ABC Comedy Binge: guide

iview has launched its Comedy Binge showcase with some (mostly) UK comedies including the long-awaited return of Steve Coogan as the inimitable Alan Partridge in This Time with Alan Partridge.

These are all Australian premieres:

This Time with Alan Partridge 
Marking the 25th Anniversary of his BBC debut, Steve Coogan returns with his beloved character Alan Partridge. A heady mix of consumer affairs, current affairs, and lightweight frothy drivel, Alan tries to keep proceedings ticking along while everything around him crumbles. This kind of format can flip in the blink of an eye from a moving piece on child soldiers in West Africa to a VT about a vegetable growing competition in Yorkshire. With the sheer variety of topics covered, striking the right tone would be dizzyingly hard even for a skilled presenter. So, for Alan, it will be pretty much impossible.

Women on the Verge  
Created by and starring Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe), Women on the Verge is a six-part comedy drama set in Dublin that follows the lives of three women in their 30s, played by Kerry Condon (Better Call Saul), Nina Sosanya (Marcella) and Eileen Walsh (Patrick Melrose). Whilst everyone else is settling down, married with kids, and increasingly in control of their lives, Laura, Katie and Alison seem to be moving in the opposite direction. Women on the Verge follows these flawed and complex friends as they navigate the challenges of life, love and relationships.

Flowers series 1 and series 2
Starring Academy-Award-winner Olivia Colman, Flowers is an imaginative, cinematic show about an eccentric and dysfunctional family struggling to hold themselves together; Maurice (Julian Barratt), the author of illustrated childrens books The Grubbs, and music teacher wife Deborah (Colman) are barely together, but yet to divorce. As Maurice fights inner demons and dark secrets, Deborah tries to keep the family together at all costs and becomes increasingly suspicious that Maurice is in a secret homosexual relationship with his Japanese illustrator Shun (played by show creator Will Sharpe).

The Young Offenders 
Based on the film of the same name, and featuring the same cast, this series follows a couple of young fun loving criminals. Conor’s mum reckons Jock’s a little scumbag. But Conor knows that’s a load of crap. They pass their time winding up their principal Barry Walsh by hitting on his daughters. And winding up policeman Sergeant Healy by stealing bikes. Life’s a breakneck rollercoaster when you’re having as much fun as Conor and Jock. That’s okay, because they’d do anything for each other. Anyone who has a best friend would understand that.

Finding Joy  
When News Today’s lifestyle vlogger is forced to take a break following an accident at the beauticians, no one is more surprised than Joy when she is asked to replace her. It seems she was caught on camera – newly single and inebriated – performing a hilarious dance-video rap at an office party and her bosses think she’s got what it takes. Joy disagrees but heartbroken and desperate to win back ex-boyfriend, Aidan, she steps up – and, despite lurching from disaster to disaster, becomes a social media sensation. Suddenly Joy is at the cutting edge of the what, where and how of health, relationships and mental well-being. So how does the woman who has all the answers to everybody else’s lives, find the answer to her own? Her friends think she’s losing her mind but she knows she’s Finding Joy. Starring Amy Huberman and Aisling Bea.

The Comedy Binge will also include The Melbourne Comedy Festival 2019 Gala and Melbourne Comedy Festival 2019 Allstars Super Show. As well as favourites Superwog, Comedy Up Late (Series 5 and 6) and Comedy Next Gen (Series 2).