TV - Cunk On Earth

It's life, Jim, but not as we know it, as Philomena Cunk is set to return to BBC Two and BBC iPlayer with a brand new series, Cunk On Earth...

Press Release

Cunk on Earth will see the long-awaited return of pioneering documentary-maker Philomena Cunk on her most ambitious quest to date; venturing right up humanity to find out who we are, how we got here and what was the point.

Made by Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones's production company, Broke & Bones, the five half-hour episodes of Cunk On Earth will see Philomena Cunk (played by Diane Morgan) attempting to unlock the mystery of human civilisation and discover humankind’s greatest achievements.

From virtually nothing, to virtual reality, she’ll tell the story of our greatest inventions, like the wheel, creative masterpieces, like the Mona Lisa, and mind-blowing concepts, like enlightenment and nuclear power. Along the way, Philomena will be asking experts hard-hitting questions about humanity’s progress, as well as standing near impressive old ruins, or inside museums, before the shot cuts away from her to some archive of the bits that don’t exist anymore.

The series will examine cultures, science, art and ideas that have enriched the world as well as some of the people that produced and inspired them. It’s a journey through time from the stone age to the space age, and also the future age of tomorrow that hasn’t been named yet.

Philomena said “This series it’s in my contract to go somewhere better than just Britain so I’m hoping I at least go to Italy as that seems a safe bet. I’m looking forward to getting out of the house and tracing humanity’s progress and also finding out exactly what a ‘civilisations’ is.”

Charlie Brooker, Creator, Writer and Executive Producer, added “I am delighted to be working with Philomena again, even though she is a fictional character who, like me, has never experienced the emotion of ‘delight’ and has only a limited understanding of what constitutes ‘work’. In pursuit of nothing less than the definitive story of human civilisation, she’s going to visit every corner of the globe our budget and official pandemic travel restrictions will allow. Globes don’t have corners but you know what I mean. Diane Morgan is very funny. I have run out of things to say in this quote. Stop reading. Go away.”

Cunk On Earth will debut on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer in 2022 and on Netflix outside of the UK and Ireland.

Cunk On Earth is a Broke & Bones production commissioned by BBC Comedy and written by Charlie Brooker, Ben Caudell, Jason Hazeley and Joel Morris with Additional Material by Eli Goldstone and Michael Odewale. The Executive Producers are Charlie Brooker, Annabel Jones and Ali Marlow and the Series Producer is Sam Ward. The Director is Christian Watt and the Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Tanya Qureshi.