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58-544: Big Train is a British television sketch show created by Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan . The first series was broadcast on BBC Two in 1998, while the second, in which Linehan was not involved, aired in 2002. The series starred the actors Kevin Eldon , Mark Heap and Simon Pegg in both series one and two, with Julia Davis and Amelia Bullmore in the first series ( Nick Frost also appeared in two episodes), and Rebecca Front , Tracy-Ann Oberman and Catherine Tate in

116-530: A cast of recurring characters. In North America , contemporary sketch comedy is largely an outgrowth of the improvisational comedy scene that flourished during the 1970s, largely growing out of The Second City in Chicago and Toronto , which was built upon the success in Minneapolis of The Brave New Workshop and Dudley Riggs . Notable contemporary American stage sketch comedy groups include The Second City,

174-604: A gem, boasting some of the finest performances Pegg, Davis and the rest have ever delivered", whilst another author of the same publication called it "one of the most original and most consistently funny sketch shows in years". 'The Complete Series 1 and 2' DVD has been released in the US and the UK. From March 2021, both series became available on BritBox . Sketch show Sketch comedy has its origins in vaudeville and music hall , where many brief humorous acts were strung together to form

232-611: A larger programme. In Britain , it moved to stage performances by Cambridge Footlights , such as Beyond the Fringe and A Clump of Plinths (which evolved into Cambridge Circus ), to radio, with such shows as It's That Man Again and I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again , then to television, with such shows as Not Only... But Also , Monty Python's Flying Circus , Not the Nine O'Clock News (and its successor Alas Smith and Jones ), and A Bit of Fry and Laurie . An early, perhaps

290-532: A limited audience. Even so, the series was well received by critics, with the first series voted "Best 'Broken Comedy' Show" at the prestigious British Comedy Awards in 1999 . The Independent called the show "divine". Reviewing the DVD, The Guardian wrote: "Like most sketch shows, Big Train is not without its misses, but as a breeding ground for comedy talent and a forefather to such modern-day hits as Little Britain and That Mitchell and Webb Look , it remains

348-417: A number of spinoff films, including The Blues Brothers (1980), Wayne's World (1992) and Superstar (1999). The idea of running characters was taken a step further with shows like The Red Green Show and The League of Gentlemen , where sketches centered on the various inhabitants of the fictional towns of Possum Lake and Royston Vasey , respectively. In Little Britain , sketches focused on

406-507: A period of three years. In late September 2020, ITV group director, SVOD, Reemah Sakaan addressed the plans to ramp up the service's international presence. She said that BritBox would primarily target markets that consume large amounts of English-language entertainment including large ones such as India, as well as "passion"-driven markets such as the Nordic countries . She said that the joint venture would look at different structures depending on

464-531: A reconstruction of the Doctor Who story The Wheel in Space using the surviving episodes and reconstruction using Tele-snaps . In July 2018, The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco made its debut, the first original drama series in which BritBox held a direct production role. More original content was set to be commissioned and produced for 2020, following the platform's UK launch. The BBC stated: "The first new show

522-480: A share buyback scheme set to launch after full-year reports are released on 7 March. On 20 May 2024, it was announced that the streaming service would close its South African operations on 30 August 2024. The BritBox service is operated by different entities depending on country of operation. Prior to 2022, the BBC was directly involved in the ownership of the UK service. BritBox outside the UK are operated by BBC Studios,

580-482: A team of around 100 content, customer management and business executives, including, Emily Powers, the EVP and head of BritBox North America, and Moira Hogan, country manager for BritBox Australia. In July 2021, Diederick Santer was appointed international chief creative officer of BritBox. In March 2022, ITV announced that its new ITVX streaming platform – an integrated advertising and subscription funded platform for

638-547: Is available through BritBox's website in these countries. The service launched on 28 April 2022. On 5 December 2019, ITV's subscription video on demand Group Director Reemah Sakaan said in an interview that the service in North America had reached profitability; this was followed in 2020 by the news that the service there had surpassed 1 million users. A study commissioned by the UK media regulator Ofcom previously predicted that BritBox could have 2 million UK subscribers by

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696-405: Is expected to be commissioned soon and will be available to BritBox viewers from 2020". The goal is to offer exclusive content only available on BritBox, rather than the BBC and ITV's UK VOD services BBC iPlayer and ITV Hub . The annual budget for original programmes was, according to BBC News , to be in the tens of millions of pounds. ITV pledged to invest up to £65m in the joint venture over

