''A Whole Lifetime with Jamie Demetriou'' is a 2023 comedy special from

Jamie Demetriou Jamie Demetriou (born November 1987) is an English comedian, actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Bus Rodent in ''Fleabag'' and for creating, co-writing, and starring in ''Stath Lets Flats''. For the latter, he won Best Male A ...

that was broadcast on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

in the United Kingdom from February 28, 2023. A one-hour special, it shows a series of sketches depicting life from cradle to grave, featuring guest appearances and songs.

Synopsis

The hour-long comedy sketch special shows a series of comedy sketches taking the audience from the womb, through childhood, adulthood and beyond, accompanied by song.

Production

Demetriou said he was approached by

to pitch sketch comedy ideas. Initially, he said he planned “a more sprawling sketch show and then we figured that an hour is a testing amount of time for something that isn't narrative.” Demetriou described the show as “birth to death in songs and sketches." The show was commissioned prior to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and had a delayed production until after the outbreak. The project was produced by

BBC Studios Productions BBC Studios Productions is a British content production company and is BBC Studios production division, producing a wide range of programmes from things like ''Top Gear'' to '' Strictly Come Dancing''. BBC Studios Productions is responsible for p ...

and Guilty Party Pictures with Demetriou writing and starring.

Cast

Ellie White Ellie White (born 1989) is an English comedy actress. She is best known for playing Princess Beatrice of York in the British royal family parody, '' The Windsors'' (2016–2020), and Katia in the sitcom, ''Stath Lets Flats'' (2018–2021). ...

Emma Sidi Emma Francesca Sidi (born February 1991) is an English actress, comedian and writer for radio, stage and screen. Early life Sidi was born to British parents in the United States, where her father, who had previously played professional rugby ...

Katy Wix Katy Victoria J Wix (born 28 February 1980) is a Welsh actress, writer, author and artist. She is best known for her television roles as Carole in '' Stath Lets Flats,'' Mary in '' Ghosts'' and Jules in ''Big Boys''. She has also appeared as a ...

* Kiell Smith-Bynoe *

Sian Clifford Sian Clifford (born 7 April 1982) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Claire, the older sister of the titular character in the BBC comedy-drama series ''Fleabag'' (2016–2019) and also portrayed Martha Crawley in the ITV/Amazo ...

* Bella Glanville * Christopher Jeffers * Mark Silcox *

Jonny Sweet Jonny Sweet (born 1985) is a British comedian and the recipient of the 2009 Edinburgh Comedy Award for best newcomer. Early life Sweet was born in Nottingham and educated at the local independent school Nottingham High School. He read English ...

* Jon Pointing * Phoebe Walsh * Will Hislop * Al Roberts * Raphale Sowole *

Seb Cardinal ''Cardinal Burns'' is a British television sketch show starring Seb Cardinal (born 1973 or 1974) and Dustin Demri-Burns (born July 1978). After a pilot on BBC Three, the first series began on 8 May 2012 on E4, before moving to Channel 4 for th ...

Lloyd Griffith Lloyd Griffith (born 5 July 1983) is an English comedian, actor, presenter and singer from Grimsby, England, and was a presenter on Sky Sports show ''Soccer AM'' until the end of the 2018-2019 season. Career Lloyd Griffith originally trained a ...

* Matthew Colthart * Nathan Geal

Broadcast

The show was available on

from February 28, 2023 in the United Kingdom.

Reception

Critical reception

Stuart Heritage in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' said he “laughed harder and for longer than I can remember”. Isobel Lewis in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' said the comedy was “decidedly British but with a Netflix sheen...silly, but lacking the sharpness of Stath or his live sketch characters. It's that attempt to straddle both worlds that leaves Demetriou’s comedy feeling surprisingly watered down.” Chris Bennion in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...

'' called it “a wild, ribald sketch comedy special that... shows, in flashes, its creator’s sublime genius, offering moments of sheer joy, punctuated by longer, more baffling sections that ultimately disappoint.”

Accolades

In February 2024, it was nominated in the Best TV Show category at the

Chortle Awards The Chortle Awards were set up in 2002 by the comedy website Chortle to honour the best of established stand-up comics currently working in the UK. A panel of reviewers draw up a shortlist, which is presented for public vote at the Chortle websit ...

. In March 2024, Demitriou was nominated in the Male performance in a comedy programme category at the 2024 British Academy Television Awards.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Whole Lifetime with Jamie Demetriou, A British English-language television shows Netflix original programming 2020s British television sketch shows 2023 in British television 2023 television specials British surreal comedy television series Television productions postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Netflix specials Television series by BBC Studios