UK TV

Hmm. Kröd Mändoon and the Flaming Sword of Fire. There’s a title to conjure with.

It’s a comedy produced by BBC2 in the UK and Comedy Central in the US and stars Sean Maguire of The Class and Meet the Spartans and Matt Lucas of Little Britain fame, as well as a predominantly British cast (putting on US accents in some cases). Parodying fantasy novels and TV shows, there’s a touch of Monty Python and the Holy Grail about it and it’s premiering on both channels this month:

The series, set in an ancient fantasy realm, follows reluctant hero Kröd Mändoon, a “thin-skinned and underconfident freedom fighter” in his struggle against the evil ruler, Chancellor Dongalor.

I’ve turfed up some previews and interviews for you, so you can see what you think of it. Looks a bit silly and some of the jokes fell flat, but it did make me laugh, so could be promising. More info at the Comedy Central web site.

Cast

• Sean Maguire as Kröd Mändoon: “The reluctant leader of a rag tag band of inept freedom fighters toiling away in obscurity”
• Matt Lucas as Chancellor Dongalor: “The lovably sociopathic Chancellor of the lowly province of Hessemeel”
• India de Beaufort as Aneka: A “beautiful pagan warrioress whose weapon of choice is sex”
• Steve Speirs as Loquasto: An oafish servant, “who belongs to a race of pig-like creatures known as Grobble”
• Kevin Hart as Zezelryck: A young warlock, “whose greatest magical gift is spinning a line”
• Marques Ray as Bruce: “The jailhouse lover of Kröd’s late mentor, General Arcadius”
• John Rhys-Davies as Grimshank: The leader of the resistance
• James Murray as Longshaft
• Alex MacQueen as Barnabus

It’s a weird world at ABC. They cancel shows like Eli Stone and Pushing Daisies, but despite still having episodes in the can, they’re not going to bother airing them except at some indeterminate point in the future, probably while everyone’s on their summer vacations. Which means we in the UK get to see them first.

Eli Stone – which probably deserved to die judging by its descent into silliness without the depth, pathos or George Michael of season one to justify it – has been having a couple of reunions over on the SciFi Channel in the UK.

Victor Garber and Kerr Smith, who appeared together over on Justice before it got cancelled, have been in more or less every episode that hasn’t been aired in the US – although you never see them together, the unlucky, cursed guys.

Meanwhile, Murder One lovers will delighted to hear that Daniel Benzali has been temporarily reunited with the law to appear as a judge.

Just thought I’d mention it.