754-857: Is operated by the BritBox Australia Partnership, originally owned equally (50%) by both BBC Studios and ITV and currently run solely by BBC Studios. It launched on 23 November 2020. The service in South Africa was equally owned by BBC Studios and ITV at 50% shares each until February 2024, when ITV's shares were acquired by BBC Studios. The services in the Nordic countries would be distributed by C More in Denmark, Finland, TV 2 in Norway, and Sweden. Signups to BritBox International directly are available through its website. In September 2017, BritBox released

812-581: Is scheduled to launch in late 2020. BBC Studios and ITV will both invest A$ 17.7m ($ 12.7m) into the new SVoD platform over the next three years. ITV has since confirmed to the London Stock Exchange that BritBox Australia is on track to launch on time despite the COVID-19 pandemic, following the confirmation of investment from the UK broadcaster's subsidiary "ITV SVOD Australia Pty Ltd" into the BritBox Australia Partnership (branded as "BritBox Australia") over

870-611: Is to launch in South Africa in the second half of 2021. Like most services outside the United Kingdom, the South African service will be a 50/50 joint venture between BBC Studios and ITV. On 8 March 2021, it was announced that BritBox UK would join Amazon Video Channels in spring 2021 for UK Amazon Prime subscribers, and on 9 March it was announced that the UK service had surpassed 500,000 subscribers. The launch date for

928-551: The BBC and ITV ( Channel 4 and Channel 5 programming was available on the UK service). BritBox is said to feature the biggest collection of British box sets available in one place, with additional original programming available from 2020. BritBox was first launched in the United States on 7 March 2017, followed by a launch in Canada on 14 February 2018. A separately managed UK service

986-848: The COVID-19 pandemic . On 9 March 2021, it was reported that the UK service had surpassed 500,000 subscribers, meeting BritBox's UK target. Will Harrison, BritBox UK's managing director told members of the UK Broadcasting Press Guild that BritBox was "very happy" at how the service had performed since its November 2019 launch. By 1 July 2022, it had reached 2.6 million. Though not officially described as its successor, BritBox has been likened to an earlier attempt by UK public service broadcasters (PSBs) ( BBC Worldwide , ITV and Channel 4) to create an online video-on-demand download service, codenamed "Project Kangaroo", in November 2007. This followed

1044-592: The Upright Citizens Brigade , and The Groundlings . In South Bend, Indiana , area high school students produced a sketch comedy series called Beyond Our Control that aired on the local NBC affiliate WNDU-TV from 1967 to 1986. Warner Bros. Animation made two sketch comedy shows, Mad and Right Now Kapow . Australian television of the '80s and '90s featured several successful sketch comedy shows, notably The Comedy Company , whose recurring characters included Col'n Carpenter , Kylie Mole and Con

1102-512: The BBC and ITV. Channel Four Television Corporation and Paramount Networks UK & Australia on behalf of Channel 5 offered content for the service in the UK but took no shares in the joint venture operator. In March 2022, ITV announced that it had bought out the remaining stakes of the service it did not already own, and that it planned to integrate the service into an upcoming video on demand platform known as ITVX. The service in Australia

1160-455: The BBC's commercial subsidiary, due to restrictions on TV Licence funding between domestic and international services. The service in the United States and Canada is owned by BritBox LLC, a subsidiary of BBC Studios since its acquisition of ITV's fifty-percent stake in 2024. AMC Networks , the BBC's joint partner on the US cable channel BBC America , holds a non-voting minority stake in

1218-486: The Fruiterer . An early British example is the influential The Running Jumping & Standing Still Film (1959). Sketch films made during the 1970s and 1980s include If You Don't Stop It... You'll Go Blind and the sequel Can I Do It... 'Til I Need Glasses? , The Groove Tube , Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask) , The Kentucky Fried Movie and its sequel Amazon Women on

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1276-586: The Moon , and Monty Python 's And Now for Something Completely Different and The Meaning of Life . More recent sketch films include The Underground Comedy Movie , InAPPropriate Comedy , Movie 43 and Livrés chez vous sans contact . Many of the sketch comedy revues in Britain included seasons at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival . Since 1999, the growing sketch comedy scene has precipitated

1334-464: The South African platform was announced on 27 July 2021, and it launched on 6 August 2021. On 14 December 2021, BritBox International announced a distribution partnership with C More ( TV 2 would be the distributor in Norway), bringing the service to C More and TV 2 Play subscribers in the Nordic countries of Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden from early 2022. Standalone sign-up to BritBox directly

