With the trailer ready, it was time to promote our first crowdfunding campaign. We eventually raised about a third of that total (which is why we’ve launched a second to try and finish it off). It is such a difficult thing to ask people to help out with their own dosh (probably the most uncomfortable aspect of this project). On the first campaign we had such huge donations from a modest number of people, it was rather overwhelming how generous people were.

To ‘officially’ launch the crowdfunding I went on the Daily Rundown, filmed in Manchester and shown on networked regional TV in a couple of places.

I was on the train up from London to Liverpool when I got a message from Dave asking if we could hold the trailer back so he could clear a joke about Pat Sharp. Perfectly understandable, as this is not a series that takes the mickey out of anyone but ourselves. But I was a little panicked as without the trailer it was just me talking on the telly which no-one would want to see. Dave was absolutely fine, as he always is, as I reassured him that I would make it clear that Pat is a friend of his in real life and the animosity is entirely pretend.

Then problem number two: the studio couldn’t get the trailer from the original page. I was on the train with only a 3G connection – and if you’ve ever tried Virgin Trains wifi – you’ll appreciate uploading a multi-megabyte file isn’t possible before your final destination. So I hotfooted it of the train to a place of superfast wifi security and twenty minutes later headed out to Manchester.

Then problem number three: the trailer had some spelling mistakes on it. Not least of all, the wrong crowdfunding URL. My computer was not up to editing and I didn’t have time on the train – but the show must go on and all that.

So I went on TV and say “yes” a lot. Or so it seemed when I watched it back. There were a couple of moments that I didn’t quite know how to respond to. But I made it through a live appearance without swearing, blasphemy or saying anything grossly offensive. Which was something of an achievement in itself. Watch it here.

Isn't that Bill Bailey?

Jay Podmore edited the trailer and tried to Facetime me 200 miles away to see my reaction. But the wifi went down. And then the 3G took ages to load and then I had to go to the Tower of London.

As I stood in the Tower of London at a university commemoration event with a lot of important people with white, grey or no hair, all I could concentrate on was trying to download the trailer for our silly little webseries on my phone. Try and try again, it failed to load. Don’t go to the Tower of London for the 3G.

But all was not lost, I thought. No, this was no evening wasted. Because we were making a spoof documentary about a children’s TV presenter and lo and behold at this event was the queen of children’s TV, Biddy Baxter who edited Blue Peter 1965-1988. After a couple of glasses of something sparkling that I think was Prosecco, I went up to her. You see, in one of the later episodes of the webseries, I had written a Biddy Baxter reference where Dave did work experience for her. Fate had brought us together.
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I went up to Biddy Baxter with my friend whose Mum had worked with her in years past. But then disaster! She remembered my friend’s mum. But not Dave Benson Phillips! So a little cameo was not really on the cards. She was very friendly and encouraging, however, and very patient to speak to a silly idiot like myself.

But enough of this frivolity. I had a trailer to watch. I told my friends we had to leave this shindig of Blue Peter dignitaries and get to a place of wifi safety. We naturally retreated to Wertherpoons where I made each of my friends watch the trailer in turn with earphones in to gauge their reactions. It was at that point they each wondered why they were friends with me.

We released the first trailer on 1st April 2016. After 12pm but I think we all later thought this was a bit of a mistake as some people thought it wasn’t a spoof documentary but the whole project was a spoof. We did however get some mentions on Unilad, the Metro and the Bad Wilf podcast which was very nice of them.

There’s still no word on whether Biddy Baxter has seen it.

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In February 2016, six months after doing the Edinburgh Get Your Own Back Live show, we shot a pilot for this spoof documentary about TV presenter, Dave Benson Phillips. A simple storyline of Dave and Jay as Ryan Marten with a couple of appearances of me as Darren the work experience boy.

This was a task getting everyone together. We had a two day shoot planned but lost some people a few days before, found wonderful replacements but a two day shoot became a one day shoot. Fifteen pages in one day. With the crew travelling down to Surrey from Liverpool, via Wrexham. And back again. One day. Fifteen pages…

We were very generously allowed the use of a beautiful house in Surrey which became Dave’s new webseries home. I travelled down the night before and set up for our shoot starting at 9am.
8:15am. Ding dong. Who could that be? I thought, about to step into the shower. But no the refreshing Surrey water would have to wait. I went to the door to greet Dave Benson Phillips in a state of near undress in only a dressing gown. Me, not him. It wasn’t the start to the day I had planned but he was 45 minutes early! A true professional. Him, not me. A shower and a shave later, we got down to planning out the day.
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We filmed at almost impossible speed, in possibly one of the most genuinely enjoyable days I can remember. Pawan Mather and Roxanne Male joined us to crew and despite the time pressure we were under, we got everything filmed, minus a few extra shots. Our Little Britain style opening tracking shot of the house was not to be thanks to the uneven ground and declining light!

​This is a British comedy spoof documentary about characters trying to improve their status.
Dave Benson Phillips plays a version of himself as a man who dabbles in a number of projects. The character Ryan Marten is trying to claw back his lost internet fame. Work experience boy Darren wants to become a full time employee. They are trapped together by contractual arrangement and because they need each other to try and get anywhere.

Dave manages a vlogger, Ryan who soon plummets in popularity after misspeaking at an awards ceremony. The series is really about their dynamic with work experience boy Darren in the background trying to impress them both.

I have based in on a lot of the media coverage of Dave over the years which has often been of a tone but from Dave’s live show we participated in during the Edinburgh Festival in 2015, he jokes about lot of it on stage and so I felt confident writing to that. He is someone with a great sense of humour and so we play up gently on the media coverage of him – for example in response to lists about what he does, we have an ongoing gag of various companies he does.

I didn’t want it to be in anyway cynical – which is the sort of thing that’s been done before and done well. He isn’t playing himself – it’s not his real house, it’s not his real job and he’s most definitely a character. Sadly Dave has been targeted by internet trolls (with people saying he had died etc) and we reference that, I hope in a positive light.