A beloved British comedy star is about to make her TV return (Picture: BBC/ Broke & Bones)
After previously attempting to educate viewers on the history of Britain, early civilization and even the Space Race, Philomena Cunk is now expanding her horizons.
The ill-informed investigative reporter (played by comedian Diane Morgan) first appeared on screens in Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe before she was given her own shows – Cunk on Britain and Cunk on Earth.
In the mockumentaries, Cunk sat down with a range of experts in their chosen fields to ask questions many of us probably weren’t asking but were still intrigued to discover more about.
Now she’s back with another Netflix special, pursuing her ‘most ambitious quest to date’ – venturing right up the universe and everything, to examine life itself.
In just a few days viewers will again be able to be (mis)educated on topics including Quantum Physics, Existentialism, Nihilism, Hedonism (and at least four other isms too) as well as exploring subjects from the Big Bang to biology, morals to meditation and art to artificial intelligence.
As the synopsis for her latest special teases: ‘”What’s the point of it all?” is a question humans have been asking themselves since the dawn of time.
Philomena Cunk (Diane Morgan) is fronting the new special Cunk on Life (Picture:
BBC/ Broke & Bones)
‘But as we cling to our dying planet, working round the clock while we’re slowly being replaced by machines, now more than ever, people are desperately looking to make sense of their lives – before someone invents a computer that makes sense of it for them.’
During her latest search for answers, Cunk is set to scrutinise historical figures that changed the way we look at the world.
They’ll include Dostoyevsky, Van Gogh and Nietzsche as well as ‘whoever came up with those signs in kitchens that say, “Live Laugh Love”.’
For those in the know, Cunk’s approach to digging deeper is quite unique.
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But, rest assured, she will make sure the experts and academics will share what the meaning of life is (and why we are even bothering to find out), as well as the apparently just as important query about when lunch is set to be served.
When the latest special was announced earlier this month, fans made it clear they were ecstatic to see Cunk return to ask her a series of absurd questions.
‘When we needed her the most, she came back,’ holaaln6411 commented on YouTube.
‘Yessss have been praying for this. I hope they never cancel her show,’ vernachuma3434 shared.
In it, she will explore the meaning of life while probing experts (Picture: BBC/ Broke and Bones)
‘I genuinely believe that Diane Morgan’s Philomena Cunk is one of the greatest comedy characters in the 21st century. She’s hilarious!’ bath_foam4576 added.
Speaking to the BBC ahead of the special airing, Cunk detailed the extensive research she undertook before filming.
‘I studied the work of all the major motivational fridge magnet makers and mixed it with some eastern philosophies I’d learned about from TikTok,’ she said.
The ill-informed investigative reporter was first played by Diane in Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe (Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack/ Getty Images)
But after engaging in so many mentally stimulating discussions with the world’s leading thinkers, what’s next?
‘I’ll probably just have a sit down, eat a Ritz biscuit and listen some ambient noise for a bit until me Ocado turns up. And I’m thinking of going on tour where I lip sync to my audiobooks. Save my voice,’ she explained.
After Cunk on Britain was released in 2018, Cunk on Earth followed four years later.
That special holds a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with fans sharing they were impressed by its ‘superb satire’ and others said it was a ‘quintessential showcase of British humour’.
Cunk on Life is streaming from January 2 on Netflix. It is will also air on Monday December 30 from 9pm on BBC Two.
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