The Life of Rock with Brian Pern

The Life of Rock with Brian Pern
Also known as	'Brian Pern: A Life in Rock'
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Rhys Thomas
Written by	Rhys Thomas Simon Day
Directed by	Rhys Thomas
Starring	Simon Day Michael Kitchen Rhys Thomas Paul Whitehouse Lucy Montgomery Nigel Havers
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	3
No. of episodes	10 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Saurabh Kakkar/Richard Webb
Producer(s)	Rhys Thomas
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	BBC Comedy
Release
Original network	BBC Four BBC Four HD
Picture format	16:9 1080i
Original release	10 February 2014 (2014-02-10) – 30 January 2016 (2016-01-30)
External links
Website

Brian Pern: A Life in Rock is a British comedy spoof-documentary series about ageing rock star Brian Pern, the former frontman of the 1970s progressive rock group Thotch. Series 1, titled The Life of Rock, with Brian Pern, was originally broadcast in three weekly parts on BBC Four from 10 February 2014. A second series of three episodes was promoted to BBC Two and broadcast from 9 December 2014, retitled Brian Pern: A Life in Rock. A third series of three episodes Brian Pern: 45 Years of Prog and Roll is currently being broadcast on BBC Four.

The series is written by Rhys Thomas and Simon Day, and stars Michael Kitchen, Paul Whitehouse and Nigel Havers in supporting roles alongside Day. The character of Brian Pern is an affectionate parody of Peter Gabriel.

Cast

File:The Life of Rock with Brian Pern.jpg

Main cast of the series

Main Cast

• Simon Day as Brian Pern
• Michael Kitchen as John Farrow
• Rhys Thomas as himself (and other characters)
• Paul Whitehouse as Pat Quid
• Nigel Havers as Tony Pebblé
• Lucy Montgomery as Pepita Sanchez (and other characters)

Recurring Cast

• Tony Way as Ned, Brian Pern's driver
• David Cummings as John
• Philip Pope as Mike
• Peter Gabriel as himself

Guest Cast

• Vic Reeves as Dermot O'Hare
• Bob Mortimer as Dermot Mulligan
• Matt Lucas as Ray Thomas
• Anna Maxwell Martin as Jess Parish, Head of Global Music.
• Danny John-Jules as Nigel Rogers
• Kevin Eldon as Lennie Monkton
• Michael Smiley as Micky Murray
• Frances Barber as Wendy Mankowicz
• Al Murray as Jon Westmore (Series 1) / Eddie Mount: Drummer (Series 2)
• Christopher Eccleston as Luke Dunmore
• Suranne Jones as Astrid Maddox Pern
• John Thomson as Perry Boothe
• Jane Asher as Cindi Pern
• Adam Longworth and Shelley Longworth as Tallow and Ripple Pern
• Denis Lawson as Barry Patmoor
• Alan Ford as 'Big' Basil Steel
• Simon Callow as Bennet St John
• Craig Christiaens as 'Drums'
• Angela Thorne and Peter Bowles as Brian Pern's parents

In addition to Gabriel's cameos, the series features a range of musicians playing themselves: Roger Taylor, Jools Holland, Rick Wakeman, Rick Parfitt, Chrissie Hynde, Tim Rice, Billy Bragg, Roy Wood, Paul Young, Mark King, Noddy Holder, Martin Kemp, Melanie Chisholm, Chas Hodges, and Dave Peacock.

The following actors and television or radio personalities have appeared as themselves in guest roles: Roger Moore, David Arnold, David Baddiel, Noel Edmonds, Miranda Sawyer, John Humphrys, Dan Cruickshank, Mike Read, Jack Whitehall, Martin Freeman, Kathy Burke, Alan Yentob, Paul Gambaccini, Tony Blackburn, Simon McCoy, Annie Nightingale, Dermot O'Leary, Kirsty Young, and Ian Wright.

