The Day Today

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The Day Today was a surreal British parody of television current affairs programmes. It was an adaptation of the radio programme On The Hour.

Contents

1 Show synopsis
2 Main Characters
3 DVD Bonus Material
4 Cast and crew
5 Episode Listing
6 External links

Show synopsis

The cast was the same as the radio series, with Chris Morris as the news anchor, and the repertory cast of Steve Coogan, Rebecca Front, Doon Mackichan, Patrick Marber and David Schneider playing most of the other roles. Missing from the On The Hour group were writers Stewart Lee and Richard Herring, who had left after a confrontation with Marber.

Only six episodes were made and were originally broadcast in January and February 1994. The Day Today won many awards and Chris Morris won the 1994 British Comedy Award for Best Newcomer. All six episodes are available on BBC video and DVD.

The show featured a sports segment with sports presenter Alan Partridge (played by Steve Coogan). Partridge later appeared in his own shows, Knowing Me, Knowing You (on both radio and TV) and I'm Alan Partridge (on TV), and has become one of British comedy's most famous characters. Business news was handled by Collately Sisters, played by Doon Mackichan; bizarre stories from the US were courtesy of CBN's Barbara Wintergreen, played by Rebecca Front; the weather was always via the floating head of Sylvester Stuart, played by David Schneider; and bungled economic reports were delivered by Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan, played by Patrick Marber. Other recurring reporters and characters included Brant (Schneider), the physical cartoonist from The Daily Telegraph; Valerie Sinatra (Front), who supplied travel news from her travel pod a mile above the country (the object of Morris' unrequited desire); Chapman Baxter (Marber), an American serial killer who regularly finds himself in the electric chair; Ted Maul, a veteran TV journalist played by Morris and reprised for Brass Eye; Rosie May (Front), who presented the environmental news segment 'Enviromation'; and Jacques-"Jacques" Liverot (Marber), who basically commented on the unfolding events as the show went along. A spoof soap opera called The Bureau, set in a 24 hour Bureau de Change, also popped up from time to time.

The programme occasionally featured producer Armando Iannucci and writer Peter Baynham, the latter most notably playing Gay Desk reporter, Colin Poppshed. John Thomson, Graham Linehan, Tony Haase and Minnie Driver also appear. Michael Alexander St John provided the voiceover stings.

Main Characters

Chris Morris (Chris Morris) - The anchor man. Chris is a professional, and knows what he is talking about. His vast desk has several computers giving him the news instantly from around the world. He is always confrontational and aggressive. Possibly based on Jeremy Paxman.

Alan Partridge (Steve Coogan) - Sports correspondent. Alan is an old-school Tory who will often say the worst thing at the worst possible time. He has no knowledge of the sports he is covering, and mostly gets away with it by using complex metaphors, endless clichés and sheer bluff.

Collately Sisters (Doon Mackichan) - Business correspondent. Collately seemingly suffers from a bizarre series of tics, and talks complete nonsense about the world of business. She uses big graphics to get her points across, mainly when doing the currency market, using such things as the, "Currency Cat." Hated by Chris.

Sylvester Stuart (David Schneider) - The weatherman. The only part of Sylvester we see is his head, which often floats on a graphic background. He never describes the weather forecast straighforwardly, instead using metaphors such as "That's about as warm as going into a heated drawing room after chopping some wood."

Barbara Wintergreen (Rebecca Front) - Correspondent on The Day Today's American sister channel CBN. Barbara often reports on very strange stories, most of them concerning the executions of mass murderer Chapman Baxter (Patrick Marber). Her reports also include a lot of rather poor puns.

Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan (Patrick Marber) - Economic correspondent. Of all the characters, it is Peter who is clearly more incompetent than any other member of the team, perhaps even more than Alan. He is constantly making stupid mistakes, and often incurs Chris's displeasure.

Rosie May (Rebecca Front) - Environment correspondent. Implausibly bearded lady Rosie May presents the "Enviromation" slot. Her stories are always impossible, from the sky becoming loose from the horizon, to frozen fire.

Jacques-"Jacques" Liverot (Patrick Marber) - Resident French commentator. Jacques will comment on the news throughout the programme, using a series of impenetrable pseudo-existentialist bons mots.

Valerie Sinatra (Rebecca Front) - Travel correspondent. Valerie works in The Day Today travel tower, located a mile above the centre of Great Britain. The traffic reports cover accidents that are truly bizarre, such as a piece of pie blocking the road. She is the object of Chris' unrequited desire.

Brant (David Schneider) - The physical cartoonist from The Daily Telegraph. Brant satrises the news using cartoon backgrounds and then acting what is going on in the cartoon itself. Each cartoon ends with his signature.

Ted Maul (Chris Morris) - The roving reporter who later appears in Brass Eye made his first appearance here, as a roving reporter. A moustachioed veteran who speaks in an overblown, aggressive way and makes big stories from other peoples' suffering.

DVD Bonus Material

The DVD features extensive bonus material including original trailers (which are more like short episodes in their own right), the original pilot episode, and an Open University programme about news presentation which includes an analysis of how and why parodies such as The Day Today work.

The DVD also includes several "Easter eggs" including: a version of a State of the Union Address by George W. Bush, edited to make United States policy seem insanely belligerent; a new audio discussion between Morris and Alan Partridge discussing Partridge's bizarre theories of how Diana, Princess of Wales, and John F. Kennedy died; and another audio sketch featuring Peter O'Hanrahahanrahan pretending to file a report from the World Trade Center while blithely unaware that the September 11, 2001 attacks have just taken place. Pressing the Angle button during Episode 3 unveils brief, intermittent visual descriptions of the episode by Andy Hodgson and Jennifer Reinfrank, whilst a half-hour interview with Steve Coogan, conducted by Mark Radcliffe on the January 17, 1994 edition of his radio show, can be accessed through the Extended Scenes menu.

Cast and crew

Chris Morris - Chris Morris, Ted Maul, Collin Haye, other roles
Steve Coogan - Alan Partridge, Spartacus Mills, other roles
Rebecca Front - Barbara Wintergreen, Rosy May, Valerie Sinatra, other roles
Doon Mackichan - Collately Sisters, Beverley Smax, other roles
Patrick Marber - Peter O'Hanraha-hanrahan, Jacques "Jaques" Liverot, Chapman Baxter, other roles
David Schneider - Sylvester Stewart, Brant, other roles
Michael Alexander St John - Voiceover

Devisers - Chris Morris and Armando Iannucci
Writers - Chris Morris, Armando Iannucci, Peter Baynham, The Cast
Additional Material - Andrew Glover, Steven Wells & David Quantick, Graham Linehan & Arthur Mathews
Co-Producer - Chris Morris
Director - Andrew Gillman
Producer - Armando Iannucci
Music - Jonathan Whitehead, Chris Morris

Episode Listing

Main News Attack (broadcast 19 January 1994)
The Big Report (broadcast 26 January 1994)
Meganews (broadcast 2 February 1994)
Stretchcast (broadcast 9 February 1994)
Magnifivent (broadcast 16 February 1994)
Newsatrolysis a.k.a. Factgasm (broadcast 23 February 1994)

External links

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