The challenges of watching TV in the course of the corona virus
While lockdown life is not a very common thing, one of the more surreal side effects of the pandemic must be turning on the TV for a little relief before being greeted with a socially distant chat show where the moderators and guests are present forced to yell at each other from the other ends of the studio, or the new "virtual" versions of comedy shows like "Have I Got News For You" – complete with uncomfortable zoom calls and the eerie silence of a studio with no audience.
When the UK government announced a nationwide ban in March, the impact on the television landscape was swift and malicious. Big budget TV dramas already made, including Line of Duty and Peaky Blinders, were immediately discontinued and the stations began rationing episodes of our favorite soaps for fear of going out. In the meantime, commissioners and producers were forced to rethink traditional formats creatively, which led to a new wave of programs to help us get through these uncertain times.
Have I Got News For You is one of the numerous TV shows that were reinterpreted during the ban
One program that felt almost ready for a pandemic was Charlie Brookers Antiviral Wipe, a revised version of his satirical review show Screenwipe, which was produced by his and Annabel Jones & # 39; s production company Broke and Bones. Antiviral Wipe aired in mid-May and took us back to another life, but it didn't take place until March – when Boris Johnson still insisted on "constantly shaking hands" when visiting hospitals treating coronavirus patients. the nation camped desperately for the toilet paper apocalypse.
For production manager Holly Sait, who has worked on the Screenwipe brand as a low-budget BBC four show since its inception in 2007, through to glossier spin-off shows in recent years, Antiviral Wipe felt that the circle had closed. "The show started with Charlie shooting it in his lounge himself, and it was basically he who scolded the TV with a remote control," she says. "As it turned out, Charlie's au pair was able to shoot and he made himself a crappy desk. What we were used to filming in the studio in the past few years, we could actually just come back to him on a sofa."