The BBC has announced a brand-new YouTube spin-off series of the award-winning comedy, Smoggie Queens called The Dickie Show.
The Dickie Show, starring RTS winner and BAFTA nominated Middlesbrough native Phil Dunning, is created and produced by Hat Trick Productions.
The digital-first chat show series, straight from the wonderful world of Smoggie Queens, sees drag queen Dickie (Dunning) interview celebrity guests in a makeshift studio in the back of Mam’s (Mark Benton), garage. He’s joined by his close friends to bring his homespun chat show to life – drag mother Mam, stylish hun Lucinda (Alexandra Mardell), musical marvel Sal (Patsy Lowe) and all-round helper Stewart (Elijah Young).
Predictably, the gang cause trouble rather than help, whilst Dickie, somewhat reluctantly, enjoys a brief moment out of the spotlight as he interviews his nearest and queerest companions.
READ MORE: North East International Film Festival appoints PR agency
Celebrity guests include Rylan, Siobhan McSweeney, Dr Ranj, Mark Benton, James Acaster, Vanessa Feltz, Steph McGovern and Russell T Davies.
Jon Petrie, BBC director of comedy, said: “As we continue to experiment with comedy on YouTube, we’re sending Dickie off to show Claudia Winkleman exactly how not to do it in The Dickie Show. The real test of a great comedy character is whether you can throw them into a completely new world and they still make you laugh. That’s exactly what happens here, with The Dickie Show taking the brilliant Smoggie Queens characters and finding even more fun with them.”
Writer, creator and star of Smoggie Queens Dunning added: “Giving Dickie his own chat show is crazy behaviour from the BBC. Apologies in advance to all the celebrities he will inevitably offend.”
Episode 1, featuring Rylan, is available now on the official BBC’s YouTube channel and iPlayer. The first half of the series will then be available weekly, with the second half of the series continuing at the end of May. Series Two of Smoggie Queens will return to BBC iPlayer and BBC Three in May, following a wave of award wins and nominations for its debut.
The Dickie Show is part of the BBC’s strategy to commission content for YouTube, with short-form, personality-driven content that is designed to engage new audiences both on YouTube and BBC iPlayer playing a key role.
The Dickie Show (8 x 15) is a Hat Trick production for BBC YouTube Channels and iPlayer. The series was commissioned by Petrie. The executive producers for the BBC are Gregor Sharp and Jamie Maisner. Executive producers for Hat Trick are Jimmy Mulville and Jessica Sharkey, the series producer is Chris Jones and the producer is Jake Dale.
