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Over the last few years, David Mitchell has managed to gain himself quite a reputation for being really rather good on panel shows due to his gift for exceptionally witty and intelligent rants on basically any subject. Thus it seemed like the next logical step when it was announced that he would be presenting his own show, which appeared on our screens on Friday in the form of The Bubble, in which the panelists are locked away in a house for three days without any access to the outside world, and are then asked to distinguish between a series of bizarre real and fake news stories.
On the first show, the balance of guests was good. In particular, Reginald D Hunter and Victoria Coren bounced well off each other, although at times it felt like her responses were cut off early. Frank Skinner provided some good laughs, and Coren’s rant about Mumsnet had me in stitches. Hunter never, ever fails to make me laugh, and he was on good form last night, particularly when he was making digs at Mitchell’s nerdiness and singledom.
David Mitchell gave as good as he got (“Not only do I have to cope with that put down, but also the loneliness”), and coped with hosting duties well, but in many ways it felt like he was wasted in the role. While he was very funny when given the opportunity, being the host means he can’t be the star of the show, and that just feels wrong after seeing him being the star of so many other panel shows. The format of the programme also relies more than usual on the guests having chemistry, as they’ve just spent three days together. It worked well last night, with Hunter replying “no, you didn’t” to Coren’s assertion that she had learnt how to play snooker raising a laugh, but in future episodes it could put a dampener on the episode if there’s been a clash of personalities in the house.
However, while the makers of the show cannot control the dynamics between the guests, they can control the made up stories, and boy were there some good ones Friday night. Particular highlights included Alan Sugar being voted the sexiest member of the House of Lords and the ghost of Big Daddy haunting York. The question about the BBC refusing to give them fake news clips was a good touch, mostly due to Mitchell’s obviously genuine annoyance. If they continue this level of inventiveness, and are gifted with stories such as Noel Edmonds wanting to make a quiz show called Beat the Monkey, in which the questions are asked by a monkey, then each episode should raise at least some laughs.
Despite my bleating on about potential future problems, I really did enjoy the first episode of The Bubble immensely and laughed out loud several times. Besides, the prospect of Germaine Greer, Ed Byrne and Jon Richardson next week is really just too much for me to resist.
Watch the first episode of The Bubble on iPlayer here and catch it on Fridays at 10pm on BBC2
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