Philomena Cunk Returns to Take On Cinema — SkimNews
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- Philomena Cunk is back in a new three-part series, 13 years after the character first hit screens in a segment on Brooker's Weekly Wipe, with cinema as her biggest subject yet — from 'Citizen Ken's' carrots to why 'auteur' exists.
- Diane Morgan got the part by auditioning in her own accent rather than the posh, middle-class 'Chelsea-tractor cupcake blogger' persona Brooker first imagined; he was doubled over with laughter at her flat audition, and she says programme staff warned of a backlash because she isn't Charlie.
- Blackmere, Brooker's deadpan detective show due on Netflix early next year, takes its title from 'Black Mirror' and is pitched in the vein of Airplane! and The Naked Gun — a name he expects to end up annoying him.
- Ann Droid, Morgan's sitcom about a robotic care assistant, garnered rave reviews, and she recently survived five episodes of Prime Video's Last One Laughing — the show she says Cunk was no training for, because Cunk never laughs.
- Michael Bay — one of the experts Cunk grills in the new run — left the crew 'a bit terrified' because they were big fans; Morgan says she confused him by asking how much he paid for his trainers, and the episodes also run jokes about Cunk telling experts she has asked AI.
- Charlie Brooker says he uses AI only to find barbecue restaurants that don't serve pork — which then no longer exist when you arrive — and would never use it to help write; he likens AI's own emerging language to feeding cows on cow scraps until they get mad cow disease, calls a takeover 'far-fetched', and says he is more annoyed by the people making new technology than by the technology itself, while Morgan says developers are trying to force it on people and she 'won't even let it do that'.
- Kanye West asked Brooker to dinner a couple of years ago after seeing the Black Mirror episode 'Metalhead', with Maxine Peake and a robot dog; Brooker calls it 'a bizarre and sad occasion' and says he left thinking 'He's not well.'
Why it matters: The three-part series puts AI jokes in Cunk's mouth while its creators keep the technology at arm's length: Brooker uses it only to find barbecue restaurants without pork and would never let it help write, and Morgan says she won't let it write either. The slate follows: Ann Droid drew rave reviews, and Blackmere lands on Netflix early next year.
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