| Genre: | Sketch comedy |
| Director: | Peter Boyd Maclean |
| Starring: |
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| Composer: | Pete Baikie Rowland Lee |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Num Series: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 6 |
| Producer: | Alan Marke David Spicer |
| Editor: | Mykola Pawluk |
| Network: | Channel 4 |
Barking is a late-night sketch comedy show broadcast on Channel 4 in the summer of 1998. The series starred and written by David Walliams, Catherine Tate, Peter Kay, Omid Djalili, Mackenzie Crook, Marcus Brigstocke and more up-and-coming comedians, most of whom went on to successful careers.[1] [2] Channel 4 announced that Barking was officially cancelled after the first series.
The show was released on DVD on 7 November 2011.[3] [4]
Despite the impressive array of future successful comedy stars, the show was not a ratings hit. In the Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy (1998), critic Mark Lewisohn said, "the ideas with good potential were buried under a mountain of mediocrity... the show's clash of styles, pacing and mood worked heavily against them".[5] However, he cited Marcus Brigstocke's psychotic airline pilot and David Walliams's insane royal watcher as standout characters.
Brian Donaldson of The List described the show as "something of a mixed bag" and noted that "there's a healthy amount of decent moments". He concluded, "Barking was never as mad as it thought it was and the show's bite was largely toothless".[6]