Bremner, Bird and Fortune

infobox television
show_name = Bremner, Bird and Fortune


caption = "Bremner, Bird & Fortune" title card
creator = Rory Bremner, John Bird and John Fortune
production = Vera Productions
format = Satirical Comedy
runtime = 60 minutes (included Television advertisements)
starring = Rory Bremner, John Bird, John Fortune, Pauline McLynn and Frances Barber
country = UK
network = Channel Four
first_aired =17 October 1999
last_aired = Present
num_episodes = 78 (As of Series 13, Episode 5)
imdb_id = 0361154 |

"Bremner, Bird and Fortune" is an award-winning satirical British television programme produced by Vera Productions for Channel Four, uniting the longstanding satirical team of John Bird and John Fortune ("the Two Johns") with the satirical impressionist Rory Bremner.

The show, which started in 1999, is currently in its 13th series, which began airing on 13th April 2008.

Regular features

The show is almost entirely political, but in recent series different genres of sketches have been introduced. The programme features regular stand-up impressionism sections by Bremner.

Another feature are interviews between Bird and Fortune, one of them normally as George Parr, a man in a government position or a businessman, who normally ends up exposing the idiocies of their area of expertise. This feature has striking similarities to the longer-lived John Clarke and Brian Dawe interviews on Australia's ABC Television, even down to the interviewee's smug expression.

There are also heavily researched, bitingly satirical three-handed historical narratives, the dinner party sketches, featuring Bird, Fortune, Pauline McLynn and Frances Barber, other small sketches and ends with a usually political musical number.

Books and Awards

In October 2004, they published a book based on the show, called "You Are Here: A Dossier" (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 288 pages, ISBN 0-297-84778-3, also available as a paperback from Orion mass market paperback, ISBN 0-7528-6493-9).

In 2000 Bird and Fortune were nominated for a British Academy Television Award (BAFTA) for Best Entertainment Performance.

In 2002 and 2003, two years running, three members of the show's production team, Geoff Atkinson, Steve Connelly and David G. Croft, were nominated for a BAFTA for Best Comedy Programme or Series and Bird and Fortune were nominated for a BAFTA for Best Entertainment Performance or Best Comedy Performance. In 2005 Rory Bremner was nominated for a BAFTA for Best Comedy Performance.

Bremner Bird and Fortune was filmed up until the second series 11 in 2006 at The Riverside Studios. It is Now filmed in Teddington Studios, South London. Series 11 was filmed in Studio 1 and Series 13 was filmed in studio 2. Teddington Studios was once the home to comedy greats as Benny Hill, Kenney Everett and Tommy Cooper.

The next series, 14, is being filmed at The Fountain Studios in Wembley, London where Series' 4 - 8 were also filmed.

In 2003 the episode "At Her Majesty's Pleasure" won a Broadcasting Press Guild Award for Best Entertainment.

External links

* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361154/ Internet Movie Database] entry for Bremner, Bird and Fortune.
* [http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Bremner+Bird+and+Fortune YouTube - Bremner Bird, and Fortune's Clips]