Week 35 highlights 2012

15 August 2012

Yeah, whooo, get in! It's only bleedin' Paralympic time.

Here are all of the most mind-bendingly, foot-stompingly, butt-clenchingly funkadelic programmes on Channel 4 for the week from 25th - 31st August.

What a week this promises to be on Channel 4. In the first part of the week, we're doing what we do best, showing some of the best comedy shows ever to pop up on your tellybox! Then, from Wednesday evening, we're doing what we do, er, even bester, with innovation, thrills and drama, as the Paralympics come to Channel 4. It will be the single biggest event in Channel 4's history. Yes, even bigger than Minipops.

 

Saturday 25/08/2012
9pm
C4's 30 Greatest Comedy Shows
Channel 4's Funny Fortnight continues with a look back at 30 years of iconic comedy shows in a two-hour documentary telling the stories behind them and looking at the enduring appeal and extraordinary influence they have on comedy. Channel 4 viewers have been voting to have their say on their favourite Channel 4 comedy shows with an online vote of 30 classic titles counted down tonight. The winning programme, with accompanying documentaries, will be revealed next...
There's more cracking archive tonight: the Comics Strip's Bad News Tour is among the treats.

 

Saturday 25/08/2012
11:05pm
C4's Greatest Comedy: The Winner Is...
Channel 4's Funny Fortnight continues as the comedy show that viewers voted as Channel 4's greatest is revealed, as well as a chance to see two documentaries on the winning programme.

 

Sunday, 26/08/2012
9pm
Peter Kay Live at the Manchester Arena
Channel 4's Funny Fortnight continues, a two-week extravaganza of top notch comedy telly including brand new shows, stand-up and archive treats. The multi award-winning Peter Kay's live national stand-up show at Manchester's Nimex. This 60-minute special spotlights Peter's painfully funny and acutely observed humour and highlights why he has become one of the most universally popular comedians in recent times.

 

Sunday, 26/08/2012
10pm
Bad Sugar
Shown as part of Channel 4's Funny Fortnight season. Written by Peep Show's Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong, Bad Sugar stars three of the biggest female names in British Comedy - Olivia Colman, Julia Davis and Sharon Horgan - all of whom also co-conceived the idea. Bad Sugar centres on a dysfunctional, wealthy mining dynasty, with an ailing patriarch and some greedy siblings. It's a peculiarly British take on telenovela style melodramas, played for laughs. Also starring David Bradley, Peter Serafinowicz, Kayvan Novak and Reece Shearsmith.
Later tonight there's a double bill of Dylan Moran in new stand up and Black Books ; editions of Comedy Labs with Ricky Gervais and Dynamo; Mark Thomas; Da Ali G Show - and more.

 

Monday, 27/08/2012
9pm
Alan Carr Live: Spexy Beast
Channel 4's Funny Fortnight concludes tonight with another evening of gems new and old. Alan Carr Live: Spexy Beast is the second stand up show from one of the UK's favourite funny men and TV personalities. Alan Carr returned to his stand-up roots in 2011 for his first major live comedy tour in four years. Filmed in front of a sold out crowd of 13,000 fans at the Manchester Evening News Arena as part of his 33 date UK and Ireland arena tour, Spexy Beast sees Alan back on stage.

 

Monday, 27/08/2012
10pm
The Boyle Variety Performance
Shown as part of Channel 4's Funny Fortnight season. The Boyle Variety Performance is Frankie Boyle's unique take on a royal variety event of a similar name. Complete with red carpet, celebrity guests, comedy, variety, music and a generous helping of Frankie himself, the show comes direct from a glamorous London theatre and features content so cutting edge and scurrilously funny that no self-respecting royal would ever dream of attending. Frankie Boyle says of the show: 'I will appear on TV for very possibly the last time. A final swoop on the Death Star, it cannot end in anything but disaster.'
A last course of vintage comedy offerings follow, including cult obscurity The Inbetweeners , Norbert Smith, a Life (starring a bloke who may well be Harry Enfield), Star Stories spoofery and equine walloping in Smack the Pony .

 

Tuesday 28/08/2012
7:30pm
Jon Snow's Paralympic Show 7/7
Well-known celebrities and faces from the world of sport and entertainment join Jon Snow's live nightly weekday countdown to tomorrow's eagerly anticipated London 2012 Paralympic Games; the biggest event in Channel 4's history. Jon invites viewers to join in the wave of enthusiasm and excitement, as over 4000 elite disabled athletes descend on London.

