Series synopsis
Broken News is a British comedy news television series that premiered on BBC Two on October 31, 2005. It ended on December 5, 2005. It was created by John Morton, Tony Roche. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Claudia Christian, Duncan Duff and Sharon Horgan.
Broken News is a comedy programme shown on BBC Two in autumn 2005 and in Australia on SBS-TV from the 17 July 2006. The show poked fun at the world of 24-hour rolling news channels. The title of the show is a play on the phrase "breaking news". The show jump cut between its various spoof TV channels, which covered both the central story and other stories that would be of interest to their audience. A large part of the comedy came from observations about the nature of news presentation rather tha ...
Premise
Broken News is a comedy programme shown on BBC Two in autumn 2005 and in Australia on SBS-TV from the 17 July 2006. The show poked fun at the world of 24-hour rolling news channels. The title of the show is a play on the phrase "breaking news". The show jump cut between its various spoof TV channels, which covered both the central story and other stories that would be of interest to their audience. A large part of the comedy came from observations about the nature of news presentation rather than the stories themselves.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Benedict Cumberbatch as Will Parker
- Claudia Christian as Julia Regan - IBS
- Duncan Duff as Richard Pritchard - ESN
- Sharon Horgan as Katie Tate - ESN
- Colin Stinton as Anthony Markovitz
- Steve Toussaint as Adam Lockwood
- Indira Varma as Melanie Bellamy
- Philip Brodie as Colin Kay - So News
Supporting cast
- Tom Goodman-Hill as Guy Batson - Go Sports
- Sarah Hadland as Claire - Traffic Reports
- Pip Torrens as Sam French - Bullet Points Presenter
- Darren Boyd as Nick Burham
- Nicola Walker as Katie Willard
- Clare Wille as Frances Walsh
- James Howard as Kevin Peters
- Max Digby as Andrew Adams
- Roger Barclay as Mitchell Oatis - Aronovitz
- Preeya Kalidas as Anita Ratchathani
- Lorelei King as Loren Peterson
- John Chancer as Tom Mitchell
Guest cast
Episodes
This series spans 1 season with 6 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | 6 | October 31, 2005 | December 5, 2005 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Tomato Flu An outbreak of tomato flu is in the headlines. This alarming new super-virus (a parody of avian flu) can be traced back to a turkey farm in Turkey. The news networks advise on the best way to avoid tomatoids in food such as tomato ketchup. In other news: a man is injured by a frozen block of urine. |
October 31, 2005 |
| 2 |
Missing Island A report that an island has gone missing in the Barents Sea triggers paranoia about rising sea levels in Lincolnshire and the end of the world as we know it. In other news: teenagers' attention spans are now as low as eleven seconds. |
November 7, 2005 |
| 3 |
Half Way There Day Reports on commemorations around the country to mark the day Britain reached the half-way point in the last World War. In other news: The MADI music awards are here again, without last year's controversy. |
November 14, 2005 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | BBC Two |
|---|---|
| First aired | October 31, 2005 |
| Last aired | December 5, 2005 |
| Runtime | 30 minutes |
| Status | Ended |
| Schedule | Monday |