³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

We've got some very exciting programmes to tell you about including some really great new comedies....

LIFE STORY
Fans of Pulling actress will love this new prison based sitcom Life Story as it means Sharon's back on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three. This time she's playing Helen Stephens, who's been wrongly imprisoned for murdering her boss. Her release looks increasingly unlikely as her family and friends don't seem keen on helping her get out. Her younger sister Laura has moved into her flat and taken her place in the pub quiz team. Her fiancé and alibi, Justin, is relieved as it means he won't have to face up to dumping her and the weirdo from work, Henry, is beginning to realise his weekly prison visits are the only guaranteed way to spend time with her. And that's before we even mention her more than useless lawyer.




WILFRED
Next up is something for all you fans of - yes, Frodo from Lord of The Rings is coming to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three! In this new series Elijah plays Ryan, a struggling lawyer who strikes up a friendship with his neighbour's dog. The thing is, he's the only one who doesn't just see a pet pooch but a rude, surly Australian bloke in a cheap dog suit. Sounds interesting and it's sure to be funny as it was adapted from the original Australian series by David Zuckerman, who worked on Family Guy, American Dad and King of The Hill.

OTHER BRILLIANT COMEDIES COMING BACK...
You love 'em, we love 'em and so we're bringing them back. White Van Man starring Will Mellor and written by comedian Adrian Poynton has been recommissioned. And the brilliant Him & Her featuring Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani has just finished filming and will be back later this year. And those rude, crude and hilarious puppets Mongrels will also be back for another series.



We'll be bringing you photos and news from the set of Mongrels soon on the blog, so watch out for that.

MORE NEW SHOWS
Other programmes coming to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three soon include Up For Hire Live, a whole week of documentaries and live discussions tracking four young people as they attempt to get a job and explore the job market. One-off documentaries include: Mixed up in The Middle East which will follow the journey of Reya who's half-Jewish and half-Arabic as she attempts to understand how the conflict affects her cousins on both side of the divide, and Britain You're Welcome To It which focuses on a group of Eastern European immigrants during their initial few weeks in England.

And last but not least, series 2 of Lip Service is filming now in Glasgow.

Today, I can officially confirm that Angry Boys will start at 10.40pm on Tuesday 7th June. And the best thing is, we'll be launching with a double bill of the new comedy from Summer Heights High creator .

Last week on the blog, we introduced you to some of the characters plays in the show with clips of South Australian twins Daniel and Nathan. Here's a look at some of the other brilliant characters from Angry Boys:

S. MOUSE

By the end of the summer, S. mouse will (probably) be everyone's favourite rapper. Watch out for his brilliant music videos for tracks like 'Slap My Elbow' (which made him a superstar) and the controversial 'Poo on You'.

JEN OKAZAKI

My personal favourite is the formidable Jen. Barely concealed beneath her polite and softly-spoken exterior is her steely ambition to turn son Tim into the most successful skateboarder Japan has ever seen. She soon realises that he'll be more successful as a 'cute' Japanese boy who's proud to be gay.

BLAKE OAKFIELD

Champion surfer Blake is the founder of the Mucca Mad boys, a 'gang' that protects the beaches in Narmucca Bay from their rivals the Fennel Hell Men.

He has no balls after his testicles were shot during a gang fight.









RUTH 'GRAN' SIMS

The grandmother of twins Daniel and Nathan, 'Gran' is a prison officer at a juvenile justice centre for teenage boys. She tries to cheer up the inmates with her homemade superhero pyjamas, song nights and trips to see her 23 guinea pigs.

So not long to wait now comedy fans and keep checking the Angry Boys website as we'll be adding lots of clips.

• Angry Boys website
• Watch clips of Angry Boys characters Nathan and Daniel

Add your comment.

We're all very excited here at ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three HQ about the brilliant and outrageous new comedy Angry Boys. It's written and performed by Australian comedian , who you might know from the excellent Summer Heights High that we showed on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three in 2008.

