"News Knight with Sir Trevor McDonald" (2007) TV series

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Lissa Evans

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

June 2007 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot Keywords:

Panel Show

Cast

Trevor McDonald	...	Himself - Host (7 episodes, 2007)
Marcus Brigstocke	...	Himself (7 episodes, 2007)
Clive Anderson	...	Himself (4 episodes, 2007)
Reginald D. Hunter	...	Himself (4 episodes, 2007)

Runtime:

25 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Company:

Hat Trick Productions

A poor man's satirical panel show on the news that has some sharp moments but too much weakness and laziness

Having retired form reading the real news, Sir Trevor McDonald has sought to make less of a specific role for himself by presenting a news show that is more investigatory but News Knight is much more of a significant step away from his famous role with the channel and sees him trying to be more of a comedian.

It is not a role that he easily fits into and at times his delivery is quite clunky. It isn't all down to him though because his material is quite weak. The show is propped up with videos taken off the internet, most of which are amusing but it always strikes me as a rather low-rent for a primetime comedy show to be trying to get laughs. On top of this we have the usual captions style comedy which sees footage from the week being taken out of context in an amusing way. Some of these are funny but some are really forcing the joke and aren't funny. Likewise many of the sections seem pretty strained and a surprising amount of the show does stutter along in the way that the stronger topical shows don't (compare it to the more free flowing and fun Have I Got News For You to see what I mean).

It does have good moments though and this is because the makers have wisely drafted in a group of three guests each week – almost all of them established comedians who do regular turns on other topical panel comedy shows. They all have hit and miss moments of course but when they are just allowed to take the p1ss out of the headlines then it can produce some good laughs. Brigstock, Boyle and others are good value although there are weak links in the trio that are often exposed.

Although it does have its moments, I didn't think it was that great. The material is too weak to sustain the show and, although the audience are well trained, much of it is not anywhere near as funny as the reactions would suggest. The use of internet videos and clips is a lazy device that misses as often as it hits while also having the side-effect of somewhat dumbing down the level that you would normally expect from satire. I'm sure it will appeal to some, but for me I just found too much of it to be too much off the mark to make it worth me coming back for more.