Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe

Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe is a British television review programme created and presented by Charlie Brooker. It is the most recent addition to Brooker's Wipe series, and the first to be broadcast in HD.[1] The programme is an amalgam of the earlier Wipe series, with reviews of current television programmes, news events, games, and films.

Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe
GenreReview
Cultural critic
Created byCharlie Brooker
Presented byCharlie Brooker
Theme music composerNathan Fake
Opening theme"You Are Here" (FortDax Remix)
Country of originUnited Kingdom
No. of series3
No. of episodes23
Production
Running time30 minutes
Production companiesZeppotron
House of Tomorrow
DistributorEndemol UK
Release
Original networkBBC Two
Picture format1080i (HDTV)
Original release31 January 2013 (2013-01-31) –
29 December 2016 (2016-12-29)
Chronology
Related showsCharlie Brooker's Screenwipe
Newswipe with Charlie Brooker
Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe
External links
Website

The programme was commissioned by the BBC in November 2012, with six episodes ordered.[2] It began airing on 31 January 2013, and was broadcast on BBC Two. Two more series followed in 2014 and 2015.[3][4][5] A special edition of the show entitled Election Wipe was broadcast on 6 May 2015, the day before the UK general election.[6]

In May 2020 a new one-off episode entitled Antiviral Wipe was broadcast, which was filmed in lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[7]

Format

Weekly Wipe follows a similar format to Brooker's earlier works. It features Brooker commenting on a range of recent programmes, events, games, and films. Brooker presents the programme from both his living room and a presenters' desk, similar to Newswipe. Brooker also narrates news footage, and other VTs, commenting humorously on their content. Whilst covering the most prominent events of the week, Weekly Wipe also satirises more commonplace or minor occurrences.

Weekly Wipe features Al Campbell as "Barry Shitpeas" and Diane Morgan as "Philomena Cunk" ('Cunk' being portrayed as a deliberately dim-witted/ill-informed interviewer), and segments by comedians Doug Stanhope, Tim Key, Limmy, Jake Yapp, Catriona Knox as reporter "Emily Surname" and Morgana Robinson.[2] In the first series, alongside these contributors, guest stars such as Richard Osman and Susan Calman joined Brooker in a chat show segment, discussing recent events of interest.[8]

The programme includes segments used by Brooker in his year-in-review wipes, such as the "World of Bullshit" section; these short clips cover the more mundane elements of otherwise newsworthy events. Brooker also regularly links news stories together to make them more humorous, and satirises popular opinions to make light of otherwise serious events. In a similar section, "World of Shitverts", Brooker satirises popular adverts. As with much of Brooker's work, Weekly Wipe openly mocks other shows, people, and news events.

Weekly Wipe comments on media, public reaction, and how the two influence each other.

Reception

Weekly Wipe has received generally positive reviews from critics, who praise Brooker's return to the original Wipe format.[9] The studio-based chat show element of the first episode was criticised, with its jarring change of pace separating it from the rest of the monologic episode.[10]

Weekly Wipe received a nomination in the Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Programme category at the 2015 British Academy Television Awards.[11]

Ratings

Episode ratings from BARB.[12]

Series 1
Episode No.AirdateViewers
(millions)		BBC Two weekly ranking
131 January 2013N/AN/A
27 February 2013N/AN/A
314 February 20131.57N/A
421 February 2013N/AN/A
528 February 2013N/AN/A
67 March 2013N/AN/A

Series 2
Episode No.AirdateViewers
(millions)		BBC Two weekly ranking
19 January 20141.6426
216 January 20141.6620
323 January 2014N/AN/A
430 January 2014N/AN/A
56 February 20141.7525
613 February 2014N/AN/A

Series 3
Episode No.AirdateViewers
(millions)		BBC Two weekly ranking
129 January 20151.4621
25 February 20151.3521
312 February 20151.7811
419 February 20151.5017
526 February 20151.6113
612 March 20151.3415

Specials
EpisodeAirdateViewers
(millions)		BBC Two weekly ranking
2013 Wipe28 December 2013N/AN/A
2014 Wipe30 December 20142.219
Election Wipe6 May 20152.276
2015 Wipe30 December 20152.0311
2016 Wipe29 December 20163.043
Antiviral Wipe14 May 20202.923

References
  1. "Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe, Series 1, Episode 1". BBC. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  2. "Charlie Brooker gets a fresh weekly 'wiping' on BBC Two". Endemol UK. 8 November 2012. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  3. Eames, Tom (13 November 2014). "Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe to return, 2014 Wipe confirmed". Digital Spy. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  4. "BBC renew 'People Just Do Nothing' and 'Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe'". NME. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  5. "Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe gets another series". British Comedy Guide. 13 November 2014. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  6. Fullerton, Huw (22 April 2015). "Charlie Brooker to bring Election Wipe to BBC2". Radio Times. Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  7. Moses, Toby (22 April 2020). "Charlie Brooker to return to BBC with lockdown special Antiviral Wipe". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 23 January 2021.
  8. McGinley, Sheena (31 January 2013). "Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe". entertainment.ie. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  9. "Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe – In The Press". British Comedy Guide. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  10. Bryan, Nick (31 January 2013). "Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe – Review". The Digital Fix. Retrieved 2 February 2013.
  11. Goodacre, Kate (10 May 2015). "BAFTA Television Awards 2015: The winners in full". Digital Spy. Retrieved 11 May 2015.
  12. "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Barb.co.uk. 11 November 2012. Retrieved 25 November 2012.
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