 

Tuesday 28/08/2012
9pm
Islam: The Untold Story
In this ground-breaking film, historian Tom Holland explores how a new religion - Islam - emerged from the seedbed of the ancient world, and asks what we really know for certain about the rise of Islam. The result is an extraordinary detective story. Tom finds himself embroiled in what, for 40 years now, has been an underground but seismic debate: the issue of whether, as Muslims have always believed, Islam was born fully formed in all its fundamentals, or else evolved gradually, over many years - and in ways that Muslims today might not necessarily recognise.

 

Wednesday 29/08/2012
8pm
London 2012 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony
Channel 4 begins its coverage of the highly-anticipated Paralympic Games as the eyes of the world are on London for the Opening Ceremony. Jon Snow and Krishnan Guru-Murthy present live coverage from the Olympic Park, where the Ceremony promises to be an electrifying celebration to mark the occasion when the Paralympic Games, which originated in the UK as the Stoke Mandeville Games in 1948, comes home. The show, titled Enlightenment, promises a spectacular celebration of the inspirational spirit of the Paralympic Games that challenges perceptions of human possibility, and features the highly anticipated entrance of the Paralympic Flame, which ignites the Cauldron and signals the start of 11 days of elite sporting competition.

 

Thursday, 30/08/2012
7am
Paralympic Games Breakfast Show
Hosted by Kelly Cates and Rick Edwards, this daily show covers the very best of all the great moments of the Games. There are live injects from the main venues, analysis of the triumphs and heartbreak, and close-up features on the lives of the incredible athletes everyone is watching. The Breakfast Roadshow segment treks the country to shine a light on the unsung heroes who've helped the athletes achieve their dreams. In the studio there's a look at cybernetics, prosthetics and all manner of Paralympic paraphernalia. The audience is invited to join in via tweets, texts and all forms of social media and there's a wide range of studio guests.
Paralympics Games coverage continues throughout the day, switching to More4 during periods when Channel 4 airs other programming.
Channel 4 HD provides continuous coverage of the Games throughout the day.
Three further streams, C4 Paralympics Extra 1, 2 and 3, feature uninterrupted live coverage of events from across the Paralympic Games, on-air from early morning through to late evening. (Details can be found in the press pack.)
The Channel 4 Paralympics Games 2012 press pack can be found here

 

Thursday 30/08/12
7:30pm
Paralympic Games 2012 Tonight: Swimming, Wheelchair Basketball and Table Tennis
Clare Balding and Ade Adepitan present exclusive coverage of the first evening of competition at the 2012 Paralympics in London. It's a busy night of swimming Finals at the Aquatics Centre. GB's 19-year-old Gemma Almond was a bronze medallist in the SM10 200m Individual Medley at last year's European Championships, and is aiming for a podium spot tonight. Great Britain v Germany encounters are always keenly contested affairs in any sport, and their clash in the Men's Wheelchair Basketball is bound to be no exception. Table tennis begins today at the ExCeL, with the Men's and Women's Singles Preliminaries in all events.

 

Thursday 30/08/12
10:30pm
The Last Leg with Adam Hills
Adam Hills presents an alternative review of each day at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, showing all the best gems of action and taking a sideways look at the intricacies of disability sport. Adam is joined each night by his eagle-eyed sidekick Josh Widdicombe, as well as guests from the worlds of sport and entertainment, to pore over the golden moments, confront some of the widely held views associated with Paralympic sport, and answer the questions viewers were always afraid to ask.

 

Friday, 31/08/2012
7:30pm
Paralympic Games 2012 Tonight: Athletics, Swimming And Wheelchair Basketball
Live coverage of the 2012 Paralympics in London continues with the first night of track and field action in the Olympic Stadium. Britain's first gold medal on the track could be won by 20-year-old Hannah Cockroft. In the Men's Wheelchair Basketball competition, the British team begin their Paralympic campaign with a tough match against Canada. British swimming sensation Ben Proctor is hoping for success in the S14 100m Backstroke Final. Other swimming events include the Men's 100m S13 Butterfly and the Women's 200m SM5 Individual Medley. Plus, there's news from a big day in the judo tournament at the ExceL, and updates from the archery at the Royal Artillery Barracks. Introduced by Clare Balding and Ade Adepitan.