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The Day Today

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The Day Today was a surreal British parody of television current affairs programmes. It was an adaptation of the radio program On The Hour.

The cast was the same as the radio series, with Chris Morris as the news anchor, and the repertory cast of Steve Coogan, Rebecca Front, Doon Mackichan, Patrick Marber and David Schneider playing most of the other roles. Only six episodes were made and were originally broadcast in spring 1994. The Day Today won many awards and Chris Morris won the 1994 British Comedy Award for Best Newcomer. All six episodes are available on BBC video and DVD.

The show usually featured a sports segment, with a sports presenter played by Steve Coogan, called Alan Partridge, who later appeared in his own shows, Knowing Me, Knowing You (on both radio and TV) and I'm Alan Partridge (on TV). Business news was handled by Collaterlie Sisters, played by Doon Mackichan; bizarre stories from the US were courtesy of CBN's Barbara Wintergreen, played by Rebecca Front; the weather was always via the floating head of Sylvester Stewart, played by David Schnieder; bungled economic reports were delivered by Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan, played by Patrick Marber. Other recurring reporters and characters included Brant, the physical cartoonist from The Daily Telegraph; Valerie Sinatra, who supplied travel news from her travel pod a mile above the country; Chapman Baxter, an American serial killer who regularly finds himself in the electric chair; Ted Maul, a vetran TV journalist played by Chris Morris and reprised for Brass Eye; Rosie May, who presided over the environmentally friendly Green Desk; and Jaques Jaques Liverot, who basically commented on the unfolding events as the show went along. A spoof soap opera called The Bureau, set in a 24 hour Bureau de Change, also popped up from time to time.

The programme occasionally featured producer Armando Iannucci and writer Peter Baynham, the latter most notably playing Gay Desk reporter, Colin Popshed. John Thomson, Graham Linehan, Tony Haase and a before-she-was-famous Minnie Driver also appear. Michael Alexander St John provided the voiceover stings.


DVD Bonus Material

The DVD features extensive bonus material including original trailers (which are more like short episodes in their own right), the original pilot episode, and an Open University programme about news presentation which includes an analysis of how and why parodies such as The Day Today work.

The DVD also includes several "Easter eggs" including: a BBC Radio 1 interview with Coogan; a version of a State of the Union Address by George W. Bush, edited to make United States policy seem insanely belligerent; a new audio discussion between Morris and Alan Partridge discussing Partridge's bizarre theories of how Princess Diana and John F. Kennedy died; and another audio sketch, demonstrating Morris's perhaps questionable taste in humour, featuring a journalist who is pretending to file a report from the World Trade Center while blithely unaware that the September 11, 2001 attacks have just taken place.

Cast and Crew

Episode Listing

  • Main News Attack (broadcast 19/01/1994)
  • The Big Report (broadcast 26/01/1994)
  • Meganews (broadcast 02/02/1994)
  • Stretchcast (broadcast 09/02/1994)
  • Magnifivent (broadcast 16/02/1994)
  • Newsatrolysis (broadcast 23/02/1994)
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