Feature

Sorry, we've got no Sorry I've Got No Head

Kirsty Harrison

24th November 2011

The wonderful "Sorry, I've Got No Head", CBBC's premier children's sketch show, has been retired from the screen after three very successful years. Click through to see some of the best sketches and read some random grumbling about Horne and Corden or youth being wasted on the youth or somesuch. Screw Shooting Stars, this is a travesty.

First things first, Mel is better than Sue. They were great together in the old days on Light Lunch, and I'm pleased Sue and her glasses have been appearing on QI and whatnot, but I love Mel Giedroyc and I liked having a place to watch her raise her eyebrows and be hilarious.

Now, thanks to budget cuts, the CBBC powers-that-be have decided not bring it, or Mel, back. The outrage is such amongst the populus that "Got No Head" trended on Twitter for a while, much to the confusion of the uninformed who assumed it was just a more general report on the state of people's sexytimes.

Sorry, I've Got No Head started in 2008 off the back of the success of "Stupid!", a sketch show which, while pretty good itself, had far too many child actors (i.e. more than one). Being as it's for kids the jokes in the show are family friendly, but not too bland. There's always a good fart joke to be had and if you don't think farts and jokes about poop are funny, then there is something seriously wrong with you.

Many of the cast are some of my favourite grown-up stand up comedians. I once sprained my ankle laughing at Marcus Brigstocke at the Comedy Store, I nearly peed myself watching Marek Larwood and the rest of We Are Klang in Edinburgh a few years ago, and David Armand asks me for Transformers information on Twitter. Oh yes, these are the circles I virtually hang out in.

"So why are these (and other) proper comedians fannying about with a kid's show?" I hear you scoff. Well, the most obvious and yet surprising reason is ... it's really, really funny. Remember how much fun it was when Rik Mayall read George's Marvellous Medicine on Jackanory? Well, imagine that happening - every week.

Here we meet Ross, the only student at a school on a remote Outer Hebrides Island, as he embarks on a student exchange programme. It's not just funny, it's a bit creepy and worrisome. It's pure gold.



"Sorry..." hasn't been rewarded like its more educational counterpart Horrible Histories (which won a proper Big Boy British Comedy Award for Best Sketch Show in January), but it has been nominated and won various Children's BAFTAs which is still pretty impressive. The cast are also the writers, and the gag-to-sketch ratio is higher than in any BBC3 sketch show you care to mention. (See, told you I'd get a dig in.)

It will be missed by kids, their parents and even weirdos like me who frankly just like a wholesome laugh of an afternoon. Booo, CBBC... Booo.
Ahhh, human-shaped rights!
BOOOO!
OK, I'll stop now. Sorry. I've...

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