TVGoHome was a

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...

which parodied the

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

listings style of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

magazine '' Radio Times''. It was produced fortnightly from 1999 to 2001, and sporadically until April 2003, 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 ...

. The site now exists only in archive form. TVGoHome columns also appeared for a short time in '' Loaded'' magazine, sometimes edited from their original web version. The website gained a cult following, partly due to its tie-up with the technology newsletter ''

Need To Know The term "need to know", when used by government and other organizations (particularly those related to the military or espionage), describes the restriction of data which is considered very sensitive. Under need-to-know restrictions, even if one ...

'', and its use of strong language, surreal imagery and savage satire reminiscent of the work of Chris Morris. Indeed, Morris himself contributed on occasion, under the pseudonym 'Sid Peach'. Regular targets for ridicule were the '' Daily Mail'',

Mick Hucknall Michael James Hucknall (born 8 June 1960) is an English singer and songwriter. Hucknall achieved international fame in the 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter of the soul-influenced pop band Simply Red, with whom he enjoyed a 25-year career ...

Simply Red Simply Red are a British soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. The lead vocalist of the band is singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall, who, by the time the band initially disbanded in 2010, was the only original member left. Since th ...

, and the TV presenters

Rowland Rivron Rowland John Rivron (born 28 September 1958) is a British writer, comedic actor and television personality. Early career Rivron played the comic character "Dr Martin Scrote" on the Jonathan Ross chat show ''The Last Resort'', and also played Scr ...

and

Nicky Campbell Nicholas Andrew Argyll Campbell, OBE (born Nicholas Lackey, 10 April 1961) is a Scottish broadcaster and journalist. He has worked in television and radio since 1981 and as a network presenter with BBC Radio since 1987. Early life Campbell wa ...

. TVGoHome's most consistent target, however, was fictional. Nathan Barley, an ex-public-school media wannabe living off his parents' wealth, had his life chronicled in a fly-on-the-wall documentary series (in the TVGoHome universe) entitled simply 'Cunt'. Detailing Barley's comfortable life in the now gentrified area of formerly working class

Westbourne Grove Westbourne Grove is a retail road running across Notting Hill, an area of west London. Its western end is in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and its eastern end is in the City of Westminster; it runs from Kensington Park Road in th ...

in west London, the programme essentially mocked the "new media" scene and its population of self-obsessed, middle-class web designers, DJs and magazine producers, their obsessions with absurd fashions and gadgetry, their inevitably feeble and derivative attempts at creativity, and their tireless efforts to embody the cutting edge of urban cool. A spinoff book of the same title was later released featuring old and new material. Brooker has cited the increasing absurdity of

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early ...

as one of the main reasons he stopped writing TVGoHome. The ideas for real life shows such as '' Touch the Truck'', in which contestants must continually touch a truck for 24 hours in order to win the truck as a prize, were the kind of idea that at one point would only have existed as an absurd satirical creation of Brooker's website. Now that they were becoming a reality, Brooker felt it was probably time to stop. In 2006, Brooker began a regular column 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 ...

'', featuring new TVGoHome listings.

Recurring programmes

* ''Cunt'', a fly-on-the wall series featuring Nathan Barley, a "new media" type kept housed and up to date with the latest pointless technological gadgets through constant parental financial support. Barley is depicted as being of absolutely no value to society, with no morals and even less intelligence, and having many friends (all of whom are exactly like him). On one occasion he attempts to let his girlfriend down over a 6-month period, ultimately ending in his once confident, happy girlfriend being

sectioned Involuntary commitment, civil commitment, or involuntary hospitalization/hospitalisation is a legal process through which an individual who is deemed by a qualified agent to have symptoms of severe mental disorder is detained in a psychiatric hos ...

. He is subject to almost pathological levels of hatred from the writer of the billing of the show. * ''Daily Mail Island'', a reality TV show where several normal people are deposited on an island and not allowed access to any media other than the strongly right-wing, deeply conservative '' Daily Mail'' newspaper, leading to them becoming progressively more irrational and brutal as the series progresses — for example, tying teenage lovers together with sacks on their heads and beating them, or sealing a teenager caught masturbating into a coffin filled with broken glass and dog faeces and throwing it over a cliff and their language devolving into rhetorical questions and sarcastic snorts. * ''Get Hen!'', a bizarre interactive programme in which home viewers fire lightguns at a dancing hen inserted into various pieces of film. * ''Mick Hucknall's Pink Pancakes'', in which

fame presses his testicles against various transparent surfaces, including shop windows, glass coffee tables and Chinese riot shields. Briefly succeeded by ''Mick Hucknall's Spud Tip Challenge'', in which he quite simply balanced a baby new potato on the end of his penis. * ''Ricky's Luck'', a drama featuring Ricky who suffers appallingly bad luck in just about everything he does. The 'Ricky' featured is almost certainly based on/actually meant to be '' EastEnders'' character

Ricky Butcher Ricky Butcher is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'', played by Sid Owen. Introduced as a school boy in 1988, Ricky is one of the longest-running male protagonists to feature in ''EastEnders''. Owen originally left the r ...

, noted for having constantly bad luck throughout his tenure on the soap. The title is also likely a play on ''

Tucker's Luck ''Tucker's Luck'' is a British television series made by the BBC between 1983 and 1985. The series is a spin-off from the school drama ''Grange Hill'' and capitalised on the popularity of one of the series' original characters – Peter "Tucker ...

'', a spin-off of the children's series ''

Grange Hill ''Grange Hill'' is a British children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical comprehensive school. The show began its run on 8 February 1978 on BBC1, and was one of the longest-running progra ...

''. * ''Patrick Kielty's Streets of Fundom'', where

Patrick Kielty Patrick Kielty (born 31 January 1971) is a Northern Irish comedian and television personality. Background Kielty was born in County Down, Northern Ireland, and grew up in the village of Dundrum. He is one of three sons born to the businessm ...

performs various completely meaningless actions while roaming the streets of Britain, such as wearing a Viking helmet, climbing onto the back of a man dressed as a cartoon Hitler and then letting off party poppers each time he passes an elderly woman.

Television

The TVGoHome format itself, or elements derived from it, have featured within several television comedy and entertainment programmes. A ''TVGoHome'' comedy sketch show was produced in 2001, consisting of six half-hour episodes broadcast on E4, later compiled into a smaller number of 'highlights' shows for broadcast on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

. It was written by Brooker, among others, and directed by

Tristram Shapeero Tristram Shapeero is a British television director. He has directed many comedy series, initially in the United Kingdom and later in the United States. Early life Shapeero was born in Somerset and spent his childhood in Bath, where he attended ...

, who also directed the controversial ''

Brass Eye ''Brass Eye'' is a British satirical television series parodying current affairs news programming. A series of six episodes aired on Channel 4 in 1997, and a further episode in 2001. The series was created and presented by Chris Morris, written ...

'' special on

paedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelt paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of puberty ...

. The sketches included new material and skits based on previous TVGH entries. A spin-off from TVGH was ''Unnovations'', based on a parody of the Innovations catalogue; this was turned into a TV sketch/sitcom series, broadcast on UK Play in 2001-02; since that channel's demise, it has not been repeated. A

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

entitled '' Nathan Barley'', based on a character first featured within ''TVGoHome'' columns, was co-written by Brooker with Chris Morris, and was broadcast in February 2005. Brooker's 2009 Channel 4 TV-themed panel review show '' You Have Been Watching'' features TVGH-style spoof listings pages in its opening title sequence.

Publications

* ''TV Go Home'', Charlie Brooker, 2001 ()

References

External links

* VGoHome.com https://web.archive.org/web/20030408060057/http://www.tvgohome.com/(archived)
Channel 4 microsite
(archived)
A ''Cunt'' Compendium''Nathan Barley''
TV show site (archived)
Charlie Brooker's Guardian column archive
{{Charlie Brooker British comedy websites Defunct websites Television series created by Charlie Brooker Television series by Endemol Television series about television 2001 British television series debuts British television sketch shows 2001 British television series endings E4 comedy