Angry Boys is a hilarious mockumentary which explores the issues faced by young males today. As in Summer Heights High, Chris Lilley stars as multiple characters including S. Mouse, a deluded American rapper, champion surfer Blake Oakfield and Ruth 'Gran' Sims a guard at a juvenile detention facility. And these amazing twins Daniel and Nathan Sims...



The twins live in Dunt, Southern Australia where they skate, hang out with their mates and do 'mainees' in the street in their mum's car. They also give their mum's new boyfriend Steve a really hard time...



Aside from the twins, one of my favourite characters in Angry Boys has to be cruel and manipulative Jen, who is the pushy mother of Japanese/American skateboarder Tim "I'm Gay" Okazaki. She's also the founder of the "Gaystyle Enterprises" empire - trust me, wait until you see the merchandise!

We'll have photos and clips of all the characters on the Angry Boys website soon.

Angry Boys starts on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three in June.

Add your comment.

We know that lots of you had to wait patiently for Family Guy to start last night following Lady Gaga's late arrival on stage at ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 1's Big Weekend. To say thank you, today we thought we'd share not one, but two new preview clips from this Sunday's Family Guy episodes.

This clip from Baby, You Knock Me Out is...well it's just plain wrong. You'll see what I mean..."Moo for me"...



Hee hee! Can't wait to see the rest of that on Sunday. And in this clip from Halloween on Spooner Street, Stewie tries to take on some young villains with a bazooka.



Don't miss both of these episodes on Sunday night from 10pm. And if you missed last night's new Family Guy episodes they'll be repeated this Saturday from 11.35pm.

• Find out when to watch new and classic episodes on the Family Guy website
• Tell us who's your favourite Family Guy character

Add your comment.

Hello, I'm Gav. I'm the bloke who talks between the programmes on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three. Occasionally the bosses let us out of our cupboard - sorry I mean studio - to go and visit some of our shows. So I went along to watch Russell Howard's Good News being recorded last week. This is what happened...

6:25PM - THE AUDIENCE QUEUE
The MASSIVE queue weaves around the back of the studio, through an alley and right out onto another street. Just because you have a ticket doesn't mean you're guaranteed a seat. TV shows always give away more as they're free, and inevitability people won't show. The studio has a maximum capacity of 310 and I'm told they've had up to 1,500 people in the queue before! The people at the front have been there for almost 6 hours - crazy kids!

7.20PM - WARMUP
Every TV show recording has a warm up act and Russell Howard has a very funny stand up comedian called . Yes, that is his actual name! He is brilliant. Not only does Ray warm up the audience, he then gives a health and safety announcement, says what to do if there's a fire, reads a bit of legal blurb about being filmed, warns people not to stand up as they'll get decapitated by a jib (a camera on a big crane) - and he has to make it all funny! I can tell this is going to be a good audience, the laughs already are the loudest I've ever heard at a Russell Howard recording - they're well up for it!

7:30PM - RUSSELL COMES ON
Bang on time, Russell comes out and the audience goes crazy. He says hello, has a little bit of a chat and we're off! He explains when the show starts, they play the opening titles as you see on the TV at home but he always feels a bit awkward at this point, as this means he has to just stand on stage doing nothing! He does do some type of rude dance, too rude to mention here though...!

The set itself is actually made of different things, including cardboard boxes stacked up (you may have seen Russell falling through them earlier in the series)! These are all white and they project images onto them that represent the stories.

7:32PM - THE SHOW BEGINS!
The titles roll, the audience cheer and Russell Howard's Good News Episode 7 - Series 4 is go! When you think about it there's quite a lot to get through news-wise this week with the Royal wedding, Osama Bin Laden finally losing the world's longest game of hide and seek and the fact I've finally purchased a dishwasher. To be honest I don't think he'll be mentioning my dishwasher.

Here's something he did mention though, a crime fighting Ninja...



8:19PM - GOOD NEWS STORY
We move on to my favourite part of the show. I think it's really brave for a comedy show to have a story that is not for laughs - it's what makes this part so strong. This week is a lovely story about a man who takes part in triathlons with his brother who can't walk or talk. A nice warm feeling of love and happiness fills the studio. Beautiful.

