Time Trumpet is a six-episode satirical television comedy series which aired on BBC Two

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

 in 2006

2006 in television

2006 in television may refer to:*2006 in American television*2006 in Australian television*2006 in British television*2006 in Canadian television*2006 in Japanese television...

. The series was written by Armando Iannucci

Armando Iannucci

Armando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish comedian, satirist, writer, director, performer and radio producer. Born in Glasgow, he studied at Oxford University and left graduate work on a PhD about John Milton to pursue a career in comedy....

, Roger Drew

Roger Drew

Roger Drew is a British illustrator and television screenwriter.His illustration work ranges from music sleeve art for The Darkness, to TV artwork for Alexei Sayle's Merry-Go-Round and Johnny Vaughan Tonight....

 and Will Smith

Will Smith (comedian)

Will Smith is a British comedian, actor and writer. He was born and grew up in Jersey and is known for his love and encyclopaedic knowledge of Bergerac, as well as his posh boy persona. He was educated at Victoria College, Jersey and Charterhouse School. He now lives in London...

 in a similar manner to Iannucci's earlier one-off programmes 2004: The Stupid Version

2004: The Stupid Version

2004: The Stupid Version is a satirical documentary written by Armando Iannucci, broadcast in two parts on BBC Three on New Year's Eve 2004. The one-off programme is a parody of review programmes typically broadcast at New Year...

and Clinton: His Struggle with Dirt

Clinton: His Struggle with Dirt

Clinton: His Struggle with Dirt was a one-off satire, written and narrated by Armando Iannucci in a similar style to his later shows, notably Time Trumpet. Purporting to be a documentary from the future, it cast actors as older versions of genuine people, , to present a comic spin on the Lewinsky...

Premise

Time Trumpet is set in the year 2031 and is a retrospective documentary on the first thirty years of the 20th century. Actors and actresses played the parts of 'today's stars' thirty years on, who were interviewed as part of the show. These 'older selves' included David Beckham

David Beckham

David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...

, Anne Robinson

Anne Robinson

Anne Josephine Robinson is an English journalist and television presenter, known for her assertive views and acerbic style of presenting. She was one of the presenters on the long-running British consumer affairs series, Watchdog, from 1993 to 2001 before returning in 2009...

, David Cameron

David Cameron

David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....

, Sebastian Coe

Sebastian Coe, Baron Coe

Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, KBE , often known as Seb Coe, is an English former athlete and politician...

, Charlotte Church

Charlotte Church

Charlotte Maria Church is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter. She rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before branching into pop music in 2005. By 2007, she had sold more than 10 million records worldwide including over 5 million in the United States...

, Ant & Dec

Ant & Dec

Anthony McPartlin and Declan Donnelly , known collectively as Ant & Dec, are an English comedy and TV presenting duo from Newcastle upon Tyne, England...

, June Sarpong

June Sarpong

June Sarpong MBE is an English television presenter of Ghanaian descent.-Education:Sarpong was born in London to Ghanaian parents. She was educated at Connaught Girls School in Leytonstone and Sir George Monoux College in Walthamstow....

, Tony Blair

Tony Blair

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

, Alastair Campbell

Alastair Campbell

Alastair John Campbell is a British journalist, broadcaster, political aide and author, best known for his work as Director of Communications and Strategy for Prime Minister Tony Blair between 1997 and 2003, having first started working for Blair in 1994...

, Charles Clarke

Charles Clarke

Charles Rodway Clarke is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006.-Early life:...

, Noel Edmonds

Noel Edmonds

Noel Ernest Edmonds, is an English broadcaster and executive, who made his name as a DJ on BBC Radio 1 in the UK. He has presented many light entertainment television programmes, including Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Top of the Pops, The Late, Late Breakfast Show, Telly Addicts, Noel's Saturday...

, Chris Moyles

Chris Moyles

Christopher David Moyles is an English radio and television presenter and author, who currently presents The Chris Moyles Show on BBC Radio 1 and Chris Moyles' Quiz Night on Channel 4....

, Gordon Brown

Gordon Brown

James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...

, David Miliband

David Miliband

David Wright Miliband is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for South Shields since 2001, and was the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs from 2007 to 2010. He is the elder son of the late Marxist theorist Ralph Miliband...

, Bob Geldof

Bob Geldof

Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...

, Natasha Kaplinsky

Natasha Kaplinsky

Natasha Margaret Kaplinsky is a British newsreader and television presenter, currently employed by ITV having previously worked for Channel 5, Sky News and the BBC...

, Prince Harry, Jamie Oliver

Jamie Oliver

James "Jamie" Trevor Oliver, MBE , sometimes known as The Naked Chef, is an English chef, restaurateur and media personality, known for his food-focused television shows, cookbooks and more recently his campaign against the use of processed foods in national schools...

 and The Woman who released the Doves at the end of the Michael Jackson trial

People v. Jackson

People vs. Jackson was a 2005 trial involving recording artist Michael Jackson. The accuser was a boy, Gavin Arvizo, who was 13 years old at the time of the alleged crimes...

.

