Skip to content

Home Movies TV Shows Anime My List

A cinematic home for movies, television, and anime — built for discovery, watching, and picking up where you left off.

Your list and viewing activity are saved locally on this device unless account features are introduced in the future.

Explore

Movies TV Shows Anime Search

Legal

Terms of Use Privacy Policy

© 2026 ORYVE. All rights reserved.

Availability, artwork, descriptions, ratings, and playback may vary by title, location, device, or service conditions.

ORYVE presentation

Broken News

7.72005Ended1 season

ComedyNews

Broken News is a comedy programme shown on BBC Two in autumn 2005 and in Australia on SBS-TV from the 17 July 2006. The show poked fun at the world of 24-hour rolling news channels. The title of the show is a play on the phrase "breaking news". The show jump cut between its various spoof TV channels, which covered both the central story and other stories that would be of interest to their audience. A large part of the comedy came from observations about the nature of news presentation rather than the stories themselves.

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

About the series

Broken News is a comedy programme shown on BBC Two in autumn 2005 and in Australia on SBS-TV from the 17 July 2006. The show poked fun at the world of 24-hour rolling news channels. The title of the show is a play on the phrase "breaking news". The show jump cut between its various spoof TV channels, which covered both the central story and other stories that would be of interest to their audience. A large part of the comedy came from observations about the nature of news presentation rather than the stories themselves.

Created by: John Morton, Tony Roche
Network: BBC Two
Episodes: 6

Choose your chapter

Episodes

Season

1

Episode 1

Tomato Flu

2005-10-31 30 min

An outbreak of tomato flu is in the headlines. This alarming new super-virus (a parody of avian flu) can be traced back to a turkey farm in Turkey. The news networks advise on the best way to avoid tomatoids in food such as tomato ketchup. In other news: a man is injured by a frozen block of urine.

2

Episode 2

Missing Island

2005-11-07 30 min

A report that an island has gone missing in the Barents Sea triggers paranoia about rising sea levels in Lincolnshire and the end of the world as we know it. In other news: teenagers' attention spans are now as low as eleven seconds.

3

Episode 3

Half Way There Day

2005-11-14 30 min

Reports on commemorations around the country to mark the day Britain reached the half-way point in the last World War. In other news: The MADI music awards are here again, without last year's controversy.

4

Episode 4

Crime

2005-11-21 30 min

The publication of a Home Office report which reveals that the majority of teenagers are now criminals leads to a series of news stories from the country's worst-hit areas. A picture of Britain in which the teenage population "now effectively feral, roam Britain's urban landscapes in packs of up to fifteen at a single time." In other news: East Anglia could be gone within a decade.

5

Episode 5

Bolivian Crisis

2005-11-28 30 min

Reaction comes from around the world to rumours that Bolivia might have acquired nuclear weapons. Including a report from The White House: This is a bad day for the good guys, President Bush. In other news: A cross-eyed man kills a horse while trying to shoot himself.

6

Episode 6

Hijack

2005-12-05 30 min

Media frenzy is quick to follow after reports emerge of an apparent hijack of an American passenger flight bound for Amsterdam. This live breaking story dominates the running orders of the world's news networks. In other news: An injunction has been served on Josh Cashman.

Cast

Benedict Cumberbatch

Benedict Cumberbatch

Will Parker

Claudia Christian

Claudia Christian

Julia Regan - IBS

Duncan Duff

Duncan Duff

Richard Pritchard - ESN

Sharon Horgan

Sharon Horgan

Katie Tate - ESN

Colin Stinton

Colin Stinton

Anthony Markovitz

Steve Toussaint

Steve Toussaint

Adam Lockwood

Indira Varma

Indira Varma

Melanie Bellamy

Philip Brodie

Philip Brodie

Colin Kay - So News

Tom Goodman-Hill

Tom Goodman-Hill

Guy Batson - Go Sports

Sarah Hadland

Sarah Hadland

Claire - Traffic Reports

Pip Torrens

Pip Torrens

Sam French - Bullet Points Presenter

Darren Boyd

Darren Boyd

Nick Burham

Recommended for you

Have I Got News for You poster

Have I Got News for You

1990•★ 7.2TV

Saturday Night Live poster

Saturday Night Live

1975•★ 6.9TV

Mock the Week poster

2005•★ 7.1TV

Police Squad! poster

1982•★ 7.9TV

The Dick Van Dyke Show poster

The Dick Van Dyke Show

1961•★ 7.6TV

Key & Peele poster

2012•★ 7.7TV

Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out poster

Nick Cannon Presents: Wild 'N Out

2005•★ 8.0TV

All That poster

1994•★ 7.7TV

Coach poster

1989•★ 6.7TV

The Brittas Empire poster

The Brittas Empire

1991•★ 6.6TV

Murphy Brown poster

1988•★ 6.5TV

Not the Nine O'Clock News poster

Not the Nine O'Clock News

1979•★ 7.3TV

The Carol Burnett Show poster

The Carol Burnett Show

1967•★ 7.7TV

$#*! My Dad Says poster

$#*! My Dad Says

2010•★ 6.0TV

Harry Hill's TV Burp poster

Harry Hill's TV Burp

2002•★ 6.3TV

Happy Days poster

1974•★ 7.6TV

MAD poster

2010•★ 8.0TV

The Amanda Show poster

The Amanda Show

1999•★ 7.1TV

Childrens Hospital poster

Childrens Hospital

2008•★ 6.9TV

The Goodies poster

1970•★ 7.6TV

Similar series

Odoru Mowai-kun poster

Odoru Mowai-kun

2019•★ 0.0TV

Avenue 5 poster

2020•★ 6.6TV

Brass Eye poster

1997•★ 7.7TV

At Last the 1948 Show poster

At Last the 1948 Show

1967•★ 7.5TV

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman poster

Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman

1976•★ 7.3TV

Clarissa Explains It All poster

Clarissa Explains It All

1991•★ 7.8TV

The Kumars at No. 42 poster

The Kumars at No. 42

2001•★ 6.0TV

I'm Alan Partridge poster

I'm Alan Partridge

1997•★ 7.4TV

Pamela Rose: The Series poster

Pamela Rose: The Series

2023•★ 6.5TV

Casper & Mandrilaftalen poster

Casper & Mandrilaftalen

1999•★ 7.7TV

The Checkout poster

2013•★ 5.4TV

Whiskey on the Rocks poster

Whiskey on the Rocks

2024•★ 6.5TV

Generation Z poster

2024•★ 5.5TV

The Beaverton poster

2016•★ 0.0TV

Strangers with Candy poster

Strangers with Candy

1999•★ 7.4TV

Alpha House poster

2013•★ 7.2TV

Double the Fist

Double the Fist

2004•★ 8.3TV

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy poster

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

1981•★ 8.1TV

Monkey Dust poster

2003•★ 8.0TV

Absolute Power poster

2003•★ 7.6TV

Broken News | ORYVE