Charlie Brooker is back with his blacker than black mirrors in the second series of Weekly Wipe, and as ever it’s a brilliantly jagged take on the week just gone by that includes everything from TV mockery, politician bashing and a few random segues into tame-comedian skits. That probably doesn’t sell it very well, but if you like your weekly review more jaded than a Guantanamo Bay prisoner’s opinion of good old fashioned, stars and stripes, apple pie, “face like an OAP ball-bag” senators then this is the show for you.
The second series continues on in the same format as the first, with Charlie taking up residence on his living room sofa set firing out acerbic commentary on the weekly goings on like a left wing and liberally minded Alf Garnet. That’s probably not what he wants to hear, but it’s the truth nonetheless. In fact, the only person that fills that comparison better than Brooker is Doug Stanhope, who’s also back on form for Weekly Wipe Series 2.
This time around Brooker has had another glut of material to cover ranging from the floods and Danny Dyer’s entry to the Queen Vic to the French president’s alleged affair and Hayley’s death at the hands of a strange witch’s brew in Coronation Street. To date, Stanhope has ranted about Britain’s booze culture, immigration and the depressingly pathetic state of the music industry when the biggest rock and roll news is Justin Bieber getting filmed taking a pee in a mop bucket, and they’ve all been pretty much bang on the money.
There’s also the addition of Limmy (Limmy’s Show Series 2) to the mix to bring a surreal take on life, Russell Brand and Scottish Independence. The only downside to this is that if anything he doesn’t have enough time for his sections to make them as impressive as the mentally genius sketches from his own show.
The only section that seems a bit out of place is comedian Philomena Cunk’s weekly “mysteries explained” bits, which see her traipsing around famous sites in Britain to give us her slant on scientific discoveries. This includes a trip to Greenwich to explain time and an extended chat on evolution that sees her proclaiming that before Darwin’s The Origin of Species there was no evolution, so we were all still apes. It makes for amusing inanity, but it sort of breaks down when she starts to interrogate experts on the topics, a bit like an unconvincing attempt to tread the ground Ali G thrashed up with his own probing interviews with experts.
No flabby stone of nicety is left uncovered in the show as Charlie tares every available hunk of potentially comic news apart like a sour-faced, stubby-bearded culture vulture with a penchant for rotting human flesh. Even Sunday Brunch and This Morning get a short spell under the scolding hot glare of the show’s spotlight as Jake Yapp spits out condensed, 90 second razz-take versions of each.
The only real negative to the show is that despite all of the laughter that it’ll inflict on you, there isn’t the vaguest glimmer of joy to be found in it. You’d think boinking a former Blue Peter honey would put a smile on the miser’s mush, but if anything he’s just as viciously sardonic as ever, which isn’t always a bad thing, but it does make for sour viewing at times.
If you’re mulling over the merits of reaching for the witch’s brew yourself, an episode of Weekly Wipe will probably help you make your mind up for a definitive and swiftly realised climax. Like Black Mirror, it’s another brilliant show from Brooker, especially with Limmy on the bill, but it’ll definitely bring you down at one point or another.
Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe Series 2 review: 4/5
