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‘Charlie Brooker’s 2016 Wipe’ picked up a Bafta last night for best Comedy & Comedy Entertainment Programme, but the show almost never made it on to our TV screens. Speaking backstage after his win, Brooker admitted that he hadn’t wanted to make the annual satirical news show because 2016 was just so awful.
‘It was a horrible year. It was genuinely depressing. At one point I rang [producer Annabel Jones] and said “I don't want to do the show, because I’m finding the year so depressing.” Genuinely. I didn’t want to do it,’ he told gathered press.
‘[Jones] reminded me that we had a contractual obligation and then we sort of had to push on,’ he added.
Thanking the ‘random, cruel events’ of 2016 for his win, Brooker continued: ‘We’ve been doing these shows for years now and when you look back at early ones, do you remember when it was about a lady dropping a cat in a bin? That was the worst thing that happened.’
If you’re wondering why we don’t get more ‘Wipe’ on our tellies, the ‘Black Mirror’ writer said: ‘We like the cup of misery to fill up.’ Adding: ‘No, time is the thing. They are very labour-intensive.’
He was approached to make an additional instalment, though, during the shitstorm that was 2016. ‘Last year they asked us if we wanted to do an “EU Referendum Wipe”,’ Brooker said. ‘And I went “Well, that’ll be boring. Who cares about that?” Which goes to show how much I know…’
Watch ‘Charlie Brooker’s 2016 Wipe’ on BBC Store.
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