Production

The commissioning of the series was announced by Janice Hadlow on 22 August 2013 at the Edinburgh International Television Festival under the name of Rock Ratatouille. The series is a BBC Comedy production.

Origins

Actor/writer Rhys Thomas created the character of Brian Pern in 2008 when he was asked by Simon Lupton, a commissioner in BBC Comedy to come up with an idea for the first batch of Online-Exclusive comedy sketches the BBC Comedy Website was developing. A fan of Peter Gabriel, Thomas was a frequent visitor to Gabriel's website where the singer would post a monthly video blog about his current projects. At this time other rock musicians from the same generation were doing the same, such as Brian May, Brian Eno and more. 'I wanted to write an affectionate parody of those super intelligent rock stars who were now in their Sixties and still working. Rock stars who had never really taken drugs or thrown televisions out of windows, who'd rather read National Geographic than Playboy. Who spent money saving the planet rather than a yachts or a classic car collection.'

Once the idea was commissioned, Thomas approached fellow Fast Show/Down the Line collaborator, Simon Day to play Brian Pern. Day was also a fan of Gabriel. Following a successful run on BBC Online, a second batch of sketches were commissioned. With a small increase in budget, extra cast members were brought in to play cast members. Lucy Montgomery as Majita (who would later become Pepita in the TV series) and Paul Whitehouse as guitarist Pat Quid (Thomas later cited he got the name from Stacy Keach's character in Roadgames. The relationship between Pat and Brian is based on that of David Gilmour and Roger Waters.

Thomas created the part of Brian's manager John Farrow for Michael Kitchen. Thomas had been developing a comedy drama for BBC One with Michael Kitchen and offered him the part in the second series of online specials of Brian Pern. He agreed. Thomas has stated in various interviews that John Farrow is an exaggerated version of Queen's manager, Jim Beach, whom Thomas had worked with for many years following his involvement with Queen.

Reception

Musician Peter Gabriel said of the series: "It made me laugh a lot, even though it was at my expense. I love to laugh. Spike Milligan was a hero to me and I was a big Fast Show fan, but I’m not sure that part of me comes across when I bore people about politics and social stuff. People can’t always see who you really are."

Episode list

#	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	UK viewers
1.1	"Birth of Rock"	Rhys Thomas	Rhys Thomas and Simon Day	10 February 2014 (2014-02-10)	600,000
1.2	"Middle Age of Rock"	Rhys Thomas	Rhys Thomas and Simon Day	17 February 2014 (2014-02-17)	680,000
1.3	"Death of Rock"	Rhys Thomas	Rhys Thomas and Simon Day	24 February 2014 (2014-02-24)	700,000
2.1	"Jukebox Musical"	Rhys Thomas	Rhys Thomas and Simon Day	9 December 2014 (2014-12-09)	800,000
2.2	"The Day Of The Triffids"	Rhys Thomas	Rhys Thomas and Simon Day	16 December 2014 (2014-12-16)	850,000
2.3	"Bi-Polar Polar Bear Aid"	Rhys Thomas	Rhys Thomas and Simon Day	22 December 2014 (2014-12-22)	1,100,000
3.1	"Festivals and Fans"	Rhys Thomas	Rhys Thomas and Simon Day	14 January 2016 (2016-01-14)	N/A
3.2	"Breaking America"	Rhys Thomas	Rhys Thomas and Simon Day	21 January 2016 (2016-01-21)	N/A
3.3	"The Thotch Reunion"	Rhys Thomas	Rhys Thomas and Simon Day	28 January 2016 (2016-01-28)	N/A
3.4	"Brian Pern at the BBC"	Rhys Thomas	Rhys Thomas	2016 (2016)	N/A

External links

• The Life of Rock with Brian Pern at BBC Programmes
• The Life of Rock with Brian Pern at British Comedy Guide
• The Life of Rock with Brian Pern at IMDb
• The Life of Rock with Brian Pern at Radio Times