''Moving Wallpaper'' is a British satirical
comedy-drama
Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...
television series set in a TV production unit. It ran on
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
for two series in 2008–09. The subject of the first series was the production of a soap called ''
Echo Beach
"Echo Beach" is a song recorded by the Canadian group Martha and the Muffins in 1979. Written by band member Mark Gane, it was released as a single from their album '' Metro Music'' in 1980 and went on to reach number 5 in Canada, number 6 in Aus ...
'', each episode of which aired directly after the ''Moving Wallpaper'' episode about its production. The second series shifted to the production of a "zombie show" called ''Renaissance''. Ben Miller confirmed in May 2009 on his Twitter account that no further series would be made.
The title, ''Moving Wallpaper'', is a disparaging term applied to uninspiring television series, or to television in general, referring to the perception that modern television viewers are "mindless absorbers of images", as if staring at wallpaper.
Production
The show was created by
Tony Jordan
Tony Jordan (born 21 July 1957) is a British television writer. He was listed as the number one television screenwriter in the United Kingdom by ''Broadcast'' magazine in 2008 and among British broadcasting's top twenty in ''The Stage'' in 200 ...
and produced by
Kudos
Kudos may refer to:
Arts and media
* ''Kudos'' (computer game), a life simulation game produced by Positech Games
* Kudos (production company), a UK-based film and television production company
* Kudos, a fictional currency used by the Dwellers ...
for
ITV
ITV or iTV may refer to:
ITV
*Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of:
** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...
. Filming for series one started in July 2007 and the show began airing on ITV on 10 January 2008, continuing at 9 pm on Fridays thereafter for twelve weekly episodes. The "fictional" soap opera ''Echo Beach'' was itself shown immediately afterwards at 9.30 pm.
In
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
, series one of ''Moving Wallpaper'' aired back-to-back with ''Echo Beach'' on
ABC2
ABC TV Plus (formerly ABC2 and ABC Comedy) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and part of its ABC Television network. The channel broadcasts a range of general entertainment progra ...
each Friday at 8:30pm from 30 May 2008. Both programmes were later repeated on the higher-rated
ABC1
ABC TV, formerly known as ABC1, is an Australian national public television network. It is owned and operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and is the flagship ABC Television network. The headquarters of the ABC TV channel an ...
channel a year later from 6 May 2009 on Wednesday nights. Yet, this time, ''Echo Beach'' was separated from its sister program and placed in an early Saturday evening timeslot three days later. Series two premiered on ABC1 each Friday night at 10:15pm from 19 February 2010.
A six-episode second series of ''Moving Wallpaper'' was commissioned and began airing on ITV on 28 February 2009, again in the Friday 9 pm slot. The companion soap ''Echo Beach'' was cancelled, however, and the storylines of series two instead revolved around a "zombie show" called ''Renaissance''.
Unlike ''Echo Beach'' in series one, which was a full broadcast series, ''Renaissance'' was a half-hour pilot. A shortened version of this episode, with a running time of nine minutes, was screened after the conclusion of the second series only on the ITV website,
ITV Player
ITVX (formerly ITV Hub) is a British online video-on-demand service operated by ITV plc, ITV. The service offers predominantly features content from ITV1, as well as ITV Digital Channels, ITV Digital channels and some licensed content. The serv ...
.
Premise
''Moving Wallpaper'' storylines revolve around a crazed producer, Jonathan Pope (played by
Ben Miller
Bennet Evan Miller (born 24 February 1966) is an English actor, comedian, and author. He rose to fame as one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller. Miller is also known for playing the lead role of DI Richard Poole in the first two serie ...
), trying to hold together an assortment of egotistic and neurotic writers and actors through the vicissitudes of ''Echo Beach'' production (series one), while simultaneously fighting off his bitchy boss.
Series one ended with the producer on the verge of learning whether a second series of ''Echo Beach'' had been commissioned. Series two picked up from this point with the news that the network had cancelled ''Echo Beach'' (mirroring the real-life circumstance). However, a clause in Pope's contract compels the network to allow him to make a pilot for a new show, which largely by accident turns out to be the "zombie show" ''Renaissance''. After rejection by the network, Pope forces a website editor to upload the pilot to the itv.com website (again linking to the real-life circumstance).
Cast and characters
Main cast and characters
*
Ben Miller
Bennet Evan Miller (born 24 February 1966) is an English actor, comedian, and author. He rose to fame as one half of the comedy duo Armstrong and Miller. Miller is also known for playing the lead role of DI Richard Poole in the first two serie ...
as Jonathan Pope, an Executive Producer.
*
Lucy Liemann as Samantha Phillips, a script editor.
*
Sarah Hadland as Gillian McGovern, a script writer.
*
James Lance
James Frederick Grenville Lance (born 29 September 1974) is an English actor, best known for his appearances in a number of British comedy series and the British-American comedy series '' Ted Lasso'' for which he was nominated for a Primetime ...
as Tom Warren, a script writer.
*
Dave Lamb
David Alexander Lamb (born 17 January 1969) is an English actor, comedian, narrator and presenter. He is best known for his narration work on '' Come Dine with Me'' as well as appearances in British television and radio programmes, especially co ...
as Carl Morris, a script writer.
