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Are you Behind The Sofa?
Now screening on SKY TELEVISION, and FREESAT satellite receivers, since Sunday 15 January 2012 is a brand new DVD review show. Three comedians and a host battle for the right to have found the "Release of the Week" from a selection of TV and movie titles. These include brand new releases as well as items from the back catalogue that may have missed your attention - having fallen BEHIND THE SOFA!
Join MITCH BENN, TOBY HADOKE and GARY SLAYMAKER, as Edge Media TV's alex:g gets them to trade quips and trivia - in the hope of getting their selection to the top of that week's pile. The first six one-hour episodes will debut Sundays at 8.00pm, with repeats Wednesdays at 7.00pm and Saturdays at 9.00pm on Sky channel 200.
What Channel?
The show is being broadcast on Sky Channel 200 (Edge Media - Controversial TV), also available by manually tuning FREESAT boxes, and online at www.edgemediatv.com
When To See It
The shows are receiving their initial broadcast Sundays at 8.00pm from 15 January 2012, with repeats Wednesdays at 7.00pm and Saturdays at 9.00pm.
Who's Behind It?
BEHIND THE SOFA is from Cult TV Productions (the organisers of the annual Cult TV Festivals) for Edge Media Television (broadcasting on Sky since 2008).
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About BtS
Host alex:g challenges three comedians to each review and make the case for a DVD or Blu-ray release. Four titles will be reviewed in each show. At the conclusion of the programme the team argues which title has the right to be ‘Release of the Week’.
Format notes
BEHIND THE SOFA is not just about new releases - it’s also about the titles that are available which may have escaped the notice of potentially interested purchasers. So, retrospectives are also on the menu – those taking part are Cult TV and movie fans of one type or another – but we will also be looking to cover documentaries.
The shows will be repeated over several months, so are designed to have a ‘timeless’ quality. The style is much in the spirit of Baddiel & Skinner’s “Fantasy Football League” show, except we have screen gems instead of soccer.
Talent involved
Mitch Benn (‘The Now Show’ – BBC Radio 4), Toby Hadoke (‘Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf’ – BBC Radio and Audio) and Gary Slaymaker (‘Slaymaker’ – S4C). See their Biographies in the section below.
About Edge Media
Edge Media Television, also known as Controversial TV, is available on Sky channel 200, by manually tuning Freesat boxes, and via online subscription at www.edgemediatv.com.
Edge Media is an independent channel on the Sky platform, under its own editorial control, and has been broadcasting since June 2008. It is a free-to-air channel - anyone who receives their television through a Sky box is able to pick up the broadcasts (as well as to those who know how to add channels to their Freesat boxes). This means that the station can currently reach at least 24 million viewers in over 10 million UK homes, as well as the entire online audience.
Biographies
The common link between our four participants is an organisation called Cult TV. It first came into being as a Student Union Society in 1983 at Wolverhampton University, back when it was a Polytechnic. Regular events began from September 1983, ranging from screenings to co-operative ventures with other fan groups (including Six Of One - The Prisoner Appreciation Society). Within weeks the Society had over 300 members - more than all the political societies combined!
At the time, whilst specific shows had their own unique fanbases, there was still no recognisable term to encompass television series with fan-followings that covered a multitude of genres. Happening upon Danny Peary's seminal "Cult Movies" book, which categorised the various films outside the mainstream which elicited a fiery passion from enthusiastic filmgoers championing their favourite features, Alex J Geairns made the connection from one medium to the other, and began organising weekly Cult TV meetings.
In March of 1985 the first proper issue of Cult TV Magazine appeared throughout the country via the network of speciality comic and book shops. A low budget affair, its balance of knowledgeable appreciation and irreverence set a tone which continued for the next four years.
Jumping ahead, at a convention in Watford in 1993, come Sunday evening the event was winding down, so a small group of friends adjourned to an Indian Restaurant. During the meal, conversation turned to wondering why an event that celebrated all strands of television with fan followings had never been organised. This was to be the beginning of the idea that would become the Cult TV Festival - which ran annually from 1994 to 2007, raising over £50,000 for various charities in the process.
Now, Cult TV turns its attention from currently being a website celebrating extraordinary fictional television to production and broadcasting - BEHIND THE SOFA represents many years of development towards this goal.
MITCH BENN
Mitch is not only one of the most sought-after acts on the comedy circuit but is widely acknowledged as one of the best writer/performers of comic songs in the country. He began his comedy career in Edinburgh in 1994, and is a regular writer and performer on “The Now Show” for BBC Radio 4 on many a Friday night at 6.30pm. He has also featured on “It's Been a Bad Week” for BBC Radio 2, and made three series of his successful Radio 4 show “Mitch Benn's Crimes Against Music". He also presented “The Mitch Benn Music Show” on BBC Radio 7 (now Radio 4 Extra).
TOBY HADOKE
Toby has been a stand-up comedian for over 15 years, and is the man behind the impressive Doctor Who homage “Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf” theatre tours and radio specials. He has featured on several DVD commentaries for ‘2 Entertain’ as a moderator on Doctor Who releases, and can be seen chatting to various actors on the Doctor Who story “Resurrection of the Daleks”. On the acting front, television appearances include Holby City, Coronation Street, Casualty 1907, Shameless, Building The Titanic, The Forsyte Saga, and Phoenix Nights.
GARY SLAYMAKER
Gary has been working as a presenter since 1989, and from 1999-2005 had his own show on S4C – Slaymaker - a pop culture format featuring interviews, comedy items, and a hefty slice of film and TV reviews. He has been doing stand-up comedy for the past 15 years, and since 2006 Gary has hosted Bwletin, a Welsh language radio version of ‘Have I Got News For You’/’Mock the Week’, for BBC Radio Cymru. Since 2010 he has been the resident film expert on “The Jamie & Louise Show” for BBC Radio Wales.
alex:g
alex:g is the producer and presenter of On The Edge, the flagship show on Edge Media (live at 8pm Thursdays, Sky channel 200). The format of alex’s stage name comes from the common law 'Free Man on the Land' concept, but practically it’s used as no-one can say, let alone spell, alex's family name (‘Geairns’ - pronounced 'Gairns'). He has been a presenter for many years - from being the face of the Cult TV Festivals (1994-2007), to more recently backstage interviews for ‘The Alternative View’ conferences (available on their DVD releases). He has now transferred this considerable apprenticeship to television. ‘Behind the Sofa’ is a format developed by alex:g’s very own Cult TV Productions.
Appreciation united
The links between the quartet that feature in the first series of BEHIND THE SOFA are all TV-related.
alex:g first met Mitch Benn at a gathering of The Prisoner Appreciation Society (Patrick McGoohan's cult classic). Toby Hadoke used to be a customer at The Place Bookshop in Wolverhampton, where alex:g worked while at Polytechnic. Gary Slaymaker covered Cult TV 2002 in Southport for S4C, where he first met alex:g..
Contact Us
Launching a new production on a niche TV channel needs lots of supporters, so please help us to get the exposure this show truly deserves. Let us know how we can make the job of spreading the word easier, as well as giving us your comments and requests.
Contact details
Feel free to contact us for further information about BEHIND THE SOFA - we'll get back to you as soon as possible!
CULT TV PRODUCTIONS
PO Box 1701
Peterborough PE7 1ER, UK
Phone : +44 (0) 700 4 2858 88
Fax : +44 (0) 1733 205009
Email : press@cult.tv
