James R | On 12, Sep 2016

Trigger Happy TV is returning – but not as you know it.

Dom Joly’s hit hidden camera series first aired on Channel 4 back in 2000, the year Vladimir Putin was elected President of Russia, when the Tate Modern Gallery opened in London and when the first resident crew entered the International Space Station.

It was also the year that people became familiar with such sights as a man shouting on a gigantic mobile phone and six-foot dogs beating each other up at bus stops. 16 years later, Joly’s pranks will return as a series of original, exclusive shorts on All 4, Channel 4’s on-demand channel.

The new series is produced in partnership with Foster’s (as part its sponsorship of Original Comedy on All 4) and will run for eight episodes, with each instalment running between five and six minutes.

They will feature all new characters, with the Big Smartphone now being joined by Angry Cyclist, a photobombing Emoji Face and Big Vape, amongst other. The series will also feature cameos from a well-known TOWIE star and some of the earliest names of the reality TV age.

Thom Gulseven, Commissioning Editor at All 4, says: “We’re delighted to have Dom and Trigger Happy on All 4. The world’s changing around us at such a baffling rate, now is exactly the right time to have a laugh at some of the ridiculous modern stupidity and annoyances we’ve come to simply accept.”

Joly adds: “I’m so excited to bring Trigger Happy back with a set of all-new characters. Well, almost all-new… due to advances in technology, the Big Mobile is back as a Big Smartphone. Once again I was keen to use Trigger Happy to target some of the most frustrating, peculiar, prominent aspects of modern life and give them a surreal twist. I’ve watched the hidden camera industry boom since Trigger Happy TV re-invented the format back in the early 2000s. But with a few notable exceptions, I’ve found most of the genre remarkably uninspiring. I’m hoping viewers will find Trigger Happy refreshing and lift the genre away from what is often staged or faked.”

Trigger Happy will be available to stream or download to watch on the go from All 4 on 26th September.

Photo: Channel 4

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