Screen Robot
  • Movie News
  • TV News
  • Gaming
    • Xbox Games
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
    • Amazon Prime
    • Now TV
    • Disney Plus
  • Trailers
  • Screen News
No Result
View All Result
  • Movie News
  • TV News
  • Gaming
    • Xbox Games
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
    • Amazon Prime
    • Now TV
    • Disney Plus
  • Trailers
  • Screen News
No Result
View All Result
Screen Robot
No Result
View All Result

The Revolution Will Be Televised: Why we need more shows like this

Patrick Norrie by Patrick Norrie
9th July 2019
in Movie News
0 0
0
The Revolution Will Be Televised: Why we need more shows like this
0
SHARES
54
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Satirising the Daily Mail and crashing Dave Cameron’s parties, The Revolution Will Be Televised is making political satire essential again.

Is revolution in the air? Last Wednesday, many thousands wearing Guy Fawkes masks participated in a major demonstration against the current political system as part of an organised ‘Million Mask March’. One of the protesters was Russell Brand, who recently caused a stir by issuing a rallying cry for a revolution. Yet not everyone was so receptive; in fact, Robert Webb was so blooming angry that he joined the Labour Party and composed an open letter to Brand, writing rather poetically, “please read some fucking Orwell.”

The main purpose of the show is to shine a light on corruption and hypocrisy

It feels like the right time therefore for the return of political prank show?The?Revolution Will Be Televised. The second series, starring Jolyon Rubinstein and Heydon Prowse, began airing last night on BBC3.?The great thing about the show is the fearlessness of Rubinstein and Prowse in pulling off the big stunts – by posing respectively as fictional Conservative politician James Twottington-Burbage?and Liberal Democrat MP Barnaby Plankton, they have been able to gatecrash exclusive events.

For example, Conservative James Twottington-Burbage treats Vince Cable as a subordinate, asking him “You’ll get me a latte? Good boy”, at a Liberal Democrat conference. Barnaby, on the other hand, ambushed George Osborne and tried to give him a gift: a GCSE Maths textbook. In the new series, James Twottington even managed to breach security and speak to the Prime Minister himself.

The targets of The Revolution Will Be Televised are not just the politicians, but also major corporations and bankers. Before embarking on a prank, the reasons are always given why they are targeting a certain politician or institution. The main purpose of the show is to shine a light on corruption, hypocrisy and other unfavourable activities which are often overlooked by the mainstream media (such as the amount of alleged unpaid corporation taxes by Vodafone and Topshop).

revolution will be televised

The Revolution Will Be Televised is much-needed considering the real dearth of cutting political satire on TV at the moment. It is perhaps a surprise that BBC3 is the channel that is filling the void ? it’s certainly a contrast from Lee Nelson’s Well Good Show.?The success of the show (it recently won a BAFTA for Best Comedy Programme in 2013) is that the message chimes with the viewers, who have shown antipathy towards the political class. These are perilous times: use of food banks is rocketing sky high, wages are falling month by month whilst inflation is rising and meanwhile major corporations aren’t paying taxes.

The Revolution Will Be Televised?is much-needed considering the dearth of political satire on TV at the moment

In austerity Britain, the poorest and most vulnerable in society are being made scapegoats for an economic crisis they they did not create. Yet if you turn on the television, at times, ?it seems as if it is their fault. Programmes with accusatory and shouty titles like BBC1’s?We Pay Your Benefits and Channel 5’s?On Benefits and Proud are misleading and perpetuate myths about benefit claimants ? lazy people scrounging off the state, actively seeking to live a life on benefits.?For one thing, television pointing a finger and sneering at the unemployed overlooks the fact that most of the welfare spending goes on pensioners, not those out of work.

Also, according to a report by think tank Class, less than half of Jobseekers Allowance Claimaints claim the benefit for more than 13 weeks and less than 10% claim for more than a year. How often is this highlighted on our televisions??Television presents this ideal of ‘aspiration nation’, where the entrepreneurs are held up as the doyen of our society. A recent example of this is BBC2’s?Iceland Foods: Life In The Freezer Cabinet, which is basically an advertisement led by Iceland CEO Michael Walker.?Being aspirational is a decent character trait to posses. Nevertheless, it’s not always that useful if you don’t have certain advantages in life.

Television exalting CEOs and demonising the unemployed belies the fact that zero-hour contracts and unpaid internships are rife, while secure full-time jobs are increasingly scarce.?We need more shows like The?Revolution Will Be Televised and less of the likes of?We Pay Your Benefits. Maybe the BBC could get Nick and Margaret from The Apprentice to present another programme, but this time on banks. It could be entitled We Bailed You Out,?in reference to the biggest taxpayer-funded bailout ever.

?

All images: BBC

Tags: BBCThe revolution will be televisedTV
Previous Post

Marvel’s guide to making a good superhero movie

Next Post

The longer the trailer, the worse the film?

Next Post
The longer the trailer, the worse the film?

The longer the trailer, the worse the film?

Please login to join discussion

KNICKER SNIFFERThe ultimate prank by post

Readers Favourites

Can Arnold Schwarzenegger nail a serious role?

Can Arnold Schwarzenegger nail a serious role?

9th July 2019
Meddling with Dexter, and the studio’s issue with final cut

Meddling with Dexter, and the studio’s issue with final cut

9th July 2019
AC Odyssey

AC Odyssey Adds New Mechanics To Ancient Greece

9th July 2019
Derek and Hello Ladies show how much Gervais and Merchant need each other

Derek and Hello Ladies show how much Gervais and Merchant need each other

9th July 2019
The five best British comedies you’ve (probably) never seen

Urban farming is booming, but what does it really yield?

11th July 2017
Screen Robot

Thanks for dropping by, we hope you enjoy your visit. We aim to provide tasty content on everything movie, TV and gaming related. If you want to become one of our super bots and write for the team, then get in touch.

Categories

  • Action Adventure Games
  • Adventure Games
  • Amazon Prime
  • Gaming
  • Movie News
  • Netflix
  • Screen News
  • Survival Horror
  • TV News
  • Uncategorised
  • Xbox Games
  • Xbox Games News

Recent News

Cyberpunk 2077 delayed, again :-(

Cyberpunk 2077 delayed, again :-(

28th October 2020
Al Capone The Movie

Capone The Movie – Tom Hardy

6th May 2020
  • Cart
  • Checkout
  • Cookie Policy
  • My account
  • Privacy Policy
  • Screenrobot
  • Shop
  • Terms and Conditions

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

No Result
View All Result
  • Movie News
  • TV News
  • Gaming
    • Xbox Games
  • Streaming
    • Netflix
    • Amazon Prime
    • Now TV
    • Disney Plus
  • Trailers
  • Screen News

© 2022 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In