Monkey Dust is a British satirical cartoon, notorious for its dark humour
and handling of taboo topics such as bestiality, murder, suicide and
paedophilia. There were three series broadcast on BBC Three between 2003 and
2005. Following co-creator Harry Thompson's death, no further series were
made. Episodes
Each episode featured animation by several different companies including
Slinky Pictures, Nexus Productions, Sherbet Animation, Caroline Mabey,
Picasso Pictures and VooDooDog, but is linked by recurring themes and jokes,
and by seamless transitions between sketches. The episodes are untitled but
instead are known by the characters introduced or the one-off sketches
included. The principal writers and creators of the series were Harry
Thompson and Shaun Pye, although other contributors were responsible for a
significant proportion of the work; sometimes collaborating with Thompson
and/or Pye; sometimes contributing fully formed sketches to the show. A short
overview of the main characters, called a nocturne, set in the various
characters' bedrooms with no dialogue and a depressing accompanying song,
usually precedes the final section. In 2003, The Observer listed Harry
Thompson as one of the 50 funniest or most influential people in British
comedy, citing Monkey Dust as evidence and calling it: "the most subversive
show on television. The topical animated series is dark and unafraid to tackle
taboo subjects such as paedophilia, taking us to Cruel Britannia, a creepy
place where the public are hoodwinked by arrogant politicians and celebrities.
This edgy show doesn't always work, but when it does there is nothing quite like
it". Music
The animation in each episode is accompanied by contemporary music which
helps the transition between scenes. Numerous songs by Goldfrapp, Boards of
Canada and Black Box Recorder. The theme music for all three series is by Eels.
The inclusion of music from Goldfrapp during the first series would have
pre-dated the commercial release of their debut album, but production on the
series took so long that by the time of airing, Goldfrapp were about to release
their second album and the songs included in Monkey Dust were fairly well
known. Thompson and Pye comment on this in the Series 1 DVD commentary.
Also Hicham Bensassi contributed a song he wrote and produced in collaboration
with singer Rosamund Daegenhardt. It appeared in series 3, episode 6.
The background music for the Saint Stephens Hospital sketches in series
three is "Ivory Blush" by K-West. Release
On 8 November 2004, the first series of Monkey Dust was released in the UK on
DVD. Several musical substitutions had to be made from the television airing,
as artists such as Cliff Richard and David Gray would not allow their work to
be used on the DVD. Cover versions of the original songs were used instead.
The second and third series were broadcast on BBC Two and BBC Three
respectively. Only the first series of Monkey Dust was commercially released on
DVD, however, in September 2009 eight episodes from across series 2 and 3 were
made available for download from iTunes. Characters
Awards 2003: International Student Jury Award
2004: Best Multichannel Programme 2004: Best Comedy
See also British dark comedy
Further reading Monk, Claire. "London and Contemporary
Britain in Monkey Dust". Journal of British Cinema and Television 4: 337.
doi:10.3366/jbctv.2007.4.2.337. References
External links Monkey Dust at BBC Programmes
BBC THREE – Monkey Dust at the Wayback Machine
Monkey Dust Episode Guide at TV.com "Monkey Dust" at the Internet Movie
Database