''Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe'' was a

British television Television broadcasts in the United Kingdom began in 1932, however, regular broadcasts would only begin four years later. Television began as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transm ...

review programme created and presented by

Charlie Brooker Charlton ‘Charlie’ Brooker (born 3 March 1971) is an English screenwriter, producer, presenter, author, cartoonist, and social critic. He first became known for creating and presenting satirical television shows that featured biting criticis ...

. The programme was 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 service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

. 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 United Kingdom general elections (elections for the House of Commons) have occurred in the United Kingdom since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliame ...

. 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Format

''Weekly Wipe'' follows a format similar 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 and writer. She is notable for portraying Philomena Cunk on the review programme '' Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe'' (2013–2020), the mockumentary series '' Cunk on Britain'' (2 ...

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, actor, political activist and podcast host. His stand-up material consist of profane and confrontational observations of life. Early life Stanhope was born in Worcest ...

Tim Key Timothy Key (born 2 September 1976) is an English poet, comedian, actor and screenwriter. He has performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, both as a solo act and as part of the comedy group Cowards (comedy troupe), Cowards, and plays Alan Pa ...

, Limmy, Jake Yapp, Catriona Knox as reporter "Emily Surname" and

Morgana Robinson Morgana Robinson is an Australian-born British comedian, impressionist, writer and actress. She has appeared in her comedy sketch programme '' The Morgana Show'', ''Morgana Robinson's The Agency'', '' House of Fools'' and '' Very Important Peop ...

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

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

and Susan Calman 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 2010s British satirical television series BBC Two original programming BBC television comedy Television series about television Television series created by Charlie Brooker Television series by Banijay Television series by Zeppotron British television spinoffs British English-language television shows Political satirical television series