8:22PM - END OF SHOW... OR IS IT?
After the Good News story Russell says bye, the audience clap and on your TV this is where the show ends but they don't roll the credits or the music in the studio. This is beacause things aren't over yet as they've still got to shoot the Mystery Guest and the Stand Up Guest. Things aren't filmed in the same order that you finally watch them on telly.

8:24PM - QUESTIONS, MYSTERY GUESTS & THE FINAL BITS
In the short time between sections, Russell answers questions from the audience. We learn what Russell likes playing computer games, he reveals his favourite guest from this series was William Hanson from Episode 6, says his favourite stand up comedian is and even finds time to give out autographs and hugs for the audience. It's a shame some of these bits won't make it to the show!

Tonight we are getting to see two mystery guests as they're shooting another one for the compilation Best Bits show too. And if you watch Russell Howard's Good News Extra on Saturday night - you'll know there's a stand up from the comedy circuit, personally selected by Russell. This week is a guy called Gareth Richard. If you're a fan of Family Guy and just love humour that goes off on a tangent (like me!) you will love this guy!

Then there's just time to record the 'pick ups' (which are the lines they want Russell to re-do) and also some quick links for the Best Bits show. Finally the 'trail' - the little advert that goes out before the show on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three. It has to be 15 seconds exactly, but Russell boshes it off in one take - what a pro!

10:00PM - IT'S A WRAP!
Episode 7 done! Russell thanks everyone and the audience go on their merry way, very happy.

10:10PM - THE AFTERSHOW PARTY
Lucky me - my VIP pass lets me back into the holding area with the performers and crew. Drinks, nibbles and everyone seems really pleased. Not only with this show but the series as a whole. I honestly think Series 4 has been the best so far. Talking to people on the show - as much as they love it - they seem pretty relieved it's now all finished and they can have a break! For Russell and the team who come up with the ideas and jokes it's pretty full on for the entire time the show is in production and takes over their lives.

I met Russell at a previous record. It was a very weird experience when the team found out I was the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three announcer I had about half a dozen people from the show gathered around me, including Russell - and they were getting me to do links live, like some kind of 'Announcing Monkey'. I think Russell genuinely found this a little exciting.......or weird!

Now ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three blog fans, I feel this is where I feel I've let you down. Obviously it would have been great to have a photo of Russell and I - but what I didn't realise is that even though he's just finished recording the show, he has to go off and do some editing.

Instead you'll have to make do with this picture of me with , and - they're the programme associates and along with Russell come up with ideas for the show. They're all stand up comics and are all very funny, you may have even seen some of them as stand up guests before on Good News Extra.

So there you go that's what happens when you go to see Russell Howard's Good News - it's great but as you can tell, a highly sought after one to attend. You can understand why though. Russell has sell-out live stand up shows but for free you can see two hours of fresh new material....and even possibly be on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three!

You can watch Russell Howard's Good News Best Bits tonight at 10.30pm and you can see the show that I watched being recorded, episode 7, online now.

And if you want to apply to see any ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ TV shows visit the Shows, Tours & Events website.

You can hear Gav announcing programmes on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three. Except when it's a woman, then that's Collette.

• Watch more clips on Russell Howard's Good News website

Missed out on tickets to ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 1's Big Weekend in Carlisle? Don't worry, you can still join in by attending one of the events we're holding in Middlesbrough and Liverpool on Sunday 15th May.

From 7pm local ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Introducing bands will be performing on stage. Then at 9pm we'll be beaming Lady Gaga's headline set from Carlisle onto the Big Screens LIVE as it happens.

LIVERPOOL
Where? in Chavasse Park, L1 8LT. Who's playing on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Introducing Stage? , and The Battleships.

MIDDLESBROUGH
Where? , TS1 2AZ.
Who's playing on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Introducing stage? and

There are no tickets to worry about, so you can just turn up and the best thing is it's all FREE!!

If you want to watch all the action from the comfort of your sofa, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three's coverage of Radio 1's Big Weekend is on telly from 7pm on Saturday 14th May presented by Fearne and Reggie. So don't miss Tinie Tempah and the Foo Fighters on Saturday before we all go Gaga on Sunday.

