''Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe'' is a

British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...

review programme created and presented by

Charlie Brooker Charlton Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English television presenter, writer, producer and satirist. He is the creator and co-showrunner of the sci-fi drama anthology series ''Black Mirror'', and has written for comedy series such as ''Bras ...

. It is the most recent addition to Brooker's ''Wipe'' series, and the first to be broadcast in HD. The programme is an amalgam of the earlier ''Wipe'' series, with reviews of current television programmes, news events, games, and films. The programme was commissioned by the BBC in November 2012, with six episodes ordered. It began airing on 31 January 2013, and was broadcast on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

. Two more series followed in 2014 and 2015. A special edition of the show entitled ''Election Wipe'' was broadcast on 6 May 2015, the day before the

UK general election This is a list of United Kingdom general elections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland ...

. In May 2020 a new one-off episode entitled ''Antiviral Wipe'' was broadcast, which was filmed in lockdown due 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 identi ...

Format

''Weekly Wipe'' follows a similar format to Brooker's earlier works. It features Brooker commenting on a range of recent programmes, events, games, and films. Brooker presents the programme from both his living room and a presenters' desk, similar to '' Newswipe''. Brooker also narrates news footage, and other VTs, commenting humorously on their content. Whilst covering the most prominent events of the week, ''Weekly Wipe'' also satirises more commonplace or minor occurrences. ''Weekly Wipe'' features Al Campbell as "Barry Shitpeas" and

Diane Morgan Diane Morgan (born 5 October 1975) is an English actress, comedian, television presenter, and writer. She is best known for playing Philomena Cunk on Charlie Brooker's '' Weekly Wipe'' and in other mockumentaries, as Liz in the BBC Two sitcom ' ...

as "Philomena Cunk" ('Cunk' being portrayed as a deliberately dim-witted/ill-informed interviewer), and segments by comedians

Doug Stanhope Doug Stanhope (born March 25, 1967) is an American stand-up comedian, author, political activist and podcast host. His stand-up material favors caustic and often obscene observations of life in the style of Bill Hicks and Bill Burr, which he del ...

Tim Key Timothy David Key (born September 1976) is an English poet, comedian, actor, screenwriter and radio personality. He is best known for playing Alan Partridge's sidekick Simon in '' Mid Morning Matters'', '' Alpha Papa'', and '' This Time'', as ...

Limmy Brian Limond (born 20 October 1974), known as Limmy, is a Scottish comedian, author, and Twitch streamer. While working as a website designer and Flash developer, Limmy began releasing comedy on his website and blog, Limmy.com, which contain ...

Jake Yapp Jacob Yapp is a British comedian, composer, and writer. Career Yapp first came to prominence in the mid-1990s on Martin Kelner's radio shows on BBC North and Jazz FM playing the character Dame Dora Dale. The character would return to radio i ...

, Catriona Knox as reporter "Emily Surname" and

Morgana Robinson Morgana Robinson (born 7 May 1982) is an Australian-born English impressionist, comedian, writer and actress, who is best known for her comedy sketch programme ''The Morgana Show'', ''Morgana Robinson's The Agency'', appearances on ''The TNT Sho ...

. In the first series, alongside these contributors, guest stars such as

Richard Osman Richard Thomas Osman (born 28 November 1970) is an English television presenter, producer, novelist and comedian. He is the creator and former co-presenter of the BBC One television quiz show '' Pointless''. He has presented the BBC Two quiz sh ...

and

Susan Calman Susan Grace Calman (born 6 November 1974) is a Scottish comedian, television presenter, writer and panellist on a number of BBC Radio 4 shows including ''The News Quiz'' and ''I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue''. She has written and starred in two se ...

joined Brooker in a chat show segment, discussing recent events of interest. The programme includes segments used by Brooker in his year-in-review wipes, such as the "World of Bullshit" section; these short clips cover the more mundane elements of otherwise newsworthy events. Brooker also regularly links news stories together to make them more humorous, and satirises popular opinions to make light of otherwise serious events. In a similar section, "World of Shitverts", Brooker satirises popular adverts. As with much of Brooker's work, ''Weekly Wipe'' openly mocks other shows, people, and news events. ''Weekly Wipe'' comments on media, public reaction, and how the two influence each other.

Reception

''Weekly Wipe'' has received generally positive reviews from critics, who praise Brooker's return to the original ''Wipe'' format. The studio-based chat show element of the first episode was criticised, with its jarring change of pace separating it from the rest of the monologic episode. ''Weekly Wipe'' received a nomination in the Comedy and Comedy Entertainment Programme category at the

2015 British Academy Television Awards The 61st British Academy Television Awards nominations were announced on 8 April 2015. Winners and nominees Winners are listed first and emboldened. Programmes with multiple nominations Most major wins In Memoriam *Dona ...

Episodes

Episode ratings from BARB.

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Specials

References

External links

* * * {{Charlie Brooker 2013 British television series debuts 2016 British television series endings 2010s British comedy television series BBC Television shows BBC television comedy Television series about television Television series created by Charlie Brooker Television series by Endemol Television series by Zeppotron British television spin-offs