Last night I went to the Pilot recording of a new show hosted by David Mitchell called The Bubble. As the warm up comedian said if they make it into a series, I can say I was there at the start. Or if not I was there!
So what is “The Bubble”. The Bubble is a humorous quiz (of sorts) show. 3 celebrity contestants are locked in a “News Bubble” for 3 days (maybe 5) – this bubble is actually a rather nice Linconshire house. They have no internet, TV, mobile phones or contact with the outside world. They are then brought direct to the studio where the quiz hosted by David Mitchell begins. Each round consists of three news stories, these could be News reports, Newspaper article etc and the teams have to guess which of the 3 actually happened as two are expertly faked.
For this Pilot show the guests were Frank Skinner, Katy Brand, and another lady who’s name I can’t remember.
The true stories included -
Nuclear Submarines Collide in the Atlantic – No one guessed this was true
A ban on Kissing at Warrington Railway Station
Recently unearthed papers show Hitler had a flatuence problem
Portsmouth University’s studies show Gribbles could solve our fuel problems (I felt I had to include a link – Marine pests could hold key to clean, green fuels)
Fake News
The fake news stories were very well produced with countless on the scene reporters, minor celebrities and real news program logos, this included Nick Robinson outside Westminister, Brian Paddick (stood for mayor of London), James May, and more.
Fake stories included
James May Getting Flashcarded (like flash mobbing) with Valentines cards
The Olympic cycle track being produced out of recycled cardboard
Crunch-opoly a credit crunch version of monopoly
The Result
After around 7 rounds (and 2 hours) fingers went to the buzzers for the quick fire true or false round where more points could be won it seemed than all the other rounds put together. At the end Frank Skinner won.
I had a fantastic evening seeing the show and catching up with some good friends. However I am not convinced how it will transfer to TV. To be honest the “quiz” part of the show seemed a little weak, it was more funny witnessing the celebrities bantering with each other and the audience, to the point that the floor manager kept having to make them move things along. Still with 2hrs 3omins ish recorded I’m sure theirs a great 30 minute show in there!
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I can’t believe that almost a year on this show has made it to our TV screens, not sure why it took so long! I haven’t seen it yet but if anyone is interested its on at 10pm, Fridays, on BBC 2 – Or available after online on the BBC iPlayer.
Just seen the first episode of The Bubble on BBC iPlayer. I was surprised that Frank Skinner was in both the Pilot and the first episode. The show followed the same plot as the pilot but had less TV News in it. In the pilot there were a lot of BBC fake news stories. However as mentioned in the show the BBC have banned their news staff from creating fake news stories.
All in all, I think it’s an interesting concept but not a very gripping show, To be honest I do think I will watch every show, but if I have 30 mins and its on iPlayer there are a lot worst things.