1392-451: The UK later in the year as a rival to Netflix. Journalist Mark Lawson likened the proposed project to BBC Worldwide's previous failed platform, Project Kangaroo, which was expected to launch in 2008, and described it as "bizarre" and "hugely risky". In March 2019, Channel 4 confirmed interest in collaborating with the BBC and ITV. McMafia , Last Tango in Halifax , Les Misérables and

1450-489: The UK market which will take over from catch-up service ITV Hub – would also include access to BritBox for British consumers. The BBC decided to sell their share in BritBox UK to ITV, but still will remain a content provider to the service. On 9 February 2024, it was announced that BritBox UK would officially shut down its standalone service on 30 April 2024, with all of its content moving to ITVX . On 29 February 2024, it

1508-623: The airing of the last episode on Channel 4. Channel 4 currently has not taken an equity stake in BritBox. In March 2020, ITV described BritBox as "on plan" following its UK launch last November. The majority owner in the BBC-ITV streaming venture reported a "strong growth" in subscribers, but didn't report any specific numbers. On 5 March 2020, the BBC and ITV announced the launch of BritBox in Australia. The service would bring Australians "an unrivalled collection of great British TV shows, and will build on

1566-521: The chairman of the Competition Commission, in its final report on Project Kangaroo. "We thought viewers would benefit from better video-on-demand [VoD] services if the parties – possibly in conjunction with other new and/or already established providers of VoD – competed with each other." A Channel 4 spokesperson said at the time, "This is a disproportionate remedy and a missed opportunity in the further development of British broadcasting." After

1624-527: The development of sketch comedy festivals in cities all around North America. Noted festivals include: BritBox BritBox is an online digital video streaming subscription service founded by BBC Studios and ITV which operates in eight countries across Australia , Europe , North America , and South Africa . In addition to original programming, it offers British television series and films , featuring current and past series as well as films supplied by Britain's major terrestrial broadcasters

1682-463: The fastest-growing targeted SVOD service." On 6 October 2020, it was announced that Soumya Sriraman would depart as BritBox US and Canada's president, following the announcement that BritBox had reached 1.5 million subscribers in the US and Canada. The North American service was reported to exceeded all company targets and, according to Parks Associates OTT tracker, remains the fastest-growing targeted standalone SVOD service to have launched within

1740-483: The first distribution platforms. In October 2019, BritBox launched its "testing phase" (beta) in the United Kingdom, to which users could sign up for a free trial to have a "snapshot of what will be there at launch". On 15 October 2019, BBC Studios global distribution president, Paul Dempsey, admitted there were more markets where the UK-skewing service could work. Alongside the launch of BritBox in Australia, taking

1798-548: The first, televised example of a sketch comedy show is Texaco Star Theater aka The Milton Berle Show 1948–1967, hosted by Milton Berle . In Mexico, the series Los Supergenios de la Mesa Cuadrada , created by Mexican comedian Roberto Gómez Bolaños under the stage name Chespirito , was broadcast between 1968 and 1973, creating such famous characters as El Chavo del Ocho and El Chapulín Colorado . While separate sketches historically have tended to be unrelated, more recent groups have introduced overarching themes that connect

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1856-499: The increasing dominance of American SVODs, and many old rivalries have been put aside in preference of collaboration by creating jointly controlled SVODs, such as BritBox, Salto (backed by French networks TF1 Group , France Télévisions and M6 ), and Germany-based Joyn (a joint venture between ProSiebenSat.1 Media and Discovery, Inc. ). Such actions are motivated by reports showing younger generations shunning terrestrial TV, and with fears that PSBs have no choice but to adapt in

1914-524: The last three years. On 23 October, it was announced Emily Powers would lead the North American service when Soumya Sriraman departs at the end of October. On 24 February 2021, Reemah Sakaan was announced to become the international CEO of BritBox. Her term at BritBox International will start in April 2021 and she would be tasked with expanding BritBox's operations outside the United Kingdom. She will oversee

1972-628: The launches of the broadcasters' own video-on-demand services. On Wednesday, 4 February 2009, Project Kangaroo was blocked by the Competition Commission . The commission stated that the case surrounding Kangaroo was about the control of valuable UK-originated TV content. "BBC Worldwide, ITV and Channel 4 together control the vast majority of this material, which puts them in a very strong position as wholesalers of TV content to restrict competition from other current and future providers of video-on-demand services to UK viewers," said Peter Freeman,

2030-486: The next two years to 2021, and the BBC said its own pledge would be in the "tens of millions". It was confirmed in March 2020 that the first original commission to be shown on BritBox UK would be a revival of the satirical puppet show Spitting Image . The series, featuring 100 new puppets, debuted on 3 October 2020. In the table below, "exclusive" refers to a programme where it is only available on, whilst "debut" refers to

