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British Comedy

From side-splitting classics to overlooked gems, Mark Kermode shows how making fools of ourselves can make for seriously good cinema.

Mark Kermode returns with a third series of his Secrets of Cinema in which he explores the conventions that underpin our favourite movies and examines the techniques film-makers use to keep us coming back for more.

In a revealing look at one of the defining genres of British cinema, Mark argues that comedy films win laughs by tapping into our abiding national preoccupations. We love to root for the underdog or 'little man', a key figure who appears in countless guises. We delight in seeing class and manners satirised and subverted. We鈥檙e fascinated by films that mix comedy and crime. We enjoy home-grown pastiches and parodies that take the big beasts of Hollywood down a peg. And then there鈥檚 the infamous phenomenon of the British sex comedy...

From side-splitting classics to overlooked gems, Mark shows how making fools of ourselves can make for seriously good cinema.

59 minutes

Last on

Sun 23 Apr 2023 01:30

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Music Played

  • David Arnold

    We Want Sex

  • Tom Jones

    You Can Leave Your Hat On

  • Bernard Herrmann

    Farewell and The Tower

  • Michael Kamen

    Central Services / The Office

  • Suede

    So Young

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Mark Kermode
Writer Kim Newman
Writer John Das
Writer Mark Kermode
Series Producer Nick Freand Jones
Executive Producer John Das

Broadcasts

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