Mock the Week star admits harsh filming reality that drained BBC cast

Comedian Mark Watson lifted the lid on what it was like to work on different BBC shows. Mark, 45, burst onto the comedy circuit in the early 2000s and became a regular panellist on shows including Never Mind the Buzzcocks, QI, Who Said That?, Guessable, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Have I Got News For You, Mock The Week and Would I Lie to You?

Mark made several appearances on these programmes between 2010 and 2015, and admitted he was lucky to feature on them when he did.

Speaking exclusively to Express Online, 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 programme 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. But this meant energy levels amongst both the cast and audience would gradually drop.

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.

Hosted by Dara Ó Briain, Mock the Week ran for 21 series before it was axed by the BBC in 2022. It became known for its quick-witted satirical takes on the week's news headlines, however, due to the rise of social media, Mark believes shows like this are less relevant now.

The star divulged: "A lot of craft goes into those shows. Partly because of social media, they seem a bit less relevant now. Everyone's used to having instant reactions to things. By the time a new story breaks, there has been about 12 funny takes on it. The era of waiting three days to find out what comedians think about something is gone for now."

He added: "I was on quite a lot of TV at a time when comedy was really exploding in those formats. Now I think it's harder for people to make their reputation through telly because I don't think people watch it in the same way anymore. People tend to watch TV in their own time and topical shows don't have the same kick anymore."

Aside from comedy, Mark is also a successful author, having written eight novels and one non-fiction book. Speaking about his latest project, Mark admitted: "This one took ages to write. It's set in the summer of 2021 when it was slightly pandemic influenced. I started writing it a few months after that so it's been almost three years.

"The main character is a delivery rider because those were almost the only people you saw for a while during the pandemic. I started to think about how weird it is that we've got so used to having everything delivered whenever we wanted and I wanted to write something about the people who are sort of invisible and our relationship with them."

He added: "I hope this appeals to people who like my stand-up but still feels different from the stuff I do on stage."

One Minute Away is available to buy now.