Michael Bay and Benedict Cumberbatch are set to face the ill-informed interview style of Philomena Cunk, the beloved TV idiot played by Diane Morgan, in the comedy creation’s latest outing.
“Cunk on Cinema,” first announced by Variety earlier this year, will see Cunk chart the history of cinema and the world’s love affair with movies in what’s been billed as her “most glamorous series to date.”
A first look from the three-part faux documentary series, from Pacesetter Productions and coming to both the BBC and Netflix, has been released, showcasing Cunk getting to grips what appears to be a Sony Venice Digital Cinema Camera (as used by Bay on “6 Underground”).
According to the description, “Cunk on Cinema” will uncover the invention of the camera, to the New Wave filmmakers of the 60s, right up to the entrance of CGI and what the future of AI holds. Cunk will attempt to “demystify it all while sitting in lumpy seats with stale popcorn, asking herself where did cinema come from? And why? What does it want? And why can’t it tell us?”
Alongside Bay and Cumberbatch, others to be quizzed by the ever-confused Cunk will include composer Daniel Pemberton (“Project Hail Mary”), screenwriter Steven E. de Souza (“Die Hard,” “Commando”), Oscar-nominated cinematographer Seamus McGarvey (“Avengers Assemble,” “Atonement”), critic Mark Kermode, and documentary-maker and author Mark Cousins (“The Story of Film: An Odyssey”).
“Cunk on Cinema,” the latest in the British mockumentary television franchise by Charlie Brooker for the BBC and Netflix, follows “Cunk on Life,” “Cunk on Earth,” “Cunk on Shakespeare” and “Cunk on Britain.”
Brooker leads a team of writers including Ben Caudell, Erika Ehler, Eli Goldstone, Jason Hazeley, Dan Maier, Morgan, Joel Morris, Michael Odewale, Kali Varghese, and Sam Ward. The director is Al Campbell. Executive producers are Brooker, Jessica Rhoades, Morgan, and Sam Ward. Navi Lamba is the BBC commissioning editor and Mark Kinsella is co-executive producer for Pacesetter Productions.
“Cunk on Cinema” will debut on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two and on Netflix outside of the U.K. and Ireland.