*
Sinead Keenan as Kelly Hawkins, a PA.
*
Elizabeth Berrington
Elizabeth Berrington (born 3 August 1970) is an English actress and graduate of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art; she is best known for her roles as Ruby Fry in '' Waterloo Road'', Paula Kosh in '' Stella'', Mel Debrou in ''Moving Wall ...
as Mel Debrou, a cast liaison.
*
Raquel Cassidy
Raquel Cassidy is an English actress. She played the role of Phyllis Baxter in the television series ''Downton Abbey'' (2013–2015), winning a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series. She has re ...
as Nancy Weeks, an executive in charge of continuing drama.
''Echo Beach'' actors
*
Jason Donovan
Jason Sean Donovan (born 1 June 1968) is an Australian actor and singer. He initially achieved fame in the Australian soap ''Neighbours'', playing Scott Robinson, before beginning a career in music in 1988. In the UK he has sold over 3 mi ...
appears as himself (series 1).
*
Martine McCutcheon
Martine Kimberley Sherrie McCutcheon (formerly Ponting, born 14 May 1976) is an English actress and singer. She began appearing in television commercials at an early age and made her television debut in the children's television drama '' Bluebir ...
appears as herself (series 1).
*
Hugo Speer
Hugo Alexander Speer (born 17 March 1968) is an English actor and director.
Early life and education
Hugo Speer was born in Harrogate in the then West Riding of Yorkshire and educated at Harrogate Grammar School. He studied acting at the Arts E ...
appears as himself (series 1).
*
Susie Amy appears as herself (series 1).
''Renaissance'' actors
*
Alan Dale
Alan Hugh Dale (born 6 May 1947) is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale enjoyed theatre and rugby. After retiring from the sport, he took on a number of occupations, before deciding to become a professional actor at age 27. Dale subsequentl ...
appears as himself playing ''Renaissance'' character John Priest (series 2 and ''Renaissance'').
*
Kelly Brook
Kelly Ann Parsons (born 23 November 1979), known professionally as Kelly Brook, is an English model, actress, and media personality. She is known for her modelling work in the UK, and in the US for her role as Prudence on the NBC sitcom ''One ...
appears as herself playing ''Renaissance'' character Samantha Hall (series 2 and ''Renaissance'').
Episodes
Series 1
The first series of ''Moving Wallpaper'' was broadcast alongside ''
Echo Beach
"Echo Beach" is a song recorded by the Canadian group Martha and the Muffins in 1979. Written by band member Mark Gane, it was released as a single from their album '' Metro Music'' in 1980 and went on to reach number 5 in Canada, number 6 in Aus ...
''. ''Moving Wallpaper'' characters Tom Warren, Carl Morris, and Gillian McGovern are credited on-screen as writers during early ''Echo Beach'' episodes, while Jonathan Pope is credited as a producer during the opening titles of ''Echo Beach'' entire first series. Prior to ''Echo Beach'' star
Susie Amy's promotion to series regular, Jonathan Pope comments that he will "bump" the writers credit in all future episodes in order to facilitate this.
''Echo Beach''
''Echo Beach'' was broadcast immediately following ''Moving Wallpaper'' first series. The series consists of twelve thirty-minute episodes.
Series 2
The second series of ''Moving Wallpaper'' focused on the production of ''Renaissance'', an online drama starring Alan Dale as John Priest, named for Jonathan Pope, and Kelly Brook as Samantha, named for the fictional script editor of the same name.
''Renaissance''
''Renaissance'' was broadcast as a nine-minute pilot on
ITV Player
ITVX (formerly ITV Hub) is a British online video-on-demand service operated by ITV plc, ITV. The service offers predominantly features content from ITV1, as well as ITV Digital Channels, ITV Digital channels and some licensed content. The serv ...
following the final episode of ''Moving Wallpaper''.
Reception
Media reviews for ''Moving Wallpaper'' were largely positive (though the series one companion show ''Echo Beach'' was received less favourably). ''The Telegraph''s reviewer described ''Moving Wallpaper'' as "sharply written and cleverly characterised", and a review in ''The Times'' called it "joyously and uproariously funny". ''The Mirror'' was less enthusiastic, however, saying "Moving Wallpaper remains a laboured in-joke at its own expense", and celebrity website ''Hecklerspray'' agreed describing it as being "merely millimetres away from being the epitome of mediocre, easy watch television."
The episode of ''Moving Wallpaper'' broadcast on 20 March 2009, in which a transsexual script writer was made the butt of a series of jokes, was described by groups representing transgender people as
transphobic
Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger tow ...
and likely to encourage hate-crime and discrimination against transgender people. Ofcom, the UK broadcast media watchdog, received 100 complaints over the episode and launched an investigation to see if any broadcasting codes were breached. ITV and the programme were cleared by Ofcom in June 2009.
DVD release
The complete first series was released on
Region 2 DVD on 24 March 2008, combined with the ''Echo Beach'' series. It was also released separately.
References
External links
*
*
* {{IMDb title, id=1075233, title=Moving Wallpaper
2008 British television series debuts
2009 British television series endings
British comedy-drama television shows
English-language television shows
ITV (TV network) original programming
Television series about television