Comedy panel show part of wider WBD UK&I linear revamp as company looks to ’broaden the offer’

Dara Ó Briain is to return as the host of Warner Bros Discovery UK’s reboot of classic comedy panel show Mock the Week. 

The nine-episode run of Mock the Week will begin on Sunday 1 February on WBD’s TLC, which relaunches today (13 January) as a free-to-air channel.  

Dara Ó Briain presented all 21 series of the original BBC2 iteration of Mock the Week

It will see Ó Briain joined by leading comedians giving their humorous take to contemporaneous news items and topics in classic rounds such as ‘If this is the answer, what is the question?’, ‘Wheel of News’, ‘Picture of the Week’, and ‘Scenes we’d like to see’.  

Though largely staying true to Angst Productions’ original concept, the new hour-long format will introduce fresh rounds for viewers.  

Throughout the series, the talent line-up will see MTW veteran Hugh Dennis – who like Ó Briain, appeared in every episode of the original BBC2 series – as well as Rhys James, Sara Pascoe, Angela Barnes, Ed Byrne, Ahir Shah, Milton Jones, Katherine Ryan, Hugh Dennis, Sarah Keyworth, Lou Sanders, Glenn Moore, Ellie Taylor and Russell Howard. 

Graham Lafferty, senior vice-president of content strategy and networks, WBD UK & Ireland, told Broadcast having Ó Briain would help to tap into the show’s large fanbase. 

“Fans loved it for what it was, and Dara is the perfect host. Why would you change that? Dara’s got massive passion and huge commitment to the show,” he said.  

“We want to continue to do that, but also elevate it and bring something new,” he said, speaking ahead of the channel refresh. “ 

Lafferty added that show’s extended run-time (it was 30mins on the BBC) will “allow for the new additions, and more great material from other rounds.  

“You don’t have to edit as much as with the half-hour timeframe, which gives the material space to breathe,” he said.  

Broadcast revealed in October that the FTA iteration of TLC will be broadened to be more ents-focused, with a sprinkling of humour. Alongside Mock the Week,  it will air the previously announced humour-based travelogue Zero Stars, which stars comedians Roisin Conaty and Sara Pascoe, plus a cadre of acquired scripted comedy led by hit sitcom franchise The Big Bang Theory and spin-offs Young Sheldon and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage, as well as Melissa McCarthy comedy Mike & Molly. 

Alongside the flagship TLC refresh, WBD UK&I has also updated each of its six FTA channels – TLC, Quest, Quest Red, Food Network, Really and DMAX – giving them a new look and a “distinct personality”, according to the company.  

WBD has unveiled several recommissions for established brands with Quest bringing back Plum Productions’ Johnny Vegas’ Little Shop of Antiques for an eight-part second series (8 x 60 minutes) and ITN Productions’ Ant Anstead: Born Mechanic for a third run. 

They join previously announced Guz Khan’s Custom Cars (Ricochet) and Francis Bourgeois & Chris Harris: We Saved a Train (Naked West) on the Quest line-up. 

For Discovery+, WBD has commissioned Basement Films and Kudeta Films for four-part true-crime docuseries An American Serial Killer in Cairo (w/t). The 4 x 60-minute series tells the story of Lobna Yakout, who escaped her abusive husband, TikTok personality Karim Selim – unaware he would later become one of Egypt’s most notorious serial killers.  

Selim had a polished online image but he murdered at least three women inside his soundproof luxury apartment in Cairo, recording hundreds of hours of footage.  

When Lobna’s ten-year-old son Zayn, last seen with his father’s family, goes missing, she turns to TikTok for help. As online sleuths mobilise worldwide, the series follows a real-time international hunt from Cairo to Michigan and Florida, exposing the true scale of Selim’s crimes.    

Also coming to the streamer are a third series of Vinnie Jones in the Country (Objective Entertainment, 6 x 60 minutes) and Chimp Productions/Krempelwood’s Richard Hammond’s Workshop (8 x 60 minutes) for a sixth run. 

The series were ordered by Graham Lafferty and commissioned by Charlotte Reid for WBD UK&I.      

Confirming that Discovery+ titles would also get a linear window, Lafferty said the orders aim to “broaden the offer” for WBD audiences. 

“We don’t go into anything that we don’t see a future for. The intention is not for one-and-done with these titles,” he said. “It’s not an experiment, it’s an evolution.”