The show also included interviews with comedians, billed in the show as "top cultural commentators slash TV pundits", speaking about the events of the past. These included Stewart Lee

Stewart Lee

Stewart Lee is an English stand-up comedian, writer and director known for being one half of the 1990s comedy duo Lee and Herring, and for co-writing and directing the critically acclaimed and controversial stage show Jerry Springer - The Opera...

 (also appearing as the baldheaded 'Stu Lee', the implication being that he was contractually obliged to shave his head and change his name), Richard Ayoade

Richard Ayoade

Richard Ellef Ayoade is a British comedian, actor, writer and director best known for his role as Maurice Moss in The IT Crowd.Ayoade was born an only child to a Norwegian mother, Dagny , and a Nigerian father, Layide Ade Laditi Ayoade. Ayoade studied at St...

, Jo Enright

Jo Enright

Jo Enright is an English stand-up comedian and actress who has appeared in a number of television and radio comedy programmes.-Biography:...

, Matthew Holness

Matthew Holness

Matthew Holness is an English comedian and actor from Whitstable in Kent. He attended Chaucer Technology School in Canterbury and read English at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, where he was vice-president of the Cambridge Footlights...

, Adam Buxton

Adam Buxton

Adam Offord Buxton is an English comedian and actor. With Joe Cornish, he forms one half of the duo Adam and Joe. The pair presented Adam and Joe on BBC 6 Music, whilst Buxton also presents his own show on 6 Music on Sundays, called Adam Buxton's Big Mix Tape, currently on hiatus.-Major work:His...

, Mark Watson

Mark Watson (comedian)

Mark Andrew Watson is an English stand-up comedian and novelist.-Early life:Watson was born in Bristol to Welsh parents and attended Henleaze Junior school and then Bristol Grammar School, where he won the prize of 'Gabbler of the year', before going to Queens' College, Cambridge, where he studied...

 and David Sant

David Sant

David Sant is a Spanish English actor and voice actor. He was born in Catalonia, Spain. He is best known for the role of Cartoon Head from series two of the British television show Ideal and is also known for playing the title role and the other male characters in the season 5-6 revival of...

, who was billed instead as 'European Footballer of the Year 2021'.

Each episode had a main theme running throughout, such as The Olympics or the War in Iraq. The main running gag was the promise of a catch up with "an increasingly odd Tom Cruise

Tom Cruise

Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....

" and would feature the elderly actor making bizarre claims such as to be "pound for pound the world's strongest man".

