Diane Morgan’s Philomena Cunk returns to dissect cinema history in BBC and Netflix series
The mockumentary character sits down with 23 industry experts including Michael Bay and Benedict Cumberbatch to chart film from its origins to the age of AI.
Diane Morgan’s character Philomena Cunk, the satirical documentarian known for asking ill-informed questions with unwavering deadpan delivery, is returning for a new series focused on the history of cinema. “Cunk on Cinema,” directed by Al Campbell, will premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two in the U.K. and Ireland on November 15.
The six 15-minute episodes follow Cunk as she “charts the history of cinema, from the invention of the camera and the New Wave filmmakers of the 1960s right up to the entrance of CGI and what the future of AI holds,” according to the show’s official description. As ever, 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?”
A bewildered lineup of experts
The first trailer reveals Cunk interviewing 23 industry figures spanning film direction, acting, composition, and cinematography, as well as critics and academics. In one moment, Cunk asks actor Benedict Cumberbatch a characteristically nonsensical question: “When you’re trying to get inside a character, which hole do you enter by, north or south?” Director Michael Bay, also among those interviewed, responds to her line of inquiry by saying “These, er… are odd questions.”
The series represents a continuation of the character’s documentary work. Jim Al-Khalili and Ashley Jackson, who worked on the earlier projects “Cunk on Life” and “Cunk on Earth,” return to the team. Charlie Brooker, the character’s creator alongside Morgan, oversaw the writing alongside a team that includes Morgan herself. The production is a Pacesetter Production for the BBC.
Cinema’s greatest hits, according to Cunk
When Variety exclusively revealed the series, the character Cunk offered her own reading of cinema’s pinnacle achievements. “Cinema has given the world some of the most profound, memorable and moving visual moments in its unswerving depiction of the human condition: the shower scene in ‘Psycho,’ Death playing chess in that Swedish thing, and Tom Selleck’s glistening moustache in ‘Three Men And A Little Lady,’ to name but all three of the only examples I can think of at the moment,” Cunk remarked. The character also weighed in on the series’ coverage of film history: “There will, unfortunately, be some bits in black and white, but we’ll keep that to the barest minimum.”
This article was compiled by the Glamorade editorial desk from the official announcements and reporting listed under Sources.
