Michael Cumming

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The Golden Afternoon
1

The Golden Afternoon

Sep 17, 2021
On a sweltering afternoon in the summer of 2003, to celebrate his fiftieth birthday, Martin Newell performed a career-spanning set of songs at Colchester Arts Centre. Aided and abetted by a band of musicians that includes his old partner Nelson, from the Brotherhood of Lizards, Martin performed a wonderful 100 minute show that took in both his earliest songs and brand new compositions given their first live outing. The footage lay forgotten for almost twenty years but has now been lovingly assembled & restored for your viewing pleasure by director Michael Cumming.
Music
Mark Thomas: Serious Organised Criminal
1
Comedy that really makes a difference! This is Mark's true story of cake icing as a political weapon, of demonstrations to Defend Surrealism and getting to like the police. Mark turns an 18 month battle over Parliament Square and the right to demonstrate into bizarrely brilliant stand up. This is how Mark fought the law ... with the law's permission! It is a laugh out loud funny world inhabited by anarchists, Goths, artists and the Westminster Constabulary, in which Mark becomes a Guinness World Record holder, organises 2,500 protests in one day and changes the law in the process.
Comedy
Alan Davies: Life Is Pain
6.8
Recorded live at Hammersmith Apollo the hilarious new show, Life Is Pain, covers every aspect of the modern condition. While famous as an actor – the eponymous hero in the BBC hit Jonathan Creek – and a household star for his role as Stephen Fry’s foil on QI, Alan was sorely missed from live stand-up. His first show back is a glorious insight into Alan’s unique worldview – growing up in the ‘70s, losing his mother as a little boy, the vagaries of Facebook, sex toys and being a father are just some of the subjects he tackles.
Comedy
Video In/Audio Out
1

Video In/Audio Out

Jan 01, 2014
Quad Split replicates a multi-screen version of Video In/Audio Out VT's: 001-004. Small digital video cameras are easily able to function at any angle and the resulting images reduced to composition and colour. This Quad Split version, combining four disparate images and soundtracks to produce a new audio visual collage, extends this idea further. These pieces deliberately interface new and old video & sound technology. Digital & analogue audio sources are combined on a computer, then mixed back to analogue ¼” tape. The resulting mix then sent back to digital for uploading to the internet as well as being copied to U-matic* videotape for screenings.
Beachcomber
1

Beachcomber

Jan 01, 1989
A collaboration between Cumbrian Artist Kevin Carr and director Michael Cumming. Shot around the Sellafield nuclear re processing plant on the West Cumbrian Coast. Kevin fearlessly put his case about the detrimental effects of the nuclear industry whilst living amongst a community that largely relied on it for employment.
Beachcomber
1

Beachcomber

Jan 01, 1989
A collaboration between Cumbrian Artist Kevin Carr and director Michael Cumming. Shot around the Sellafield nuclear re processing plant on the West Cumbrian Coast. Kevin fearlessly put his case about the detrimental effects of the nuclear industry whilst living amongst a community that largely relied on it for employment.
Beachcomber
1

Beachcomber

Jan 01, 1989
A collaboration between Cumbrian Artist Kevin Carr and director Michael Cumming. Shot around the Sellafield nuclear re processing plant on the West Cumbrian Coast. Kevin fearlessly put his case about the detrimental effects of the nuclear industry whilst living amongst a community that largely relied on it for employment.
King Rocker
7.4

King Rocker

Oct 31, 2020
How does a working class autodidact, with no visible means of support, maintain his role as the leader of a cult British underground band into its fifth decade? Comedian and writer Stewart Lee, director Michael Cumming and James Nicholls investigate the mysterious existence of Robert Lloyd, Britain’s ultimate post-punk survivor. Robert Lloyd’s Prefects played with The Clash on the White Riot tour in 1977, and their ongoing incarnation, as Birmingham’s Captain Beefheart suffused post-punk poets The Nightingales, recorded more John Peel sessions than any other band. Ever. But what were the social, cultural and economic circumstances that enabled and sustained such outsider artists in the punk and post-punk eras, and how has the world changed to the point where such figures are unlikely to flourish in the same way today? Lloyd’s own odyssey echoes how abstract notions of social mobility, of the value of culture and music, have changed in the last five decades.
Documentary
King Rocker
7.4

King Rocker

Oct 31, 2020
How does a working class autodidact, with no visible means of support, maintain his role as the leader of a cult British underground band into its fifth decade? Comedian and writer Stewart Lee, director Michael Cumming and James Nicholls investigate the mysterious existence of Robert Lloyd, Britain’s ultimate post-punk survivor. Robert Lloyd’s Prefects played with The Clash on the White Riot tour in 1977, and their ongoing incarnation, as Birmingham’s Captain Beefheart suffused post-punk poets The Nightingales, recorded more John Peel sessions than any other band. Ever. But what were the social, cultural and economic circumstances that enabled and sustained such outsider artists in the punk and post-punk eras, and how has the world changed to the point where such figures are unlikely to flourish in the same way today? Lloyd’s own odyssey echoes how abstract notions of social mobility, of the value of culture and music, have changed in the last five decades.
Documentary
Stewart Lee: 41st Best Stand-Up Ever!
7.7
In 2007, Stewart Lee was voted the 41st best stand-up of all time in an official Channel 4 poll, apparently better than Lenny Bruce but not as good as Jim Davidson. But what real difference does this accolade make? His TV pilot has been cancelled and his mother still thinks the 1970s game show host Tom O'Connor is funnier than him.
Comedy
1

Jun 02, 2016

Three-part dark comedy series about three days in the life of a sandwich generation couple - a care worker and a limo driver - who have put their lives on hold for the sake of others.
Comedy
7.4

Dec 23, 2015

Steven Toast, an eccentric middle-aged actor with a chequered past, spends more time dealing with his problems off stage than performing on it.
Comedy
7.6

Mar 05, 1997

Investigative reporter Chris Morris puts modern Britain under the spotlight, and smacks the issues of the day till they bleed. He tackles weighty issues including animals, drugs, sex and skewered celebrities and politicians alike - and in a later episode in 2001, paedophiles.
Comedy
6.2

Oct 27, 2021

When her father is declared 'lost at sea', Verma has to come back to Sandylands to manage his affairs.
Comedy
7.4

Feb 08, 2022

Tortured thespian Steven Toast relocates to the ultimate actor's playground - Hollywood. Surely this time he will get the adulation he so richly deserves.
Comedy
7.5

Apr 03, 2006

Snuff Box is a BBC Three British dark comedy starring and written by Matt Berry and Rich Fulcher with additional material by Nick Gargano. It first aired on Monday 27 February 2006. Both actors use their real names for their main characters. Berry plays a hangman, and Fulcher his assistant. The majority of the programme is set in a "gentlemen's club for hangmen", although the show is also interspersed with sequences of sketches, often featuring different characters. Berry and Fulcher met whilst working together on another BBC Three comedy, The Mighty Boosh. The series 1 DVD was released on 16 June 2008. On 11 October 2011, Severin Films released the series on DVD with a bonus CD of music and other exclusive extra features in the North American market.
Comedy