Philomena Cunk, the deadpan spoof documentarian played by Diane Morgan, is returning to television to examine cinema in a new three-part series, The Guardian reports. The character, created by Morgan and Charlie Brooker, first appeared 13 years ago as a segment on Brooker's Weekly Wipe and has since grown into one of British television's most recognised comic figures. The new run, titled Cunk on Cinema, follows earlier outings in which she covered Britain, the wider world and life itself.
In the new series, according to The Guardian, Cunk treats film as humanity's finest accomplishment and as a place where men behave heroically, women pair off with those men, and characters never need a toilet break — unless the film is a niche Japanese production. The Guardian reports that the programme promises answers to questions such as why "Citizen Ken" keeps carrots in his pockets, where the word "auteur" originates, and how Benedict Cumberbatch responds when asked who he is.
Why it matters
The return of Cunk is notable because the character has outlasted the sketch format that produced her. What began as a short segment has become a recurring franchise with its own following, and the shift in subject from national history and philosophy to the movies places the character in front of an industry that the show's creators are openly sceptical about. The Guardian's interview with Morgan and Brooker also ties the series to a wider conversation about artificial intelligence, a subject Brooker has explored extensively in his drama work.
A busy period for both creators
The Guardian reports that Brooker is preparing a new detective comedy called Blackmere for Netflix, expected early next year. He described it as being in the spirit of Airplane! and The Naked Gun. Brooker said the title would eventually irritate him and that the fault was entirely his own, explaining that it reflects how Americans pronounce "Black Mirror" and that he thought it made a good name for a police officer.
Morgan, meanwhile, has had a strong run. Her sitcom Ann Droid, in which she plays a robotic care assistant, drew strong reviews, and she recently took part in five episodes of Prime Video's Last One Laughing. She told The Guardian that people assumed Cunk was good preparation for a show built around not laughing, but that in reality she does break up during interviews and those moments are simply edited out.
The Guardian also reports that Morgan recently drew online attention for a conversation with Jennifer Lopez at the Stella McCartney show in Paris. Morgan said she mentioned that she used to perform stand-up with Brett Goldstein, who had just made a film with Lopez, and that she had enjoyed it. Brooker teased her over the exchange.
Robots, Kanye West and the limits of imagination
Brooker told The Guardian that his most unexpected encounter was a dinner with Kanye West a couple of years ago. He said West had wanted to meet because he admired an episode of Black Mirror — Metalhead, which features Maxine Peake and a robotic dog — and that he came away from the evening concerned about West's wellbeing.
The robot dog prompted a disagreement between the two. Morgan objected to the idea of a mechanical pet in place of a rescue animal, while Brooker argued that a robot would not die, and that he avoids keeping pets in London because he becomes upset in advance at the thought of losing them.
That exchange led into a discussion of aphantasia, the inability to form mental images. Morgan asked Brooker about it, noting he had previously told her he could not picture things. Brooker said that when he tries to visualise a blue horse, he does not see one, and that it feels more as though his mind is describing it to him. Morgan said her own image was vivid and detailed, complete with reins and facial expressions, and performed an impression of the horse for him.
Brooker pushed back on the idea that he lacks imagination, pointing to his dreams, including one in which a reel-change marker appeared as though he were watching an old film on television. He suggested that different brains operate in different ways, comparing them to rival computer systems. Morgan countered with the case of a man who reached his forties before discovering he had been living with only half a brain and working as an accountant, and suggested that a brain may function more like an aerial, with people effectively connected to something outside themselves.
The Guardian's interview also touches on the pair's worst jobs and their views on artificial intelligence, with the headline quoting a suggestion about taking an Alexa speaker into the garden and destroying it with a shoe. The discussion of AI arrives as the technology becomes a central question for film and television production, and as Brooker's own work continues to examine the relationship between people and machines.
Cunk on Cinema is a three-part series. The Guardian's interview was published on 1 November 2026, and trailers for the series have been released. Viewers can watch for the new episodes and for Blackmere, Brooker's Netflix detective comedy, which he says will arrive early next year.
