Philomena Cunk Just Scored a Surprise Season 3

Well, here’s one way to keep things fresh. Philomena Cunk—the fictional, dead-eyed, blissfully clueless faux-documentarian played by Diane Morgan—is coming back for another round. Yes, even after skewering British history, humanity as a whole, and, briefly, the entire meaning of existence, Cunk is back to tackle a new topic: movies themselves.

The Cunk Franchise Continues…with a Twist

This time, the new series is called Cunk on Cinema. The big wrinkle: it’s being billed as a proper third season, not just a one-off. It’ll air on the BBC for folks in the UK and Ireland, and stream worldwide on Netflix. Apparently, Netflix and the BBC looked at the success of Cunk on Britain and Cunk on Earth (and that oddball 2024 special Cunk on Life) and figured, hey, why not throw movies into Cunk’s blender of absurdity?

What’s Cunk on Cinema Actually About?

So, what do you actually get here? Per the official description, Cunk will step into the world of film criticism—meaning, she’ll be eating popcorn in saggy theater seats and asking her usual style of genius-level dumb questions, like 'Where did cinema come from?' and 'Why? What does it want? And why can’t it just tell us?'

If that sounds a little high-concept, well, it is. But Cunk’s entire shtick is to deflate that pomposity. The show promises, among other things, to celebrate (or roast?) some of film’s greatest moments—with a list that includes the shower scene from 'Psycho,' Death and his chess board in 'that Swedish thing,' and, just for the chaos of it, Tom Selleck’s moustache in 'Three Men And A Little Lady.' (Honestly, I’d watch three episodes just on that stache.)

'There will, unfortunately, be some bits in black and white, but we'll keep that to the barest minimum,' Cunk assures us. If you needed a show that’s deadly serious about not taking cinema history too seriously—well, you’re in luck.

The Brains (and Deadpan) Behind Cunk

Diane Morgan returns to play Cunk, as always, with Charlie Brooker (yep, the Black Mirror guy) also back on board as co-creator. Brooker, not wanting to miss a chance to take a swipe at modern Hollywood, joked that 'now that Sora has killed off Hollywood and itself, it’s time for Cunk to explore cinema.' (If you’re not up on your AI drama: Sora is OpenAI’s super-advanced video generator that’s supposedly going to make movies obsolete—at least in the clickbait headlines.)

A Quick Recap for the Uninitiated

• Cunk on Britain (2018): Cunk takes a sledgehammer to the idea of British history.
• Cunk on Earth (2022): The whole of human civilization, through the eyes of a woman who once asked, 'Is time real, or did we just make it up because of clocks?'
• Cunk on Life (2024): A one-off special that went... exactly as you’d expect, if you’re familiar with the character.
• Cunk on Cinema (TBD): Coming soon, and apparently 'the most glamorous series to date.' Sure, why not?

There’s no official word yet on a release date, but if you’re a fan of deadpan Q&As that make experts wish they’d called in sick, keep an eye out. Cunk is about to subject the world of movies to the same glorious nonsense as everything else she’s touched.