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When it was announced in 2005 that the sardonic writing duo of Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker had a new Channel 4 sitcom called Nathan Barley in the pipeline you could virtually hear the slow dribble of faeces dripping down the thigh of Middle England. The remaining none poopy-pants occupants of ‘overreaction land’ could be heard rustling up a highly articulate, but nevertheless utterly redundant letter of complaint before the sitcom was even broadcast. But why? Well, the last time the pair wrote together they managed to cause a national uproar, in fact, the outcome of their Brass Eye partnership still stands as the third most complained-about programme in the Independent Television Commission’s history. It seemed that the general public didn’t generally dig jokes about paedophilia – strange that…
So Nathan Barley – a comedy that followed the cringe worthy exploits of a self-proclaimed “self-facilitating media node” desperately trying to keep ahead of the baying zeitgeist – arrived in a blaze of gunfire of hype, but departed our screens with little more than a whimper of disapproving voices despite references to underage sex, terrorism, and “straight-on-straight gay action”. Perhaps it was this expectancy of controversy, which was never truly fulfilled, that led to the series being unfairly overlooked in spite of its excellent writing and acting. A sharp and topical script was really brought to life with a stellar/”totally fucking Mexico” cast. The sitcom combined an ensemble of established writers with up and coming comedy greats.
We chart where these “well weapon” Nathan Barley “spunk flakes” came from, where they’ve crossed paths, and where they’re going in a feature we’ve wittily titled (in reference to an article penned by Dan Ashcroft in Nathan Barley) ‘The Rise of The Idiots’…
Chris Morris
Not one to crave a split in public opinion or anything, Nathan Barley writer Chris Morris has simultaneously been labelled as ‘enigmatic’, ‘a comedy genius’ and ‘the most loathed man on TV’. Such judgments have been formed based on his work in public broadcasting, which dubiously began on Radio Bristol and GLR. He was allegedly sacked from both stations. However, it was his work on Radio 4 that really brought his talents to light though, as the spoof news show On The Hour garnered the attentions of BBC TV bods. The project was then adapted to make the awesome The Day Today where Morris worked alongside Steve Coogan.
Morris then returned to radio to produce Blue Jam, which, like On The Hour, was also adapted for TV to form Channel 4’s Jam. Tenuous Nathan Barley link number one: One star of Jam was Mark Heap, who played Brian in Spaced, a role which was originally written in mind for Julian Barratt who, of course, played Dan Ashcroft in Nathan Barley. The Brooker Morris combo then hit the headlines with the Brass Eye episode ‘Paedogedon’, as they lampooned the media’s take on paedophilia and became the third most complained show on TV. It seems Chris may well better this, as he’s currently working on a film about suicide bombers. He likes to tackle taboos and then some, but will he have any left to take on by the time the strongly rumoured second series of Nathan Barley gets underway?
Chris has recently been seen on our screens acting as the director of Reynholm Industries, Denholm Reynholm, in The IT Crowd. In the comedy, Chris acted alongside other Barley-ites Noel Fielding and Richard Ayoade.
