That Mitchell and Webb Look

Recurring sketches

The series features several recurring sketches. Numberwang is a parody game show where contestants call out numbers until the host declares "That's Numberwang"; the rules are never explained and appear to follow no logic. Spin-offs include Wordwang, a German version called Nümberwang, a trailer for The Numberwang Code, a board game advert, and a documentary on Numberwang's history. Ted and Peter are alcoholic, chain-smoking snooker commentators played by Mitchell and Webb; they tell insensitive stories about players rather than focusing on the game.

By the fourth series, they have been reduced to commentating on Late Night Dog Poker on Dave. The Surprising Adventures of Sir Digby Chicken Caesar follows a homeless man (Webb) who believes he is a detective, accompanied by his companion Ginger (Mitchell), as they commit crimes while imagining battles against a nemesis; SnorriCam is used in parts.

Production

That Mitchell and Webb Look grew out of the duo's earlier television series The Mitchell and Webb Situation and their BBC Radio 4 sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Sound. Producer Gareth Edwards described the pitch to the BBC as the shortest he had ever written, arguing that since the radio format had already worked for shows like Little Britain and Dead Ringers, there was no reason not to transfer this one to television as well. A pilot was recorded on 27 January 2006 at BBC Television Centre.

Preview nights, structured as radio recordings with verbal cues for visual elements, took place at The Drill Hall in London on 11 January and 20 March 2006, and at Ginglik in Shepherd's Bush on 14 and 21 May 2006. Location filming for the series happened in June 2006, with three audience recording sessions held in Studio 4 at BBC Television Centre on 14, 21, and 28 July 2006. After the first series, Mitchell and Webb toured 44 UK venues from October to December 2006 with a stage show called The Two Faces of Mitchell and Webb, which reused many of the same sketches.

For the second series, a preview night was held on 18 May 2007 at The Drill Hall. That series was shot in high-definition on location during June and July 2007, with three studio recordings in front of an audience at TC8 in Television Centre on 3, 10, and 17 August 2007. Two preview nights for the third series were announced on 30 June 2008, and all tickets were gone within 24 hours. The first took place on 13 July 2008 at The Drill Hall, the second on 10 August 2008.

Two audience recording sessions at Television Centre, which included additional live sketches, were announced on 3 October 2008 and held on 31 October and 7 November 2008, again in high-definition in studio TC8. A third recording session at the BBC Radio Theatre was announced on 10 October 2008 and took place on 18 November 2008. A preview night for the fourth series was announced on 18 November 2009 and held on 26 November 2009 at The Drill Hall.

Reception

The sketch show earned two British Comedy Award nominations in 2006, for Best New TV Comedy and the Highland Spring People's Choice, but did not win either. It did, however, win a BAFTA in 2007 for Best Comedy Programme or Series, and received another BAFTA nomination in the same category in 2009. The Comedy.co.uk Awards named it the Best British TV Sketch Show of 2006. A sketch featuring Mitchell and Webb as Waffen-SS officers, where one asks "Hans, are we the baddies?", became a widespread internet meme in the early 2020s. The recurring Quiz Broadcast sketch, which opened with "Hello, good evening, and remain indoors!", was frequently referenced in early 2020 during COVID-19 social distancing measures.