BBC launches a bunch of nonsense movie history! It will explore the future of CGI and AI, while the screenwriter relentlessly mocks Sora for self-destruction

BBC comedy series Cunk on Cinema has been announced! Written with humor and satire, it comes at a perfect moment to look back on film history—because Sora AI has already ruined Hollywood and ruined itself. The show will explore the evolution from the camera to AI, continuing the classic laugh-out-loud style.

Cunk on Cinema, the film-history spoof series that’s set to win big, has been announced for production—just 37 years after the release of Belgium’s popular electronic dance track “Pump Up The Jam.”

BBC mockumentary film-history spoof Cunk on Cinema is in production!

International trade publication Variety and the BBC have both confirmed that the well-received BBC comedy mockumentary Cunk XX History series is getting a brand-new installment. The new work, Cunk on Cinema, is now in the production stage: a total of three-episode miniseries, with 30 minutes per episode. It will premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC Two, and will also be released to global audiences via Netflix.

Cunk on Cinema will once again star Diane Morgan as a straight-faced, yet utterly clueless fictional presenter, Philomena Cunk.

She will guide viewers in exploring humanity’s love for film, covering everything from the invention of the camera, to the French New Wave in the 1960s—before moving on to the birth of computer-generated imagery (CGI) and the future of artificial intelligence (AI).

She’ll also sit on lumpy, uneven seats and eat stale popcorn, trying to unravel film mysteries:

“When it comes to depicting the human condition, film has delivered many profound moments—for example, the shower scene in Psycho, that moment in a Swedish film where Death plays chess, and Tom Selleck’s gleaming mustache in Three Men and a Baby.” She also notes that the show inevitably includes some black-and-white footage, but the team will do its best to keep it to a minimum.

The moment Cunk on Cinema was born: Sora App ruined Hollywood—and ruined itself

As a work that looks back at film history, the creative motivation behind Cunk on Cinema is closely tied to recent technology-related news.

Charlie Brooker, the writer and executive producer, reveals that because the AI video generation tool Sora App has ruined Hollywood and ruined itself, this is now the perfect time to take a look back at 200 years of film history.

Brooker’s humorous comments respond to OpenAI’s recent decision to shut down Sora App.

After launching, Sora App quietly ended its run just six months later due to issues including slower-than-expected user growth, soaring compute costs, intense competition from rival products, and copyright disputes.

Sora had previously sparked strong backlash from the Screen Actors Guild and Hollywood film companies because of its ability to generate eerily realistic content. Disney (Disney), which had originally agreed with Sora that it could use some of its copyrighted material, has recently also pulled back an investment worth as much as $1 billion.

Image source: Sora 2 official website Cunk on Cinema: The moment it was born—Sora App ruined Hollywood—and ruined itself

Jon Petrie, director of BBC Comedy, said he is very much looking forward to Cunk on Cinema. He jokingly calls Philomena Cunk the BBC’s top-tier and most fearless documentary director—arguing that no one is better suited to investigate the world of film. He also believes the show has the potential to carry forward the success of the Cunk series.

Cunk XX History series explodes in popularity: The charm of delivering nonsense deadpan

The origins of the Cunk XX History series go back to 2018, when BBC aired Cunk on Britain. This was followed by Cunk on Planet Earth in 2022. Later, more installments rolled out, including Cunk on Shakespeare, Cunk on Christmas, and Cunk on Life.

In this series, the fictional documentary host, Philomena Cunk, delivers nonsense with a straight face and interrogates real experts with all kinds of bizarre questions—breaking the traditional impression of what documentaries are supposed to be. It’s become hugely popular with younger audiences. Diane Morgan—who plays the role—shot to fame thanks to this series, landing on Seth Meyers’ late-night show.

Image source: Netflix official images The female lead of the Cunk XX History series, Philomena Cunk, played by Diane Morgan

The series has also spawned countless running jokes. For instance, Cunk once asked Professor** whether King Arthur is “Came a lot”—but she was actually intentionally breaking down the fictional castle of Camelot.** The song “Pump Up The Jam,” which occasionally bursts in uninvited, along with the dramatic theme song Brush Strokes; Paul, her close friend, and her ex-boyfriend Sean, who are mentioned from time to time; or when she talks about the history of enslaved people being abused in European countries during her look-back segment:

“You might think the ‘get rid of the chains’ Rousseau was talking about refers to those people (slaves), but it doesn’t. Like many humanists, he found a loophole—if you don’t treat the slave as a person, you can ignore whether they live or die.”

Beyond those, the Cunk XX History series has also contributed plenty of standout performances. For example, in Cunk on Planet Earth, to recreate life in medieval castles, Cunk performs the entire segment using no props. And in Cunk on Life, she makes a Sesame Street-style English-language puppet animation to take a jab at Netflix.

In today’s media environment packed with self-proclaimed experts who often publish meaningless statements, audiences have long been tired of interviews that offer no value. Even though Cunk is only a fictional character, watching her challenge authority with ignorance actually brings modern people a brief and enjoyable sense of release.

And this time, what humorous commentary will Cunk on Cinema bring us—and what jokes will it create by riding the wave of generative AI video trends? Viewers can’t wait for it.