Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe

"Screen wipe" redirects here. For the film transition, seeWipe (transition).

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe
Genre	Television review Cultural critic Comedy
Created by	Charlie Brooker
Directed by	Al Campbell
Presented by	Charlie Brooker
Opening theme	"A.M. 180"byGrandaddy
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No.of series	5
No.of episodes	27(list of episodes)
Production
Running time	30–50 minutes
Production company	Zeppotron
Original release
Network	BBC Four
Release	2 March 2006(2006-03-02)– 16 December 2008(2008-12-16)
Related
Newswipe with Charlie Brooker Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe

Charlie Brooker's Screenwipeis a British television review comedy programme created and presented byCharlie Brookerand broadcast onBBC Four.The programme contains reviews of current shows, as well as stories andcommentaryon how television is produced.

Format

Screenwipeis presented by comedianCharlie Brooker,who reviews other British television programmes with a caustic and humorous tone.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,Freeviewand 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 "seancetrumpet "to mockColin Fry's performance and anoven glovewith 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 theScreenwipeproduction 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,andCharlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe.

Episodes

Main article:List of Charlie Brooker's Screenwipe episodes

Series	Episodes	Originally aired
		First aired	Last aired
1	3	2 March 2006	16 March 2006
2	5	20 July 2006	17 August 2006
3	4	5 February 2007	26 February 2007
4	5	18 September 2007	23 October 2007
5	5	18 November 2008	16 December 2008

The first full series finished with an extended edition on US television billed asScreenwipe USA.A Christmas special was broadcast on 21 December 2006 and a review of the year 2006 special was broadcast on 31 December 2006. A third series 'with a massively increased budget' (according to aspoofvoiceover at the end of the final episode from the second series), was revealed to have been commissioned on 9 May 2007. The third series was preceded by a mini-Screenwipeon 12 May (shown on BBC Two'sThe Culture Show), which reviewedGrease is the WordandAny Dream Will Do.Shortly after the third series concluded, aScreenwipeclip show was shown onBBC Two,with repeats of the series airing on the channel in the weeks following. The third series featured a number of episodes focusing on specific themes, such as television news coverage andreality television series.

The fifth series ofScreenwipebegan airing on BBC Four on Tuesday 18 November 2008. The first episode dealt with (among other things)Manuelgateand television production costs (and the effect of the credit crunch on said costs). The second was focused on the changes in television advertising throughout its history, and the third was an extended edition composed entirely of Brooker's interviews with prestigious writers such asRussell T DaviesandTony Jordan.Episode four focused on "mission shows" such asThe Great British Body,and featured a parody involving "pee-shyness" (paruresis), while episode five focused on children's programming through the ages. The final episode of the season was a review of 2008. In 2009, the show didn't return for another series, but a review of the year was scheduled as had been the case with previous years.

Style

The humour of the show is usually based on sarcasm and cutting remarks, in a similar style toHarry Hill's TV Burp,orThe Soup.Screenwipecan be characterised as being intellectually more harsh with Brooker often making surreal moral comparisons between the so-called 'real-world attitude' of certain programmes, and the logical conclusions of that attitude if it were turned towards real life. It often forms the basis for analysis of programmes - such as his review of the ITV musical dramaBritannia Highin which he describes the characters as "irritating show-offs" and that the school which they inhabit "in any sane world would have its windows bricked up by the government before the self-satisfied inmates could get out and infect the rest of the population."

Brooker is known to be critical of reality television shows such asBig BrotherandThe X Factor,and often makes scathing remarks about the sort of people who watch these shows. One example in the 2008 Christmas Special involved a remark about X Factor winnerAlexandra Burke's cover ofLeonard Cohen's "Hallelujah",which Brooker went on to claim is now" ruined forever as a song destined to be played at thick people's funerals ".

Brooker often displays archive footage of various shows, but alters the viewer's perception through nearstream-of-consciousness narrationand/or ironic juxtaposition with contrasting footage or sound, e.g. highlighting what he believes is theorganised crimefeel of a scene fromDragons' Denby running the trumpet solo fromThe Godfatherover the original dialogue. He has also been known to make jokes at the expense of his own show and himself, in particular making light of his resemblance toLaurence Fishburne,and in the first episode of the third series he claimed he had "a face like a paedophile walrus". Also of note was the deliberate mention ofVictor Lewis-Smith,described by the 'TV Insider' being interviewed (and presumably written by Brooker) as "kind of like a rich man's you". Lewis-Smith co-wrote and presented a similar show in the late nineties calledTV Offalwhich Brooker sarcastically and knowingly claims to have no knowledge of.

Despite his derogatory and insulting remarks aimed at many television shows, people, and near enough everything and everyone, Brooker does show his happier side and has spoken of his liking for certain US drama series includingThe Shield;Deadwood;The Wire;Mad Men;and the most recent version ofBattlestar Galactica;as well as the current series ofDoctor Who;and older documentary programmes such asJacob Bronowski'sThe Ascent of Man,Civilisation,andThe World at War.Brooker singles out Bronowski for praise regarding his style of presentation describing it as 'a bit like taking a warm bath in university juice'. In a more solemn example, at the end of the final episode, Brooker paid tribute to children's programmes creatorOliver Postgate,who had died the week before the programme was aired.

Brooker often makes a point of laying light praise upon unlikely targets, such as Milkshake,Five's morning programmes aimed at pre-school age children, stating, "There isn't a single piece of negativity in the whole thing and that's what you need at this time in the morning."

Annual Wipe

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 aFrankie Boyle's New World OrderReview of the Year filling the vacant gap.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 theCOVID-19 pandemic.

Animations

The show is also notable for using animations produced by internet animatorDavid 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 ofScreenwipe.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 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 asThe Establishmentbuys the year 2008.

See also

• Newswipe with Charlie Brooker
• Charlie Brooker's Gameswipe
• You Have Been Watching
• How TV Ruined Your Life
• Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe

External links

• Charlie Brooker's ScreenwipeatBBC Online
• Charlie Brooker's ScreenwipeatIMDb
• Charlie Brooker's ScreenwipeatBritish Comedy Guide