Channel 4 makes bold decision on Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping future
Channel 4 has confirmed a major change to Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping.
David Mitchell and Robert Webb are bringing their sketch show to YouTube.
The Peep Show co-stars returned to the world of sketch comedy last year with Channel 4 series Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping, and now it's been revealed the second series will return with a fresh release strategy which includes an expanded presence online to accompany the main broadcast.
The show's executive producer Kenton Allen said: "Long before streamers and social platforms transformed audience behaviour, Mitchell and Webb were creating sketches that people wanted to quote, share and rediscover repeatedly.
"The global demand for this material is potentially enormous, so our ambition with this channel is to create the definitive destination for one of Britain's greatest comedy double acts."
The show's YouTube channel will feature individual sketches, plus an original podcast called Mitchell and Webb Talk About Some Sketches in a Pretend Room.
The podcast, which is also simply known as The Pretend Room, will see the duo reflecting on Mitchell and Webb Are Not Helping's notable sketches, with behind the scenes tales about their writing and filming.
The tongue in cheek channel description quips: "Please strongly consider 'subscribing' to this; we are told it helps us to be search-engine-optimised, which remains of course our lifelong ambition."
Announcing the first series in February last year, Mitchell and Webb said: "When Channel 4 asked us to do another sketch show we were startled, bemused and available.
"It’s a perilous time for the industry, and so it’s our hope that relaunching the trickiest genre of comedy is a brilliant piece of counterintuitive commissioning.
"And we’re confident that, unlike Roger Moore with his shoe on the bonnet of a car teetering on the edge of a cliff in 'For Your Eyes Only', we’re not about to give British TV comedy a final lethal nudge into the abyss!"
A release date is yet to be confirmed for the second series.
As well as Mitchell and Webb, the sketch show's cast also features Ghosts star Kiell Smith-Bynoe, along with comedians Stevie Martin, Krystal Evans and Lara Ricote.
The lead stars added: "We’re looking forward to working with our brilliant new cast despite their youth and talent, and would like to encourage viewers to watch the advert break carefully and do their best to buy something.
“It doesn’t have to be a car but, you know, a box of chocolates or an app or something.”
