Comic takes on UK's water giants

Joe Lycett’s toilet stunt is to form part of a new Channel 4 documentary. 

The comic has already revealed that a podcast launch event that apparently ended in disaster when sewage leaked into Liverpool’s Royal Albert Dock was all a stunt highlighting how water companies dumped waste into Britain’s waterways.

And it has now emerged that he is making a TV film on the subject, provisionally entitled Joe Lycett vs Poo.

Channel 4 commissioning editor Tom Beck said: ‘Joe is our leading mischief maker; he uses humour, wit and absolute fearlessness to call out companies, celebrities and even our politicians.  

‘He’s taken on the oil giants and David Beckham; now he’s highlighting one of our biggest environmental issues by diving into the murky waters of the utility companies polluting our seas and rivers. 

‘It will be provocative, revealing, important and feature lots of poo jokes. Who else could promise all of that?’

Last week Lycett set up a pop-up toilet – aka the Turdis – and invited fans to come down to use it and share their most embarrassing loo-based stories for podcast called Turdcast. But the event was called off when the inflatable WC ‘accidentally’ leaked into the dock.

The comic later revealed it was all fake, and both he and producers have been keen to stress the stunt had no environmental nor biological impact and the spillage was actually marine mud.

it was designed to draw attention to the fact that last year, water companies in England alone were responsible for 301,091 sewage overflows, for a total of 1,754,921 hours. That's the equivalent of a single discharge going on for more than 200 years.

The grim statistic inspired Lycett’s new TV project, made by his company My Options Were Limited and Rumpus Media.

Iain Wimbush, joint managing director of Rumpus said: ‘Having tackled national treasures, entire states and oil giants, Joe has now set his sights on growing scourge of poor practice by British water companies. 

‘Joe has an innate ability to find new ways to get people engaged with subjects that might not be getting the attention they deserve, and we look forward to a day when we can all enjoy waters in the UK without fear of finding they're filled with excrement.’

The hour-long show will broadcast next year, although a precise date has not yet been announced. 

Here he explains his stunt:

Published: 27 Nov 2023