2088-517: The planned Project Kangaroo was blocked, the system's assets were sold to transmitter firm Arqiva and this led to the development of the service SeeSaw , which operated from February 2010 to October 2011, with content from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Channel 5, some of which (such as Doctor Who ) now appears on BritBox. Since the rise of Netflix and subsequent other Subscription Video on Demand services (SVODs), European PSBs and media companies, in particular, have started to find ways to compete with

2146-628: The platform a programme is first available on. In addition to containing the catalogues of BBC and ITV television, BritBox UK includes content from Channel 4 (including Film4 ), and Paramount Global through the UK channels Channel 5 and Comedy Central. Other potential networks to offer content or ownership of BritBox include: NBCUniversal (owned by Comcast ) and BT . Such collaboration would greatly increase BritBox's catalogue and financial resources when competing with other streaming platforms like Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video . BT and NBCUniversal were reportedly in early talks with BritBox, but

2204-423: The popular Doctor Who classic series on the service. It reported a subscriber base of 250,000 within a year of launching in the US. In 2019, 650,000 subscribers were reported from the North American platform. In early 2020, the number of US and Canadian subscribers surpassed 1 million users, to around 1.2 million by August, and 1.5 million by October, following strong growth in the North American service due to

2262-438: The progress of the talks have yet to be stated, with NBCUniversal investing in their streaming service, Peacock in the US from 2020 and its parent Comcast owning Sky 's UK streaming service Now TV , making full collaboration with NBCUniversal unlikely. BT has since signed a partnership with BritBox in which the service will complement its content. In the early days of BritBox, Channel 4 was reportedly in talks with BritBox for

2320-408: The rapidly changing television market. Following increased competition from the streaming giants on the public service broadcasters, the BBC (through BBC Worldwide) and ITV announced plans to create a Netflix-style TV service. Talks between the BBC and ITV to launch this streaming service took place in March 2016, with NBCUniversal also initially in the talks. BritBox's launch in the United States

2378-560: The rollout is expected to be completed. Following the announcement, ITV CEO Carolyn McCall said: "This international expansion plan will firmly establish BritBox as a global premium brand in a rapidly growing sector" and BBC Studios CEO Tim Davie added: "BritBox has very quickly found a place in viewers’ hearts and we know there is further appetite amongst international audiences who love great British content." On 21 August 2020, ITV and BBC Studios announced they're set to invest more than A$ 35 million (€21.2m) into BritBox Australia, which

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2436-450: The second series. All starred in a variety of other comedy shows including I'm Alan Partridge , Look Around You , Spaced , Smack the Pony , Brass Eye and Green Wing . Tate went on to get her own show on the BBC, The Catherine Tate Show . The first series was directed by Graham Linehan and other series contributors included David Mitchell and Robert Webb . The pilot episode

2494-452: The service into its fourth market, BBC Studios and ITV have announced that they will continue to evaluate new opportunities for the roll-out of BritBox in additional territories around the world. One day before UK launch, on 6 November 2019, The Guardian reported that Channel 4 was to join BritBox after it signed a 3-year deal to provide 1000+ hours of content from All 4 "with a range of comedy, drama and non-scripted programmes from across

2552-481: The service will draw on the experience of the teams and technology used to successfully launch BritBox in North America and the UK while also recruiting a local team to conduct Australian operations. On 27 July 2020, BritBox announced plans to expand the service to 25 more countries across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America and Africa. It was not specified which countries BritBox is targeting or what timeframe

2610-452: The service, including new series, and for the first time to any streamer, an exclusive Film4 curated service featuring iconic British films". This means for the first time, all the UK's traditional channels have brought together programmes on a single streaming service. Channel 4 content would be available on BritBox from April 2020 and Film4 content from September 2020, with recently aired content being only available on BritBox 31 days after

2668-407: The service. This stake has been called into question since AMC's purchase of RLJ Entertainment — owner of rival British TV service Acorn TV — in 2018, with it and the company's other streaming services ( AMC+ , Shudder , Allblk , HIDIVE , and Philo ) posing a potential conflict of interest. The service in the United Kingdom is wholly owned by ITV. The service was originally a joint venture of

2726-495: The sitcom Gavin & Stacey were some of the programmes available on the UK version, at launch. In July 2019, the BBC and ITV announced they had signed an agreement to launch BritBox in the UK in the last quarter of 2019. On 20 September 2019, ITV announced it had reached a deal with ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global ) for Channel 5 and Comedy Central UK content. This was followed by an announcement on 27 September that Samsung TVs , Freeview Play and YouView would be

