Big break for Morgana Robinson

Channel 4 has given a primetime five-part sketch series to an unknown comic after being set a taster tape.

Until now, Morgana Robinson’s TV career has peaked with C4’s short-lived TNT Show, where she played schoolboy interviewer Gilbert. Her other credits included bit-parts in My Family and The Green Green Grass, and lots of voiceover work.

Channel 4’s head of comedy Shane Allen bypassed the usual Comedy Lab and Comedy Playhouse pilots to greenlight the series, after Robinson’s agent John Noel – who also represents Russell Brand – submitted the tape.

Allen said: ‘Discovering, supporting and nurturing new talent is at the heart of Channel 4 comedy’s remit, and in Morgana we really feel we’ve found a fresh performer with a huge amount of potential.

‘Warm, daft and infectious, Morgana’s range of charismatic characters somehow lodge in your head, and her style of performance is reminiscent of Kenny Everett in his prime, but without the beard.’

Robinson will be joined by comic Tom Davis and impressionist Terry Mynott – both also clients of Noel’s – for the series,which will air in November

Characters will include Madolynn, a past-her-prime Hollywood siren; the return of Gilbert; Verity the over-privileged, uber-cool teen who speaks in riddles; a rival pair of TV news reporters; and a redneck family of inbreds.

These characters will feature alongside Morgana’s ‘skewed impressions’, including: Fearne Cotton the daredevil, Cheryl Cole the kid sister, and Boris Johnson as a bumbling 12-year-old public schoolboy.

Here is a YouTube sketch in which Mynott and Robinson parody the X Factor judges:

Published: 26 Aug 2010