Dara Ó Briain teases new Mock the Week revival format – and why they'll be tackling the current Labour government

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

Just over three years after it was cancelled by the BBC, topical panel show Mock the Week is returning soon to free-to-air channel TLC — with a familiar face at the helm.

“It was only a couple of months ago that I first heard rumblings,” says comedian and longtime host Dara Ó Briain. “God, it might have been November... I mean, I’m not going, ‘I remember the moment the big red phone in my office rang. It’s the Mock phone, finally…’ But it’s all moved pretty quickly, as befits the show.

“Honestly, you can be too precious,” he adds. “I didn’t sit for a long time going, ‘Will this in any way damage the legacy of the show that we’ve left behind?’ It’s just seven people in a room telling jokes.”

Alongside Ó Briain, rotating guests will include Ahir Shah, Angela Barnes, Ed Byrne, Ellie Taylor, Hugh Dennis, Katherine Ryan, Lou Sanders, Rhys James, Russell Howard and Sara Pascoe — though expect more new names alongside the familiar ones. The biggest change comes from the length of episodes, now extended to an hour.

“There’s no musical sequence now; there’s no nudity suddenly. I don’t think there’s anything particularly jarring. I just think there’ll be slightly more of it,” Ó Briain says.

“But there was always more of it. We did two-and-a-half hours that came down to a BBC half-hour, which was 28 minutes. There will apparently be new rounds. But I don’t think there’s anything that will scare the horses, that will be too drastic a change from us talking. ‘Us talking’ is the mission statement, to be honest.”

And what will they be talking about? “The world has got more pantomimic and ludicrous as time has gone by,” he muses. “The biggest change for us is that it’s no longer a Conservative government. People used to say, ‘You always talk about the Tories.’ Yes, because they were the ones doing stuff! Now, it’ll be about Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves. Not because we’re not on the BBC any more – but because they’re the ones in power.”

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