Mock the Week’s return is vital – but there’s a huge problem

As soon as I heard the news that Mock the Week was returning, I felt a tingle of nostalgic excitement. 

Then I continued reading an article about it and saw something that immediately made me think the reboot is doomed to fail – it’s being aired on a relaunched version of TLC, which is a digital and Freeview channel known for reality TV screaming matches with shows like 90 Day Fiance and 1000-lb Sisters.

These shows are hardly top-tier political satire like Mock the Week is, so it feels completely out of place.

As a result, I believe it simply won’t cut through to a mainstream UK audience like it really, really needs to. Just like it did – and would – on the BBC.

For 17 years and almost 250 episodes, Mock the Week – hosted by Dara O’Briain – was full-throttle, no holds barred, sharp political satire. This is a crucial ingredient for any functioning democracy.

I remember watching Mock the Week as a teenager after school. I enjoyed pithy takes on current affairs – whether that be the 2010 election or the 2008 financial crisis – in a way that didn’t want to make me spoon my eyes out. 

Throughout its almost two decades, Mock the Week shaped the cultural comedy landscape, propelling up-and-coming stand-up comedians, like Russell Howard and Frankie Boyle, into household name territory.

Ironically, it was especially important in its final year. 

This is when the UK saw the biggest political upheaval it had in decades, with Liz Truss’ cataclysmic tenure as Prime Minister lasting less time than a lettuce, and the fallout of the pandemic under the biggest joke of them all – Boris Johnson.

While the BBC gave no solid reason for axing Mock the Week in 2022 – explaining it wanted to ‘create room for new shows’ – long-time host Dara gave a little sardonic commentary on the decision, perhaps nodding to the fact the show was pulled in the very climate in which it was needed.

‘That’s it folks, the UK has finally run out of news,’ he joked. ‘The storylines were getting crazier and crazier – global pandemics, divorce from Europe, novelty short-term prime ministers.’

Of course, there’s an argument that Mock the Week was simply sinking into irrelevance. Its long-trudged format could be considered stale, with the rise in instant gratification satire on social media and a plethora of comedy shows a click away on streamers.

Plus, it only latterly included women on the panel, which – as longtime contributor Milton Jones put it – was a shuffle forward from its early days of essentially just ‘seven white blokes’ telling jokes. 

But while the show has its issues, it was a home for boundary-pushing and bold comedy. That is two things we desperately need right now, at a time when the world is extreme, so demands that level of political commentary.

In recent times, comedy is expressing itself in a sillier, less politically head-on way, such as TV shows like Last One Laughing, in which a group of comics simply go to absurd lengths to make each other crack up. 

While we all need a good old escapist laugh, comedy hasn’t found its mainstream home in its reactive, political form quite yet in the UK (we currently don’t have Saturday Night Live-style skits like the US, although it’s launching next year on Sky).

Comedy panel shows like Mock the Week react to news that might be hard to stomach, but can be digested through gags. 

We need people to engage in the news more than ever. Just look at the US, with Donald Trump taking aim at late-night shows.

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel was temporarily pulled from air after Trump-appointee Brendan Carr, chair of US broadcast regulator FCC, threatened action after the host’s words about right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk’s death.

While he was reinstated, this was a wobbly moment for comedy and freedom of speech. And, in turn, the ability to poke fun at powerful bodies and hold them to account.

Meanwhile, the UK slips into similar circumstances, with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage currently favourite to be next Prime Minister.

Just this month, we saw how Farage isn’t fond of being held to account, after he lashed out at a Mirror journalist, calling them ‘disgusting’ when quizzed about the specifics of his partner’s purchase of a house in his Clacton constituency.

Clearly, we need Mock the Week more than ever before – just not on TLC. We need big comedy voices on mainstream telly challenging the status quo – something the BBC should have recognised in 2022.

I believe there’s no way Dara will return to die on this particular hill, and the hottest comedy talent (hopefully with a better gender split) will likely also sniff a lost cause.

Unfortunately, this iconic show’s reemergence on TLC already makes it a has-been before it even begins, airing alongside 3,000 seasons of Say Yes To The Dress (which I love, but that’s besides the point).

So let’s face it, I will not be watching. I know I will not be bothering to seek it out on TLC.

The whole joy of a show like Mock the Week is that you feel the rest of the country may be watching with you, laughing together in the face of authority and power. This is what makes a cultural moment.

I really hope the show’s jokes won’t fall on deaf ears with a country full of people like me, but it likely will. 

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Ross.Mccafferty@metro.co.uk. 

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