Season 1 • Episode 6
LatestMedia frenzy is quick to follow after reports emerge of an apparent hijack of an American passenger flight bound for Amsterdam. This live breaking story dominates the running orders of the world's news networks. In other news: An injunction has been served on Josh Cashman.
Broken News is a comedy programme shown on BBC Two in autumn 2005 and in Australia on SBS-TV from the 17 July 2006. The show poked fun at the world of 24-hour rolling news channels. The title of the show is a play on the phrase "breaking news". The show jump cut between its various spoof TV channels, which covered both the central story and other stories that would be of interest to their audience. A large part of the comedy came from observations about the nature of news presentation rather than the stories themselves.
Writing
Razor-sharp satire that predicted 2020s media hellscape.
Acting
Pre-fame Cumberbatch doing frantic news anchor cosplay.
Editing
Seizure-inducing jump cuts between fake channels.
Benedict Cumberbatch
Will Parker
Claudia Christian
Julia Regan - IBS
Duncan Duff
Richard Pritchard - ESN
Sharon Horgan
Katie Tate - ESN
Colin Stinton
Anthony Markovitz
Steve Toussaint
Adam Lockwood
Indira Varma
Melanie Bellamy
Philip Brodie
Colin Kay - So News
Tom Goodman-Hill
Guy Batson - Go Sports
Sarah Hadland
Claire - Traffic Reports
Pip Torrens
Sam French - Bullet Points Presenter
Darren Boyd
Nick Burham
Nicola Walker
Katie Willard
Clare Wille
Frances Walsh
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Aired months before YouTube launched, yet perfectly predicted algorithm-driven content fragmentation.
Sharon Horgan and John Morton later collaborated on 'W1A,' essentially this show's spiritual successor at the BBC.
No ratings yet
Sign in to join the discussion — comments are spoiler-gated to your watch progress.
Discussion starters
GB
