Mark Thomas

Filmmaker Jack Apple sets out to uncover the truth about his late godfather, Martin, a passionate organiser at the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), working alongside Jack's mother, Emily Apple, and activist-comedian Mark Thomas in their fight against BAE Systems, Britain's largest arms manufacturer. Everything changed when a shocking truth was revealed: Martin had been spying for the very company they were trying to expose. Through interviews, archive footage and personal reflection, this documentary follows Emily and Mark as they confront the emotional wreckage left behind. It's a story about the fragility of belief, the pain of betrayal, and what happens when the fight for justice turns inward.

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From the most unexpected story teller comes Christmas stories from the life, time and family of Mark Thomas. The one where his dad was Father Christmas for the school fete, the time his mum found his dad's secret stash of presents that were not for her, the Christmas spent alone, the one where they found dead neighbours and why celebrating in the darkest time of year is a rebellious act. With music, comedy, pathos and more Christmas cheer than a Laplander's eggnog party!

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Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the NHS, award-winning theatre maker, comedian and activist Mark Thomas takes a look at our NHS. What state is it in, where it's going and what we need to do to keep it?

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Through interviews, analysis, archive footage and witness testimony, WitchHunt explores the connections between the attacks on Labour, the ongoing tragedy of Palestine and the wider struggle against race-based oppression. It argues that, if it is to mean anything at all, the fight against racism must be a shared one, that includes all peoples.

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Name the comedian who might say 'I wonder if I can set up a comedy club… in a refugee camp... in Palestine?' Of course, it’s Mark Thomas. And that is exactly what he tries to do. Dodging cultural and literal bullets, Israeli incursions and religion, Mark and his team set out to run a comedy club and put on two nights in the Palestinian city of Jenin. Only to find that it is not so simple to celebrate freedom of speech in a place with so little freedom.

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Never one to take the easy option, Mark Thomas decided to go rambling in the Middle East and decided to walk the entire length of the Israeli Wall, crossing between the Israeli and Palestinian sides. This is the story of 350,000 settlers, a 750km wall, six arrests, one stoning, too much hummus and a simple question: Can you ever get away from it all with a good walk?

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As a teenager working on his dad's building sites, Mark used to cringe when he blasted opera out to the workers. Now he's written a show about him in all his grumpy glory. In the performance I say this is not a show about love, well it turns out I was wrong.

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A topical tale about the miners' strike The Red Shed is a 47 foot long, wooden, red, Socialist shed in Wakefield where Mark first started to perform in public and where he politically came of age as a student involved in the miners strike. The battle of politics is remembering over forgetting.

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The true story of how Mark discovered his close friend was spying on him for Britain's biggest arms dealer. A tale of hubris, friendship, loss and undercover deceit told by an award-winning comedian.

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A look at the life of John Cooper Clarke. From his rise as a 'punk poet', through his heroin addiction, and finally to his comeback.

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Comedy that really makes a difference! This is Mark's true story of cake icing as a political weapon, of demonstrations to Defend Surrealism and getting to like the police. Mark turns an 18 month battle over Parliament Square and the right to demonstrate into bizarrely brilliant stand up. This is how Mark fought the law ... with the law's permission! It is a laugh out loud funny world inhabited by anarchists, Goths, artists and the Westminster Constabulary, in which Mark becomes a Guinness World Record holder, organises 2,500 protests in one day and changes the law in the process.

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In crystal clear sound and vision, the TV comedian reveals the inside story on how he upset the U.S secret service by putting a bounty on the life of President Bush. Mark also displays how he obtained police surveillance images of himself.

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a 2005 comedy special.

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Post war Iraq is bust. The country owes $383,000,000,000 to various companies, banks and countries from loans/credit which it took to build palaces, buy weapons and such. Mark Thomas decides to try and help out by taking it onto himself to try to raise money to help them out.

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With America and Britain pushing the UN to put Hans Blix's weapons inspection team into Iraq, Mark Thomas forms a citizen's weapon inspectors team in order to examine the performance of the two super powers. Starting with Buckingham Palace the group go round a lab in America making anthrax, a nuclear submarine base and a military weapons store just off the M4.

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Mark Thomas goes undercover as a farmer to find out what really goes on within countryside groups.

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Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a comedy panel game show with a pop and rock music theme. The show is infamous for its dry, sarcastic humour and scathing, provocative attacks on the pop industry.

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Popular stand up Mark Thomas expounds his no-holds barred views on sex, religion and the universe in this live set, filmed at the Banana Cabaret, Balham.

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In the late Eighties, there had been a series of comedy concerts (modelled on the Amnesty International “Secret Policeman’s Ball series”) to raise both awareness and raw cash for HIV/AIDS charities. The series was called Hysteria to reflect the hysteria (and downright untruths) surrounding the issue of HIV/AIDS. The last one of these had been in 1989, so in 1994, Pozzitive set out to revive the idea of a fundraiser with “Filth!” a night of comedy and music at the Sadlers Wells theatre, on Sunday 24 April. In fact, so many comedians and writers said “yes” to the idea, that we hit on the notion of doing two shows in one evening back to back. The first show was hosted by Lynn Ferguson and Arthur Smith, the second show by Mark Lamarr. Artists involved in the show included Tom Robinson, Steve Coogan, Spitting Image, Eddie Izzard, Jo Brand, Jeremy Hardy and Ben Elton.

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Hilarious, totally-irreverent, near-slanderous political quiz show, based mainly on news stories from the last week or so, that leaves no party, personality or action unscathed in pursuit of laughs.

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Anthology series showcasing British alternative comedy

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An in-depth look at news stories. Documentaries that take you behind the scenes giving an insight into people's lives or institutions.

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The Mark Thomas Comedy Product was a television show fronted by the English comedian, presenter, political activist and reporter, Mark Thomas. It was broadcast in the UK on Channel 4 from February 1996 to May 2002. The show, described as "a brilliantly ludicrous alternative to Watchdog", was a hybrid of comedy and serious politics, with Thomas often using silly or surreal methods to gain interviews with politicians and corporations and to highlight issues.

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Never one to take the easy option, Mark Thomas decided to go rambling in the Middle East and decided to walk the entire length of the Israeli Wall, crossing between the Israeli and Palestinian sides. This is the story of 350,000 settlers, a 750km wall, six arrests, one stoning, too much hummus and a simple question: Can you ever get away from it all with a good walk?

Open details →

In the late Eighties, there had been a series of comedy concerts (modelled on the Amnesty International “Secret Policeman’s Ball series”) to raise both awareness and raw cash for HIV/AIDS charities. The series was called Hysteria to reflect the hysteria (and downright untruths) surrounding the issue of HIV/AIDS. The last one of these had been in 1989, so in 1994, Pozzitive set out to revive the idea of a fundraiser with “Filth!” a night of comedy and music at the Sadlers Wells theatre, on Sunday 24 April. In fact, so many comedians and writers said “yes” to the idea, that we hit on the notion of doing two shows in one evening back to back. The first show was hosted by Lynn Ferguson and Arthur Smith, the second show by Mark Lamarr. Artists involved in the show included Tom Robinson, Steve Coogan, Spitting Image, Eddie Izzard, Jo Brand, Jeremy Hardy and Ben Elton.

Open details →

The Mark Thomas Comedy Product was a television show fronted by the English comedian, presenter, political activist and reporter, Mark Thomas. It was broadcast in the UK on Channel 4 from February 1996 to May 2002. The show, described as "a brilliantly ludicrous alternative to Watchdog", was a hybrid of comedy and serious politics, with Thomas often using silly or surreal methods to gain interviews with politicians and corporations and to highlight issues.

Open details →