucy Mangan complained that it ‘had the feeling of something put together in haste and without the necessary refinement, inventiveness or torque to make it work’.

But the Independent gave it five stars, saying it was ‘a very clever, very funny, very "different" parcel of bollocks to Brexit’.

Chortle split the difference, awarding three-and-a-half stars, and concluding: ‘It’s good to have a laugh that isn’t dependent upon cynical views of the political shambles, and is simply just daft instead’.

Here's a clip, also featuring Phil Wang and Natasia Demetriou as middle-class remainers:

News of Squeamish About… comes as  BBC Two announces a slew of new comedy commissions, including a full series for Sophie Willan’s Alma’s Not Normal; a one-off Charlie Brooker’s Antiviral Wipe, and a series of shorts from comics in lockdown called Comedians Playing With Themselves.

Published: 22 Apr 2020