BBC Mock the Week confirms major comeback four years after heartbreaking axe

Mock the Week was pulled off the airwaves four years ago, but now the BBC panel show is set to make a major comeback next year. The satirical news commentary show, which catapulted the careers of Hugh Dennis, Frankie Boyle, and Russell Howard, is set to return to the channel in 2026.

First appearing on our screens back in 2005, the show takes a light-hearted look at the news each week and soon became a staple on the broadcaster. The thirty-minute comedy show finally ended in 2022 after 17 years, but now it's been confirmed that it is returning to the silver screen. This time, the show will be broadcast on TLC, as the channel becomes free-to-air in the UK in January 2026, bringing even more scripted and non-scripted content with it.

A statement from Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed that the show's return, which will be produced by Angst Productions, would give the "much-loved" programme a "new look". The news of the cast is yet to be confirmed, but fans are hoping to see Hugh, Frankie, Russell, and fellow comic Andy Parsons back on our screens once more.

TLC is a successful TV channel in the US, which Warner Bros. Discovery recently decided to launch on Freeview in the UK, axing HGTV at the same time. The launch of TLC in the UK will also feature scripted content such as The Big Bang Theory and its long-running comedy drama spin-off, Young Sheldon.

The news comes after funnyman Mark Watson revealed what it was like to work on popular BBC panel shows such as Never Mind the Buzzcocks, QI, Have I Got News For You, and Mock the Week. Mark made several appearances on the programmes between 2010 and 2015 and admitted he was lucky to feature on them early in his career.

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Mark said: "I was really lucky with the timing of it. I was on a lot of those shows between 2010 and 2015, which was the best time to be on it in a way because so many people were watching terrestrial TV in those days."

While the comic performances seemed effortless on screen, plenty of preparation went into the topical shows beforehand. He continued: "There's loads of prep. In the more topical shows, there does tend to be a lot of preparing gags and vying to get them in.

"There's quite a bit of skilled editing as the recordings are always quite long, much longer than people would imagine. The edits make it look half an hour of pure gold, which it rarely is."

Mark revealed that Mock the Week had a longer filming period than other shows, with the cast in the studio for up to three hours. However, this meant that energy levels between the cast and the audience gradually dropped throughout the show.

The author said: "It was a lot of time for an audience to be sitting around and listening to it. You could feel the energy drop out of the room. There were definitely recordings where you felt that people had nothing more to give, but the magic of editing is that they could just boost the laughter levels, so you'd never know from watching that the audience were slightly exhausted by that point."