GETTING A HI
amanda_jen: @Charliecondou Hi Charlie you followed me but never tweeted come on its bank holiday say hello xxxx
Charliecondou: @amanda_jen hi!!
amanda_jen: @Charliecondou Hi thank you about to have a major bank holiday and having a day off xxxx
NATHAN BARLEY M.I.A.
Charliecondou: So where's Nathan Barley on this ch4 list then?
Sparkle__Monkey: @Charliecondou Fuck, yeah?
Graham_Lister: @Charliecondou meow
mrgarethbrooks: @Charliecondou number one, etc?
DrLulittle: @Charliecondou nathan barley was amazeballs
markimus78: @Charliecondou I love Nathan Barley, I still hold hope for a second series.
Above: 4-8-2011 Charlie Condou on the way to work at Granada Studios Manchester where they shoot Cornoation Street. This is another rare shot of Charlie which comes from my private stash.
DAVID WALLIAMS IS BOOKED
Charliecondou: @davidwalliams When's the book out and am I in it??
davidwalliams: @Charliecondou Alas no you do not appear. Strange as you were such a huge influence on most of the 'Little Britain' characters.
Charliecondou: Vicky Pollard? @davidwalliams
davidwalliams: @Charliecondou It is out in mid-October. Just in time for Christmas!
WORDS
amanda_jen: @Charliecondou Hi Charlie you followed me but never tweeted come on its bank holiday say hello xxxx
Charliecondou: @amanda_jen hi!!
amanda_jen: @Charliecondou Hi thank you about to have a major bank holiday and having a day off xxxx
NATHAN BARLEY M.I.A.
Charliecondou: So where's Nathan Barley on this ch4 list then?
Sparkle__Monkey: @Charliecondou Fuck, yeah?
Graham_Lister: @Charliecondou meow
mrgarethbrooks: @Charliecondou number one, etc?
DrLulittle: @Charliecondou nathan barley was amazeballs
markimus78: @Charliecondou I love Nathan Barley, I still hold hope for a second series.
DAVID WALLIAMS IS BOOKED
davidwalliams: My autobiography 'Camp David' will be out on the 11th of October, the first 1000 who pre-order will get a signed copy! http://tinyurl.com/ccglbyw
Charliecondou: @davidwalliams When's the book out and am I in it??
davidwalliams: @Charliecondou Alas no you do not appear. Strange as you were such a huge influence on most of the 'Little Britain' characters.
Charliecondou: Vicky Pollard? @davidwalliams
davidwalliams: @Charliecondou It is out in mid-October. Just in time for Christmas!
WORDS
jaysd21: @Charliecondou me and partner have got home visit for adoption next week any words of advice.
Charliecondou: @jaysd21 good luck!!!
jaysd21: @Charliecondou Thank you
NEWSROOM
Charliecondou: @ThomasSadoski Catching up on The Newsroom, Ive become obsessed. The scenes on the plane were perfection. Bravo
ThomasSadoski: @Charliecondou thanks Charlie. Means a lot from you.
RIDGEY DIDGE
ThomasSadoski: @Charliecondou thanks Charlie. Means a lot from you.
RIDGEY DIDGE
(LOOK
IT UP IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT IT MEANS. IT’S AN AUSTRALIAN EXPRESSION)
Charliecondou: How nice http://t.co/hFXDHfR7 @digitalspy
Brendan_Surrey: @Charliecondou @digitalspy Was Nathan Barley a flop?? WTF? It was a hit with me
ghostingseason: @Charliecondou there's honestly not a day goes by where we don't do Jonatton's 'one finger clap' ;)
Charliecondou: @ghostingseason Hilarious and co
ghostingseason: @Charliecondou haha! That phrase has also entered our day to day vocab as well ;)
streetworker01: @Charliecondou And available on iTunes…x
roxymead: Jonatton Yeah?
Charliecondou: @roxymead what?
'Nathan Barley'
CULT HIT
By Tom Mansell
www.digitalspy.com
Warning:
This article contains nudity, language and/or sexual references that younger readers are advised to avoid.
This article contains nudity, language and/or sexual references that younger readers are advised to avoid.
Charlie Brooker's
latest comedy A Touch of Cloth comes to UK Sky1 on Sunday night, so
this week we're looking back at his misunderstood TV debut, Nathan Barley.
A flop when it originally aired but a cult hit on DVD, Nathan Barley is love-it-or-hate it telly. From ‘Brass Eye’ creator Chris Morris, it was edgy, raw and often hilarious. Brimming with up-and-coming talent like Brooker (Dead Set), Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh), and fellow Booshers Noel Fielding and Richard Ayoade, as well as some blink-and-you'll-miss-'em cameos from Stephen Mangan (Episodes), Mat Horne (Gavin & Stacey) and Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch, we think it's time Nathan Barley was given the praise it deserved.
A flop when it originally aired but a cult hit on DVD, Nathan Barley is love-it-or-hate it telly. From ‘Brass Eye’ creator Chris Morris, it was edgy, raw and often hilarious. Brimming with up-and-coming talent like Brooker (Dead Set), Julian Barratt (The Mighty Boosh), and fellow Booshers Noel Fielding and Richard Ayoade, as well as some blink-and-you'll-miss-'em cameos from Stephen Mangan (Episodes), Mat Horne (Gavin & Stacey) and Sherlock's Benedict Cumberbatch, we think it's time Nathan Barley was given the praise it deserved.
