Philomena Cunk is turning her famously confused gaze toward the movies, and this time some of cinema’s biggest names are in the line of fire.
Diane Morgan returns as the deadpan faux-documentary host in “Cunk on Cinema,” a new three-part BBC and Netflix series that takes on everything from the invention of the camera and the rise of the New Wave to CGI and the future of artificial intelligence.
A first-look image shows Cunk examining what appears to be a Sony Venice digital cinema camera on a Los Angeles studio backlot — a fitting setting for a character attempting to make sense of an industry she routinely misunderstands.
Fast Facts
- Series: Cunk on Cinema
- Starring: Diane Morgan as Philomena Cunk
- Featured guests: Michael Bay, Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Pemberton, Mark Kermode and others
- Format: Three episodes, 30 minutes each
- Broadcasters: BBC iPlayer and BBC Two
- International streamer: Netflix outside the U.K. and Ireland
- Production: Pacesetter Productions
- Director: Al Campbell
- Created by: Charlie Brooker and the Cunk creative team
Cunk Has a New Subject: The Movies
Unlike a conventional film-history documentary, “Cunk on Cinema” is built around the contrast between serious experts and Cunk’s spectacularly ill-informed questions.
The new series promises to follow cinema from the invention of the camera through the filmmakers and movements that changed the medium, eventually reaching the digital era, CGI and the question of where artificial intelligence could take movies next.
Cunk’s mission, naturally, is to make all of this easier to understand.
Her approach involves asking questions about why cinema exists, where it came from and what it actually wants — while watching movies from suitably uncomfortable-looking seats and dealing with the traditional documentary essentials of stale popcorn and confusion.
That gives the series a much broader playground than simply making jokes about famous films. The history of filmmaking becomes the material for Cunk’s deliberately misguided interrogation.
Michael Bay and Benedict Cumberbatch Are Among Her Targets
Two of the most recognizable names attached to the series are director Michael Bay and actor Benedict Cumberbatch.
Bay, known for films including Bad Boys, The Rock and Transformers, brings a blockbuster filmmaker’s perspective to Cunk’s investigation.
Cumberbatch, whose credits include The Imitation Game and Sherlock, represents another side of the movie business, giving Cunk an opportunity to question one of the industry’s most prominent actors.
The lineup goes well beyond those two names.
Composer Daniel Pemberton, whose recent work includes Project Hail Mary, is also featured. Screenwriter Steven E. de Souza, known for Die Hard and Commando, joins the discussion, as does Oscar-nominated cinematographer Seamus McGarvey, whose credits include Atonement and Avengers Assemble.
Film critic Mark Kermode and filmmaker and author Mark Cousins, known for The Story of Film: An Odyssey, are also part of the series.
Other contributors include Sight and Sound managing editor Isabel Stevens, Empire editor-at-large Helen O’Hara, Screen International critic Catherine Bray and BFI silent-film curator Bryony Dixon.
The wider group also includes casting director David Rubin, stunt coordinator Jim Dowdall, film critic and programmer Kaleem Aftab, film historian and author Sarah Churchwell, National Science and Media Museum curator Toni Booth and horror specialist Mo Moshaty.
Why the First Look Matters
The first image gives a small indication of how “Cunk on Cinema” will approach its subject.
Rather than presenting Cunk in a conventional interview room, the picture places her in the machinery of filmmaking itself, looking through a professional cinema camera on a backlot.
It is an appropriate visual for a series that wants to move between film history, filmmaking technology and the people who have shaped the medium.
Cunk’s previous adventures have also relied on placing Morgan’s character inside subjects that normally receive serious documentary treatment.
That formula has taken her from Britain and Shakespeare to the history of humanity and broader questions about life.
Cinema now becomes the latest — and potentially one of the richest — subjects for the format.
From Cameras to AI
The series is not stopping with the origins of movies.
Its three-part journey will move into the major developments that changed filmmaking, including the New Wave filmmakers of the 1960s, the arrival of computer-generated imagery and the emerging role of AI.
That final subject gives “Cunk on Cinema” a distinctly modern endpoint.
The history of cinema has already passed through enormous technological changes, from early cameras to sound, color, visual effects and digital filmmaking. The series will ultimately ask what comes after that progression as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly important to the entertainment industry.
Cunk, of course, is unlikely to approach the question with the same terminology as a film academic.
That tension is central to the comedy.
Charlie Brooker’s Cunk Universe Expands
“Cunk on Cinema” is the newest installment in the mockumentary franchise created by Charlie Brooker for the BBC and Netflix.
The character has previously appeared in “Cunk on Britain,” “Cunk on Shakespeare,” “Cunk on Earth” and “Cunk on Life.”
Morgan has become closely associated with Cunk’s straight-faced delivery, with the character’s confidence often contrasting sharply with the questionable logic behind her questions.
Brooker leads the writing team for the new series alongside Ben Caudell, Erika Ehler, Eli Goldstone, Jason Hazeley, Dan Maier, Morgan, Joel Morris, Michael Odewale, Kali Varghese and Sam Ward.
Al Campbell directs.
Executive producers are Brooker, Jessica Rhoades, Morgan and Ward, with Navi Lamba serving as BBC commissioning editor and Mark Kinsella as co-executive producer for Pacesetter Productions.
When and Where to Watch Cunk on Cinema
The new series will consist of three 30-minute episodes.
In the U.K., “Cunk on Cinema” will debut on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two.
Netflix will carry the series internationally outside the U.K. and Ireland.
A specific premiere date has not been announced in the material released with the first-look image.
For fans of the franchise, the combination of Cunk, major Hollywood figures and a subject as expansive as cinema sets up another deliberately serious-looking documentary that is likely to be anything but conventional.
Who Appears in Cunk on Cinema?
The featured contributors include Michael Bay, Benedict Cumberbatch, Daniel Pemberton, Steven E. de Souza, Seamus McGarvey, Mark Kermode and Mark Cousins, along with film journalists, historians, curators, academics and other industry figures.
Is Diane Morgan returning as Philomena Cunk?
Yes. Diane Morgan returns as Philomena Cunk, the central character of the BBC and Netflix mockumentary franchise.
How many episodes will Cunk on Cinema have?
The series is planned as three 30-minute episodes.
Where will Cunk on Cinema stream?
It will air on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two in the U.K. and stream on Netflix outside the U.K. and Ireland.