Go to the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 1's Big Weekend website for details of all the acts performing in Carlisle.

For more information about the events in Liverpool and Middlesbrough visit the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Big Screen website.

Add your comment.

Woohoo it's finally here! The new series of Family Guy starts on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three this Sunday and to celebrate we're bringing you a whole weekend of Family Guy fun. There's a brand new programme looking at Family Guy's Groundbreaking Gags narrated by comedian Robert Webb and featuring a host of British comic talent including Paul O'Grady, Shappi Khorsandi and Blake Harrison. And you'll be able to watch a whole bunch of classic episodes back-to-back from 9.45pm on Saturday and 10.50pm on Sunday night. All riiiiight!

Here's a little look at what you can expect in the first new hilarious episode And Then There Were Fewer.

As you can see, the Griffins and residents of Quahog are invited to a mansion for a weekend retreat...

..but things soon become a real murder mystery when guests end up dead...

...and everyone tries to figure out whodunnit. It's gonna be AMAZING! I cannot wait.

You can watch Family Guy's Groundbreaking Gags at 9.30pm this Sunday and the new series of Family Guy starts at 10pm Sunday.

• See the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 1 Chris Moyles team as Family Guy characters
• Tell us who's your favourite Family Guy character

Add your comment.

A vote on the way we vote. That's what people across the UK will get in a referendum on Thursday 5 May. This is our chance to decide how we elect our MPs in General Elections. Should we keep our current system of First Past The Post (FPTP) or replace it with the Alternative Vote (AV)? We'll be discussing the issue tonight on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three in a special live edition of Young Voters' Question Time at 8pm, so let's take a closer look at AV. This short video shows how it works.



But why are we being asked to choose now?
Well, it was all part of the deal when the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats formed their coalition government last year. The Lib Dems have been calling for a change to the voting system for some time now, but the Conservatives are strongly against it. The issue's causing friction within the Labour party too. Labour Leader Ed Miliband is backing the Yes campaign, but his party aren't united - with many senior figures against AV. You can find more on what the larger parties think in this ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News guide on where the parties stand.

THE CASE FOR AV
"In a democracy you should make your MPs work harder for your vote to try and at least get majority support in their local area. That, in a nutshell, is what AV does." Nick Clegg

The main points from the are:

• Too many votes are wasted under FPTP because you only get one choice. They claim that two-thirds of our current MPs got elected with less than half the voters supporting them.
• Politicians would have to work harder under AV. They'd have to appeal to more voters in order to pick up second and third choice preferences.
• More people are likely to vote because they'll get a bigger say in picking their MP.
• AV is a tried and tested system - used in many businesses, trade unions and political parties - it's even used to pick the best film at the Oscars.

THE CASE AGAINST AV
"The biggest danger right now is that Britain sleep walks into this second rate system. Waking up on May the 6th with a voting system that damages our democracy." David Cameron

The main points from the are:

• FPTP is simple and fair - one person, one vote.
• AV is complex and unfair - a candidate who comes second or third may end up elected.
• Our current system is the most widely used in the world because it generally leads to more stable governments. AV is only used in three countries - Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.
• AV would lead to more hung parliaments, resulting in more 'backroom deals and broken promises'.

So, with just a couple of days to go before the big vote, we want to know your thoughts on this. Are you happy with the way we vote in the UK or has our current system had its day? Let us know what you think.

You can watch Young Voters' Question Time presented by Richard Bacon live on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three at 8pm tonight. On the panel supporting the Yes vote are Conservative MP Nick Boles, Labour MP Tristram Hunt and Constitutional Historian Dr David Starkey. Saying No to AV are Labour MP Rushanara Ali, Lib Dem MP Don Foster and New Statesman journalist and blogger Laurie Penny.

If you're on , you can join the debate online during the show - don't forget to use the hashtag #YVQT.

Find out more about the referendum on the following websites:

• ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News: Alternative Vote
• ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 1 Newsbeat

Journalist Sam Naz presents the 60seconds news on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Three.

Add your comment.