Nathan Barley,
originally broadcast from February 11 to March 18, 2005 on Channel 4
Inspired by a mock TV show called C**t from Brooker's satirical TVGoHome website, the show follows two East Londoners: Nathan Barley (Nicholas Burns), the "self facilitating media node" behind a website called Trashbat.co.ck (registered in the Cook Islands yeah?) and Dan Ashcroft (Barratt), a right-minded but cynical journalist working for the Vice-esque urban culture magazine Sugar Ape.
When Ashcroft writes an anti-hipster polemic entitled 'Rise of the Idiots' he unwittingly becomes the hero of the very same "self regarding consumer slaves" that he was raging against. But after he blows an opportunity with the respectable but pretentious Weekend On Sunday magazine he falls into a downward spiral, stuck between his louche above-it-all editor Jonatton Yeah? (played brilliantly by Coronation Street actor Charlie Condou), his filmmaker sister Claire (Claire Keelan) to whom he owes money, and his bête noire Nathan who gives Ashcroft the unwanted moniker 'Preacher Man'.
Inspired by a mock TV show called C**t from Brooker's satirical TVGoHome website, the show follows two East Londoners: Nathan Barley (Nicholas Burns), the "self facilitating media node" behind a website called Trashbat.co.ck (registered in the Cook Islands yeah?) and Dan Ashcroft (Barratt), a right-minded but cynical journalist working for the Vice-esque urban culture magazine Sugar Ape.
When Ashcroft writes an anti-hipster polemic entitled 'Rise of the Idiots' he unwittingly becomes the hero of the very same "self regarding consumer slaves" that he was raging against. But after he blows an opportunity with the respectable but pretentious Weekend On Sunday magazine he falls into a downward spiral, stuck between his louche above-it-all editor Jonatton Yeah? (played brilliantly by Coronation Street actor Charlie Condou), his filmmaker sister Claire (Claire Keelan) to whom he owes money, and his bête noire Nathan who gives Ashcroft the unwanted moniker 'Preacher Man'.
Considering that Nathan Barley was
created by Brooker and Morris, it is no surprise that it revels in the absurd
and surreal. The cash-strapped Ashcroft finds himself in increasingly ludicrous
situations - like being told to investigate the 'stray' scene in family pubs
(straight-on-straight gay action) - and then there's the ridiculous characters
like photographer 15Peter20 who takes pictures of celebrities urinating, and
the bizarre slang dialogue that the characters use. Some of Nathan's
catchphrases are irresistibly quotable, albeit completely ridiculous -
"Keep if futile", "totally f**king Mexico", "it's well
bum!"
The supporting characters offer a colourful array of idiots who all add value to the show. Favourites include Ayoade's brain-dead hack Ned Smanks (Ashcroft: "What's the second best thing you've ever read?", Smanks: "...like, books and s**t?"), Trashbat's anxious animator Pingu (Ben Whishaw) who is subjected to mental and physical torment by Nathan culminating in a hilarious set-piece in episode six, and Ivan Plapp, a pretentious programme commissioner from Channel 7; a character that allegedly hit too close to home with some high-ups at Channel 4.
The supporting characters offer a colourful array of idiots who all add value to the show. Favourites include Ayoade's brain-dead hack Ned Smanks (Ashcroft: "What's the second best thing you've ever read?", Smanks: "...like, books and s**t?"), Trashbat's anxious animator Pingu (Ben Whishaw) who is subjected to mental and physical torment by Nathan culminating in a hilarious set-piece in episode six, and Ivan Plapp, a pretentious programme commissioner from Channel 7; a character that allegedly hit too close to home with some high-ups at Channel 4.
Made in 2004 and aired at the
beginning of 2005, it's easy to look back on the show now and forget how ahead
of its time it was. For example, Nathan is never without his "shark
proof" Wasp T-12 phone ("it's well weapon!") which includes a
high definition video camera and a pair of MP3 decks. It's meant to be funny,
and it is, but with the wealth of novelty apps available on a modern Smartphone,
it's also real life in 2012.
Today we're completely at home with the idea of blogging, social media, hipsters and user-generated content, but when Nathan Barley aired in February 2005 none of that was in the public consciousness. YouTube hadn't quite launched yet, the only people that cared about hipsters, were other hipsters, and the biggest name in social networking was Friends Reunited.
Today we're completely at home with the idea of blogging, social media, hipsters and user-generated content, but when Nathan Barley aired in February 2005 none of that was in the public consciousness. YouTube hadn't quite launched yet, the only people that cared about hipsters, were other hipsters, and the biggest name in social networking was Friends Reunited.
Critics questioned at the time
whether the only people that would get Nathan Barley were the people
it was making fun of. Perhaps they were right, but seven years later Nathan
Barley suddenly strikes a chord in a society where we are constantly looking at
our phone screens, chortling at internet memes, talking in text-speak and
posting the latest TOTES AMAZE videos to our Facebook profiles. To quote Dan
Ashcroft, "the idiots are winning".
EXPO
Charliecondou: RT @TimSigsworth: Come along and watch us @AlbertKennedyTr in the Manchester Pride parade or visit our gorgeous home in the Lifestyle expo area
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