| Genre: | Mockumentary |
| Creator: | Charlie Brooker |
| Director: | Christian Watt |
| Starring: | Diane Morgan |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 5 |
| Producer: | Charlie Brooker, Sam Ward |
| Runtime: | 28–29 minutes |
| Network: | BBC Two |
Cunk on Earth is a British mockumentary television series produced by Charlie Brooker. The series stars Diane Morgan as Philomena Cunk, an ill-informed investigative reporter, a character who previously starred on Charlie Brooker's Weekly Wipe and Cunk on Britain.[1] The series was acclaimed by critics, with many praising Morgan's deadpan delivery. It premiered in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 19 September 2022, and was released in the United States on Netflix on 31 January 2023.
For her performance in the series, Morgan was nominated for the British Academy Television Award for Best Female Comedy Performance.[2]
Philomena Cunk (Diane Morgan) travels around the world, interviewing (real-world) experts such as Paul Bahn, Martin Kemp, Nigel Spivey, and Shirley Thompson about world history.[3] The series introduces subjects such as the development of agriculture and early civilization, the rise of Christianity and Islam, the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, the First and Second World Wars, the Cold War and the Space Race. With an eye to the future, Cunk concludes the series with a speculative comment on the possibility of AI takeover.[4]
Throughout the series, Diane Morgan in character as Philomena Cunk poses absurdist questions to real-life historians, archaeologists, theologians, composers, and other subject-area experts in one-on-one interviews. The experts include:[5]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 100% based on 23 reviews and an average rating of 7.7/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Diane Morgan feigns dopiness with ingenious comedic timing in Cunk on Earth, a gut-busting sendup of anthropological documentaries."[6] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 82 out of 100 based on 8 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[7]
David Bianculli of NPR gave the series a positive review, stating that it has "cult classic potential". The Hollywood Reporters Daniel Fienberg called it a "consistently droll, frequently delightful series that mixes high and low comedy at a breakneck pace."[8] Rebecca Nicholson of The Guardian praised Morgan's performance, calling her character "so well-written it's easy to forget she's not real."[9] Michael Idato of The Sydney Morning Herald described the show as "magnificent, brutal, and absurd".[10]
Filming took place in late 2021. It aired on 19 September 2022 in the UK (BBC Two) and was released on Netflix US on 31 January 2023.
At the 2023 British Academy Television Awards, Diane Morgan was nominated for Best Female Comedy Performance for her performance as Philomena Cunk.[11]