Semi-improvised show about street entertainers

Musical comedian Huge Davies has made a semi-improvised Channel 4 comedy about buskers

The Artists includes hidden-camera footage of the fictional street entertainers interacting with unsuspecting members of the public.

The three-part, short-form series also features fellow comics Helen Bauer, Sunil Patel, Neil O'Rourke and Sinead Parker, from the double act Norris & Parker.

Bauer plays a human statue, Patel is a magician, O'Rourke an escapologist and Parker is an interpretative dancer.  Stand-up Travis Jay also has a role as a council worker.

Channel 4 digital commissioning executive Thomas Pullen said the series was ‘shot almost like a nature doc where our buskers are like rare endangered species’.

'We are always looking for new ways to play with the form of established genres in our digital content and [programme-makers] Spirit Studios and Huge have really delivered, taking us into the world of these quirky, comical characters.

Davies added: 'I’ve loved every minute of making this show with some of my best friends in front and behind the camera. Thanks to Spirit Studios who had my back from the start and thanks to Channel 4 for taking the plunge.

'I was across 99 per cent of all of this so if it’s no good, there almost no one else to blame.'

The Artists is set in the fictional town of Wybridge,w hich the characters see as an underground artistic haven where they can  perform their ‘culturally significant’ and ‘ground-breaking’ street performances. In reality, its residents are utterly indifferent to the talent in their midst.

The series will debut on Channel 4’s YouTube channel from December 30, then be available on All4.

Published: 16 Dec 2021