Mock the Week is returning next month
Dara O Briain is returning to host a revival of comedy panel show Mock the Week on TLC.
Mock the Week will return to screens next month.
The comedy panel show, which was axed by the BBC in 2022 after 17 years on air, is being revived on the now free-to-air channel TLC and will air its first episode on Sunday 1st February at 9pm.
Dara O Briain is returning to host the show, which will now feature hour-long episodes packed full of fearless jokes, quick-fire challenges and the chaotic energy that Mock the Week fans are familiar with.
He will be joined in the new series by a line-up including comedians Rhys James, Sara Pascoe, Angela Barnes, Ed Byrne, Ahir Shah, Milton Jones, Katherine Ryan, Hugh Dennis, Sarah Keyworth, Lou Sanders, Glenn Moore, Ellie Taylor, Russell Howard - with more comics still to be announced.
The nine-episode series will remain faithful to the classic Mock the Week format, with iconic rounds including If This is the Answer, What Is the Question?, Wheel of News, Picture of the Week and Scenes We'd Like to See.
Viewers can also look forward to brand new rounds that have been created especially for the expanded 60-minute episodes, providing even more room for bold jokes and unexpected twists.
Dara, 53, said: "I'm genuinely delighted to be back doing Mock the Week and on TLC. From what I remember, it's a show that thrives on silly jokes from smart people and any actual insight is purely accidental.
"Also, from what I remember, my job was mainly just pressing a buzzer and handing out imaginary points. I can still do that. Here, have some imaginary points! That's how easy it is.
"Also, it's coming back just in time to confuse people who had only just heard it had been cancelled. See you there!"
Mock the Week aired on BBC Two from 2005 until 2022 and Dara admits that it was a "bittersweet" moment when the corporation cancelled the show.
The Irish comic told BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs in 2023: "It had been very good to me and it could have gone on, but equally you don't get that kind of innings normally.
"But what was kind of bittersweet was, after years of people (saying), 'Oh it's rubbish, it's rubbish', the minute it got axed they were like, 'I've always been very fond of it.'
"Nobody told us that, all we got was the grief off people, we never got the impression that people were liking it!"
