The United Kingdom has perfected the panel show in a way that other countries can’t quite hack. A combination of quiz show and comedy series, panel shows have a basic game structure but are much looser and lower stakes than actual game shows; the game itself is merely an excuse for different comedians, actors, musicians, and celebrities in general to crack each other up. 8 Out of 10 Cats, QI, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Taskmaster, Have I Got News for You, Mock the Week, and many others have provided years (and often decades) of laughs, and one of the very best of the bunch is Would I Lie to You?
Would I Lie to You? has had the very funny Lee Mack (Not Going Out) and David Mitchell (Peep Show) as team captains since it began in 2007, and has been hosted by the wonderful Rob Brydon since 2009. The truly hilarious show recently finished airing its 18th series, and when MovieWeb spoke with David Mitchell about his hit crime comedy show Ludwig, Mitchell confirmed that series 19 would begin filming next month. “We’re shooting another series in May and June this year, I’m glad to say,” explained Mitchell. After nearly two decades, has Would I Lie to You? become an obligatory chore at all, or is the spark still there?
“I think I enjoy it more and more, actually,” confirmed Mitchell. “Me, Lee, and Rob, we’re very comfortable in each other’s company. We get on very well, and I think we’re on the same page in terms of what makes a panel show work.” Mitchell continued:
“I think it has to feel… there has to be joy, there has to be fun. It mustn’t feel — if it feels like work, it looks like work, and I think we have sort of relaxed into that. The sort of backbone of the show is its creator, a man called Peter Holmes, who came up with the idea and, in America, you’d call him the showrunner, but here he’s been the executive producer, his official title.”
“Peter is just on top of all of it, and he lives and breathes that show, and he allows us to have fun, because he does the work and puts together the groups of people, and we never know anything that’s going to happen. That spontaneity is vital to the show, but equally is having planned it all and put together complementary guests, and that sort of thing is vital as well. That’s why I think it still really works.”
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“But it’s delightful to do,” added Mitchel of Would I Lie to You? even after 18 years. “Early on, it was cut very rigidly, sort of last laugh. Now it allows itself to be more discursive and odd, and you see conversations that I would think are the kind of thing that justifies a panel show’s existence. You get conversations on them that no one would ever have written. You know, genuinely, they spring out of a combination of people in front of an audience, trying to make them laugh, and that such oddness can come from it is very pleasing in a way. So no, I still find it a rewarding genre.”
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Mitchell also finds his hit new series Ludwig very rewarding, and we can see why. It’s one of the best new series of 2024 in the UK, and one of the best detective series on BritBox, where Americans can watch the show. It follows an isolated puzzle-maker named John Taylor who goes by the pseudonym ‘Ludwig.’ When his identical twin brother, DCI James Taylor, leaves a mysterious note for his family and vanishes one day, John’s sister-in-law begs him to solve the puzzle of his disappearance — which involves impersonating James in order to get into his job and discover what has spooked him. It’s a brilliant crime comedy, and Mitchell gives perhaps the best performance of his career.
Ludwig and Would I Lie to You? are both streaming on BritBox. You can watch Would I Lie to You? here, and watch Ludwig through the link below:
3.5
/5
Release Date
September 25, 2024
Cast
You can view the original article HERE.
