Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe
Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe is a British television review comedy programme created and presented by Charlie Brooker and broadcast on BBC Four. The programme contains reviews of current shows, as well as stories and commentary on how television is produced.
"Screen wipe" redirects here. For the film transition, see Wipe (transition).Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe
Al Campbell
Charlie Brooker
United Kingdom
English
5
27 (list of episodes)
30–50 minutes
Zeppotron
2 March 2006 –
16 December 2008
Format[edit]
Screenwipe is presented by comedian Charlie Brooker, who reviews other British television programmes with a caustic and humorous tone.[1] Brooker analyses specific programmes and genres, regularly making jokes about how programmes are created. Brooker often pays particular attention to more obscure channels on satellite, Freeview and cable, such as those dedicated to gambling, shopping, horoscopes and pornography. He explores the probable effects of television on society and the feelings programmes can create in the viewer. One segment of each show is usually dedicated to positive reviews, with analysis on why the style and content are so absorbing.
Much of the programme is filmed in Brooker's living room, with shots of him sitting in front of his TV (and laptop) with remote control in hand talking to camera, occasionally bellowing insults or sarcastic comments at whatever happens to be shown at the time, interspersed with shots of TV shows. Occasionally he will make use of props for the sake of humour, including a "seance trumpet" to mock Colin Fry's performance and an oven glove with a smiley face into which he claims to channel his unfulfilled emotions.
When not in the living room, Brooker presents segments on various pieces of television, different genres or peculiarities of production. Instead of actors, these sections often feature members of the Screenwipe production crew to illustrate points; for example, director Al Campbell as the half-witted satirist "Barry Shitpeas", and researcher Mike Bradley in a number of roles.
The series has spawned several spin-off shows which use a very similar format but examine different media: Newswipe with Charlie Brooker, Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe, and Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe.
Annual Wipe[edit]
From 2006 to 2016, the BBC broadcast an Annual Wipe. From 2017 onwards, there was no Annual Wipe due to Brooker's other commitments, with a Frankie Boyle's New World Order Review of the Year filling the vacant gap.[2] At the end of the decade on 30 December 2019, BBC Two broadcast a 90-minute compilation show entitled "The Best of 2010-2015 Wipe with Charlie Brooker" followed by a repeat of the final 2016 Wipe. In May 2020, BBC Two broadcast "Charlie Brooker's Antiviral Wipe", a 45-minute programme in the style of the Annual Wipes, focusing on the news coverage of, and public reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Animations[edit]
The show is also notable for using animations produced by internet animator David Firth. To date the show has used eight of Firth's original creations. The 2006 Christmas Special featured a special appearance from Firth's deranged alter-ego, Jerry Jackson, whose cartoon appeared substituting for an animation that Firth had created beforehand. This original animation was rejected by the BBC on the grounds that it was far too offensive to be broadcast on TV. Firth recently announced on his website that the BBC had asked him to produce an animation for each episode of the second series of Screenwipe. Three were shown but the fourth, a Jerry Jackson cartoon, was once again rejected by the BBC. Firth stated in a post on Fat-Pie.com that "Jerry's [cartoon] was about Political Correctness on TV and contained a certain degree of sarcasm, yet sarcasm the TV company didn't see the funny side of, and they refused to use it". The third series saw Firth produce four more short animations (of which three were aired) entitled 'The World Within A Sock', in which a group known as The Establishment buys the year 2008.[3]