SPOILER ALERT!

Second TV Centre Recording 7th November 2008. Team: Dan, Jamie, Cheryl, Adam, Wendy, Sinead.

Once again they were also recording Grownups at the same time in another studio so the queue got very long, and freezing cold although the ‘hilarious’ BBC Three sitcom does not have the power to change the weather. Merely a nice garden that they inherited from Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps. We guessed that ‘the other door’ might be used when going over to Studio 8 so we were ready and ended up in the third row, which was good. This week’s studio sets were a living room and a quiz show, with something maybe round the back that we couldn’t see, and we spotted Producer Gareth Edwards, Rob in a mucky suit, David in a clean suit, Mark Evans as a Nazi-ish soldier, and James Bachman in a boiler suit before Lucy Porter appeared and did her warm-up thing that she does…

Studio Sketch 1:
The quiz show set, featuring the British Emergency Broadcast System sketches from the 10th August Drill Hall try out (the second night). They did three of these and worked better with visuals so all was well. James did strange wailing grunting noises, Sarah Hadland screamed a bit and Rob had to fall over for the first time in the evening. There were no technical problems and it worked much better as a full sketch than at the read-through try-out night.

VT Collection 1:
Lazy writers: Spy drama. From last week!
Behind The Scenes: Action figures. We liked.
Obvious marketing phrases.
New Age hospital. From last week!
Captain Todger 1: Not really very good.
30 minutes to talk.
Dying mate’s last wish 1: Penguins. From Drill Hall. David adds another accent to his range.
Captain Todger 2.
Gary Rhodes! Not the same sketch as the one from the third radio series. They are obsessed, very good.
Dying mate 2: Die Hard. From Drill Hall.
Dying Mate 3: Sex with wife. From Drill Hall.

A new set was revealed when the quiz show set was taken apart.

Studio Sketch 2:
Big Talk: Credit Crunch special. Always a popular choice.

Lucy got out a Judy Annual…

VT Collection 2:
Food & Drink 1: Cressps. Nice short silly sketches.
Captain Todger 3.
“By Vectron!” Went on too long.
Mister Darcy, from Drill Hall. Nice and silly.
Lazy TV Writers: “Being a prossie is great!” From Drill Hall, good sketch.
Food & Drink 2: Glucozade Port. Rob has to fall over for the second time this evening.
Captain Todger 4: Donkey charity.
Behind The Scenes: Dignified answer.
Pimms Winter.

Studio Sketch 3:
Ben (Rob) and Lizzie (Abigail) in not-swingers sketch. Went well.

Lucy gave two of the front row uber-fans some Maltesers for contributing the best laughter and got her Judy Annual out again to show off the lovely Peter Davison poster. The not-swingers sketch did a re-take and then the set was changed into a slightly different room.

VT Collection 3:
Captain Todger 5: Under age girl.
Food & Drink 3: Mar-Mit. Rob has to fall over for the third time this evening.
Professor Death’s Death Ray. With CGI!
Films: Posh Jaws. These sketches earned a lot of laughter.
Abraham and Isaac. From Drill Hall.
Behind The Scenes: Text etiquette.
Captain Todger 6: with David as villain and James as Mayor Boris Johnson.
Films: Posh Jaws II.
Kitchen Nightmares-esque show. From Drill Hall.

Studio Sketch 4:
Another party! Lionel (Rob) is a brain surgeon… from the first Drill Hall session (that I did not attend).

Lucy gave the canapes from the sketch to the audience.

VT Collection 4:
Starving explorers’ seasonal food dilemma. Very good.
Films: Polite Taxi Driver. Short and very funny.
Ventriloquist armed robber.
Butler. From first Drill Hall session, classic Mitchell & Webb.
Films: Rude Gandhi.
Behind The Scenes: Sex & The City/Tenko. Very funny.

Studio Sketch 5:
Behind The Scenes sketch filmed in the studio with cameras in the audience.

VT Collection 5:
Bussman & Christmas.
Behind The Scenes: Massage.
Pompei soothsayer.

The end! There will be a recording of laughter for VT sketches at the Radio Theatre in a week and a bit and then it’s all done. It is scheduled for February…

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