Philomena Cunk was born as a character in Charlie Brooker’s satirical show – Black Mirror’s culprit – on BBC2. Cunk was a satire on female television presenters, poking fun at the prosody and bluestocking tics of the trade. So Brooker required that prospective performers speak English with the affected neutrality of a BBC journalist, without regional traits. But when actress Diane Morgan auditioned for the role, she asked to test her Bolton accent in a town near Manchester. Brooker accepted and Philomena Cunk, like Pinocchio, lived her own life. The beauty of this story is that Diane Morgan did not pursue a career in serious theater because of the same accent that eventually led her to success.
The Earth according to Philomena Cunk (Netflix) is the internationalization of a character that has made the British laugh since Brooker’s program and his independence in Cunk on Shakespeare, Cunk on Britain or Cunk on Christmas. It was seen as too narrow-minded a comedy that relied everything on the British cultural context, wordplay and Morgan’s Bolton accent, but his foray into the world once again confirms that humor is a universal force. I’ve never been to Bolton, but I find it hard to laugh.
Cunk interviews university experts who respond spontaneously to his nonsense, such as, “Did the ’50s really exist?” or “Which was more culturally significant, Beyoncé’s renaissance or single ladies?” It’s total comedy that goes beyond the parodied. At the end of the first chapter, it’s hard to know what we’re laughing at: the academic irritation, the reporter’s idiocy, Leonardo da Vinci, we? I don’t know, but you turn off the TV with a very pleasant feeling of lightness, as if what was important no longer mattered.
You can follow EL PAÍS TELEVISIÓN on Twitter or sign up here to receive our weekly newsletter.
Receive the TV newsletter
All the news from channels and platforms, with interviews, news and analysis, as well as recommendations and criticism from our journalists
REGISTRATION
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits