Comedian Joe Lycett is returning to Channel 4 after paternity leave for a live series set in his own pub, The Lycett Arms. Produced by Bango Studios and My Options Were Ltd, and featuring comedy entertainment from Lycett and celebrity guests.
Lycett will host as the pub landlord and is in the process of being accredited with a personal licence to serve alcohol. He is currently completing the approved training course, after which he will take the mandatory exam in order to be accredited with a Level 2 Award for Personal Licence Holders.
Broadcasting live on Channel 4 every Friday at 10pm, The Lycett Arms (6×60”) takes place inside Joe Lycett’s own pub, “a technicolour, paisley-carpeted East London boozer.”
Joe Lycett said, “I’ve always wanted to run a pub that only exists for an hour a week, for the purposes of a TV concept, and I’m thrilled beyond words to embark on the extended process of applying for a licence to sell and serve alcohol. Filling in government-mandated paperwork has always been a passion of mine, and I only hope that at some point it involves the presentation of at least one form of photographic ID. Pretty much the only disappointment is that in addition to this enthralling form-filling process, I will also have to make a television series, as this is apparently the only way to make the whole tax dodge work.
“Nevertheless, I will meet my obligations to sit in front of a camera welcoming celebrities into the pub for great conversations and top comedy, it says here, and generally creating an unmissable event that will brighten your Friday evenings for six weeks. Those are all the words that I have been requested to say. Now I can return my attention to figuring out how to get round being locked out of Gov.uk.”
The pub will host guests and a weekly celebrity pub manager. Each week The Lycett Arms will twin with a different pub from across the UK, celebrating what is special about Britain’s locals. The show is billed as “live, anarchic, and with the wheels threatening to come off at any moment, The Lycett Arms is a love letter to the great British pub.”
Tom Beck, Head of Live Events & Commissioning Editor, Entertainment & Reality, Channel 4 said, “Enticing Joe Lycett back onto Channel 4 screens has been a long and arduous process, involving months of delicate negotiations, emotional resilience and, in the end, the promise of legally binding admin. Thankfully, Joe’s appetite for bureaucracy remains undimmed, and we are delighted that he has agreed to spend Friday nights running a pub that is open for one hour a week, while also reluctantly making what we are legally obliged to describe as a brilliant new live entertainment series.”
Emily Hudd and Iain Wimbush, Bango Studios, added: “We’re delighted that we will be helping to facilitate one of the Joe’s lifelong dreams; to set up and run his own pub (with extremely limited opening hours), and transmit it live on Channel 4. It’s an absolute thrill to be working with Joe again on a show which promises to be an exhilarating slice of live entertainment joy – so long as all the paperwork comes through on time.’
The series is a Bango Studios and My Options Were Ltd production commissioned by Tom Beck for Channel 4. Executive producers are Joe Lycett, Iain Wimbush and Emily Hudd, with Beck from Channel 4.
The Lycett Arms will air on Channel 4 later this year.
Watch out for the upcoming Summer issue of Televisual, featuring the annual report on commissioning trends in Entertainment and Comedy Entertainment.
Pippa Considine
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