2784-747: The sketches within a particular show with recurring characters that return for more than one appearance. Examples of recurring characters include Mr. Gumby from Monty Python's Flying Circus ; Ted and Ralph from The Fast Show ; The Family from The Carol Burnett Show ; the Head Crusher from The Kids in the Hall ; Martin Short 's Ed Grimley , a recurring character from both SCTV and Saturday Night Live ; The Nerd from Robot Chicken ; and Kevin and Perry from Harry Enfield and Chums . Recurring characters from Saturday Night Live have notably been featured in

2842-462: The song to name the show after it. The song has since been adopted for a commercial for Virgin Trains . Both series were shot entirely on location (series one on 35 mm film and series two on DigiBeta ) and later shown to a live audience so that a laugh track could be recorded. Following in the tradition of Monty Python , the comedy of Big Train is based on the subversion of ordinary situations by

2900-506: The specific opportunity, with some potentially taking a B2B2C (Business-to-Business-to-Consumer) form rather than a direct D2C (Direct to Consumer) approach, i.e. BritBox partnering with a local distributor or service provider. She added that BritBox is "focused on moving as fast as we can" into international markets. The service launched in Australia on 23 November 2020, which ITV states is recognised globally as "Doctor Who Day". On 16 February 2021, BBC Studios and ITV announced that BritBox

2958-487: The successful launch and operation of the service in both North America (the USA and Canada) and most recently in the UK". British content from across the past decades, including classic and contemporary box sets from the UK, would be directly available to Australian viewers via a wide range of mobile and connected home devices. BritBox Australia will be run as a 50/50 joint venture partnership between ITV and BBC Studios, and ITV says,

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3016-436: The surreal or macabre. For example, one scene features a bad-mannered man casually stabbed to death by his embarrassed wife at a dinner party. In a recurring sketch from the first series, an animated staring contest is accompanied by commentary from BBC football commentator Barry Davies and comedy actor and impressionist Phil Cornwell . The Stare-out Championship was based on a self-published comic book by Paul Hatcher and

3074-452: The year 2023, alongside newly launched US-based SVODs Disney+ and Apple TV+ . Following the COVID-19 pandemic and frequent national and local lockdowns, in August it was reported BritBox had surpassed 1.2 million subscribers in North America. BBC Studios said the streaming service "went from strength to strength, reaching 1.2 million subscribers in North America after year-end to become

3132-511: Was animated by Chris Shepherd . The championship is portrayed as a huge event akin to the World Cup and the anecdotes told by the commentators often echoed those from real sporting events, such as performance enhancing drugs, streakers and the theft of the trophy. Some other notable sketches included: Big Train originally aired on BBC Two on Monday nights during the following periods: Despite running for two series, Big Train attracted only

3190-553: Was announced that BBC Studios had paid £255 million to acquire ITV's shares in BritBox International, making it a fully owned subsidiary under the BBC Studios Global Media & Streaming Division. ITV, which will continue to fully own BritBox UK, stated that it was leaving the joint venture to focus on the growth of its ITVX service and ITV Studios and that its shareholders were yet to receive sale proceeds through

3248-472: Was directed by Chris Morris but was never broadcast in full. Some sketches from the pilot are scattered through the series. Apart from Pegg, all of the first-series regular cast members subsequently starred in Morris's sketch comedy Jam (2000). The title of the show is derived from the song run during the credits, "Big Train", which was recorded by Max Greger and his Orchestra. The writers were fond enough of

3306-812: Was launched on 7 November 2019. From 2020, the service has since launched in Australia, South Africa, and in the Nordic countries of Denmark , Finland , Norway , and Sweden , through local partnerships in these four countries. The service in the UK and the international services are operated differently, and host differing content, including BritBox UK's exclusive original content. There are content restrictions between each platform, leading some content to be available on one platform and unavailable on another. BritBox provides new episodes to British soaps and dramas such as EastEnders , Coronation Street and Emmerdale , within hours of their UK broadcast via BritBox's 'Now' feature to US and Canadian users, but also includes extensive archives of older programming, such as

3364-457: Was officially announced in December 2016, with the launch date to be 7 March 2017. The BBC and ITV announced several shows they would be running on BritBox including New Blood , Tutankhamun , The Moonstone, In The Dark, Cold Feet and crime series Silent Witness on US launch. On 14 February 2018, BritBox launched in Canada. In February 2019, it was announced that BritBox would be launched in

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