''Famalam'' is a British

sketch Sketch or Sketches may refer to: * Sketch (drawing), a rapidly executed freehand drawing that is not usually intended as a finished work Arts, entertainment and media * Sketch comedy, a series of short scenes or vignettes called sketches Fil ...

show starring primarily

black British Black British people or Black Britons"Black Briton, N." ''Oxford English Dictionary''. Oxford UP. December 2024. https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/1136579918. are a multi-ethnic group of British people of List of ethnic groups of Africa, Sub-Saharan ...

comedians. The

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

first aired in September 2017, with the first series starting in April 2018. A second and third series were then released in late March 2019 and August 2020 respectively.

Sketches

*Fantastic Egusi – a spoof of low-budget

Nollywood Nollywood, a portmanteau of Nigeria and Hollywood, is a sobriquet that originally referred to the Nigerian film industry. The origin of the term goes back to the early 2000s, traced to an article in ''The New York Times''. Due to the history ...

films from Nigeria. *Midsomer Motherfuckin' Murders – a spoof of rural-set British detective programme ''

Midsomer Murders ''Midsomer Murders'' is a British Mystery fiction, mystery television series, adapted by Anthony Horowitz and Douglas Watkinson from the novels in the ''Chief Inspector Barnaby'' book series created by Caroline Graham (writer), Caroline Graham. ...

'', but with Moses Mountree, a parody of 1970s American

Blaxploitation In American cinema, Blaxploitation is the film subgenre of action movie derived from the exploitation film genre in the early 1970s, consequent to the combined cultural momentum of the black civil rights movement, the black power movement, ...

detectives. *Scribbler P – a

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicl ...

MC whose tracks are about Black history. *Professor Lofuko – a

witch doctor A witch doctor (also spelled witch-doctor), or witchcraft doctor, is a kind of magical healer who treats ailments believed to be caused by witchcraft. The term is often misunderstood, and they could more accurately be called "anti-witch doctors ...

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

Reception

The show was described as "a sublime achievement of satire" by Sean O'Grady of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'', who likened it to ''

The Fast Show ''The Fast Show'', also known as ''Brilliant'' in the United States, is a BBC comedy sketch show that ran on BBC Two, BBC 2 from 1994 to 1997, with specials in 2000 and 2014. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Si ...

'', ''

Little Britain Little Britain may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Little Britain'' (TV series), a British radio and then television series ** '' Little Britain USA'', an American spin-off * "Little Britain", a song by Dreadzone from the 1995 album ''Second ...

'' and 1990s sketch show '' Goodness Gracious Me'', the last of which had a primarily

British Asian British Asians (also referred to as Asian Britons) are British people of Asian people, Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with a population of 5.76 million people or 8.6 ...

cast and themes. Hannah J. Davies of

Refinery29 Refinery29 (R29) is an American multinational digital media and entertainment website focused on young women. It is owned by Sundial Media Group. History Justin Stefano, Philippe von Borries, Piera Gelardi, and Christene Barberich co-founded Ref ...

praised the series for the variety in its humour, as well as the perspectives from its 50% female cast. In August 2020, the show and the BBC were criticised for a sketch involving a Jamaican version of ''Countdown''. Historian

Paul Gilroy Paul Gilroy (born 16 February 1956) is an English sociologist and cultural studies scholar who is the founding Director of the Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Race and Racism at University College London (UCL). Gilroy is the 2019 ...

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

and the Global Jamaica Diaspora Council criticised the sketch for perpetuating stereotypes of Jamaicans as hypersexual, simple minded and drug-using. The BBC and ''Famalam'' actor Tom Moutchi defended the show as an exploration of stereotypes from a black perspective.

Nominations

Samson Kayo Samson Kayo (born 1991/1992) is a British actor, producer and writer. He was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Male Comedy Performance in 2018 for the BBC sketch show '' Famalam'' (2017–2020). He created, wrote and s ...

was nominated for Best Male Comedy Performance at the

2018 British Academy Television Awards The 2018 British Academy Television Awards took place on 13 May 2018 at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The nominations were announced on 4 April, with ''Line of Duty'' leading with four awards. ''Black Mirror'', ''The Crown'' and '' Three Gir ...

, while

Gbemisola Ikumelo Gbemisola Ikumelo is a British actress, comedian and writer. She has won a BAFTA award for her short ''Brain in Gear'' and best female comedy performance from the Royal Television Society for her role in her show '' Famalam''. Life and career Ik ...

was nominated in the female equivalent in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

. At the

Royal Television Society Awards The Royal Television Society Programme Awards, (often referred to as the RTS Awards) seek to recognise programmes or individuals who have made a positive and material contribution to their genre: either because their content or originality in for ...

, the series was nominated for Scripted Comedy and Kayo was nominated for Comedy Performance: Male in 2019. In 2021, Ikumelo won the award for Comedy Performance: Female.

References

External links

{{BBC Programme, b09zn7qy 2017 British television series debuts 2020 British television series endings 2010s British television sketch shows 2020s British television sketch shows BBC television sketch shows Black British television shows Television series by BBC Studios