Episodes

Episode	Airdate	Main Theme	Featured Content
Episode 1	3/8/2006	Early 21st Century Politics	A CBBC CBBC CBBC is one of two brand names used for the BBC's children's television strands. Between 1985 and 2002, CBBC was the name given to all the BBC's programmes on TV for children aged under 14...  TV show called 'Spicey Slicey' where youngsters go under the knife live on air David Beckham explaining why he had a vagina Vagina The vagina is a fibromuscular tubular tract leading from the uterus to the exterior of the body in female placental mammals and marsupials, or to the cloaca in female birds, monotremes, and some reptiles. Female insects and other invertebrates also have a vagina, which is the terminal part of the...  stitched into his arm Honey, I Shrunk Martha Kearney Martha Kearney Martha Catherine Kearney is an Irish-born British broadcaster and journalist. She is the main presenter of BBC Radio 4's lunchtime news programme The World at One.-Early life:... , a revamped Newsnight Newsnight Newsnight is a BBC Television current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis and often robust cross-examination of senior politicians. Jeremy Paxman has been its main presenter for over two decades.... The special effects behind Eastenders EastEnders EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End... Charlotte Church Charlotte Church Charlotte Maria Church is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress and television presenter. She rose to fame in childhood as a classical singer before branching into pop music in 2005. By 2007, she had sold more than 10 million records worldwide including over 5 million in the United States...  vomiting herself inside out
Episode 2	10/8/2006	Binge Drinking in Britain	An outbreak of binge drinking which led to an inquiry by Ant and Dec Painting a Wall featuring Gavin Esler Gavin Esler Gavin Esler is a Scottish author and BBC television presenter, currently one of the four main presenters on BBC Two's flagship political analysis programme, Newsnight.-Education:... , John Humphrys John Humphrys Desmond John Humphrys , is a Welsh-born British author, journalist and presenter of radio and television, who has won many national broadcasting awards... , Germaine Greer Germaine Greer Germaine Greer is an Australian writer, academic, journalist and scholar of early modern English literature, widely regarded as one of the most significant feminist voices of the later 20th century....  and Nicholas Owen Nicholas Owen Nicholas David Arundel Owen is a British journalist and television presenter. He now works for the BBC, presenting on the BBC News channel and BBC One.-Biography:... June Sarpong's Donkey Monkey Question Time with guest David Cameron David Cameron David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament .... Dermot Murnaghan Dermot Murnaghan Dermot Murnaghan is a British journalist and television presenter.He is well known for his work as a presenter of ITV and BBC News as well as the shows Eggheads and Treasure Hunt . He co-presented BBC Breakfast from Monday to Thursday as well as regularly fronting national BBC news bulletins... 's on-air suicide Gordon Brown Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007... 's difficult ascent to power
Episode 3	24/8/2006	The War on Terror War on Terror The War on Terror is a term commonly applied to an international military campaign led by the United States and the United Kingdom with the support of other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation as well as non-NATO countries...	Strip searching becoming so commonplace people start walking around naked Catching up with Tim Henman Tim Henman Timothy Henry "Tim" Henman OBE is a retired English professional tennis player and former British Number One. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis that suited the grass courts of Wimbledon. He was the first player from the United Kingdom since Roger Taylor in the 1970s to reach the... The Girl with the Voice of Boris Johnson Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson is a British journalist and Conservative Party politician, who has been the elected Mayor of London since 2008... Cilla Black Cilla Black Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie... 's live autopsy
Episode 4	17/8/2006	The Royal Family British Royal Family The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...	The most popular TV show of all time, Rape an Ape War between Tesco Tesco Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits... s and Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... A decline in popularity for the Royal Family, which leads to no one turning up at the coronation of King Charles Charles, Prince of Wales Prince Charles, Prince of Wales is the heir apparent and eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Since 1958 his major title has been His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. In Scotland he is additionally known as The Duke of Rothesay...  and a royal referendum Hit polish soap opera Pierwsza miłość
Episode 5	31/8/2006	Iraq War	The War in Iraq Iraq Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....  and Tony Blair Tony Blair Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007... 's relocation to the Middle East Bob Geldof Bob Geldof Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his... 's concert to end death Death Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury.... The Hutton Inquiry Hutton Inquiry The Hutton Inquiry was a 2003 judicial inquiry in the UK chaired by Lord Hutton, who was appointed by the Labour government to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of David Kelly, a biological warfare expert and former UN weapons inspector in Iraq.On 18 July 2003, Kelly, an employee...  proving that David Kelly may not have even existed The BBC lifting a ban on product placement
Episode 6	7/9/2006	The 2012 Olympics 2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...	Whistle-blowing UKTV Gold UKTV Gold GOLD is the original channel of the UKTV network, broadcasting to the United Kingdom and Ireland. It launched on 1 November 1992 as UK Gold, and is currently available on Sky, Virgin Media, TalkTalk TV and terrestrial subscription via Top Up TV. It shows repeats of classic programming from the BBC...  show, TV Uncovered The rise to power of the BNP BNP -Politics:*Bahujana Nidahas Peramuna, a Sri Lankan political party*Balochistan National Party, a Pakistani political party*Bangladesh Nationalist Party, a Bangladeshi political party*Barbados National Party, a defunct political party in Barbados...  after the 20-day prime ministerial rule of David Cameron Sebastian Coe murdering Justin Lee Collins Justin Lee Collins Justin Lee Collins, commonly known as JLC, is an award-winning English comedian and television presenter.A Bristolian, he's well known for his strong West Country accent, shaggy appearance and colourful shirts....  after he revealed to him that London had not in fact been awarded the 2012 Olympics A catch up with an increasingly odd Tom Cruise Tom Cruise Thomas Cruise Mapother IV , better known as Tom Cruise, is an American film actor and producer. He has been nominated for three Academy Awards and he has won three Golden Globe Awards....

Controversy

The third episode, which featured a jumbo jet crashing into the British Houses of Parliament and the subsequent assassination of Tony Blair, was due to be screened on 17 August 2006, but was cancelled in the wake of the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot

2006 transatlantic aircraft plot

The 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot was a terrorist plot to detonate liquid explosives carried on board at least 10 airliners travelling from the United Kingdom to the United States and Canada...

 and substituted by another episode. The cancelled episode was subsequently shown a week later, without the footage of an assassinated Blair. However, a related sketch was aired, involving a play on the events of 9/11, where two towers are flown into an aeroplane.

Home Release

A DVD of the series was released on 27 April 2009. The assassination of Tony Blair sketch was also removed from this.

Legacy

• One sketch depicted real-life Polish
  Poland
  Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
  
   soap opera
  Soap opera
  A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
  
   Pierwsza Milosc becoming a hit across Europe, which was followed by a scene dubbed into English in a humorous way, changing the setting from Poland to Athlone, Ireland. This ended up forming the basis of the cult TV show Soupy Norman
  Soupy Norman
  Soupy Norman was a nine-part Irish television programme broadcast by RTÉ. It was aired weekly on Thursday nights at 23:05 on the RTÉ Two channel, in ten-minute segments. The series ran from 24 May to 24 July 2007...
  
  on RTE.

• Comics writer Alan Moore
  Alan Moore
  Alan Oswald Moore is an English writer primarily known for his work in comic books, a medium where he has produced a number of critically acclaimed and popular series, including Watchmen, V for Vendetta, and From Hell...
  
   has said that the final issue of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen will include an homage to the show.

External links

• Time Trumpet website
• Iannucci profiled on BBC News' "Faces of the Week" (November 4, 2005) with reference to Time Trumpet
• BBC comedy blog