This Is Jinsy
{{Short description|British TV comedy series (Sky Atlantic, 2010–14)}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox television
| image = Jinsy COVER (TITLES).jpg
| genre = Surreal comedy, Sitcom
| creator = Chris Bran
Justin Chubb
| director = Matt Lipsey
| producer = Chris Carey
James Dean
| executive_producer = Lucy Lumsden
| editor = Charlie Philips
| writer = Chris Bran
Justin Chubb
| caption =
| runtime = 30 minutes
| starring = Chris Bran
Justin Chubb
Alice Lowe
Janine Duvitski
Geoff McGivern
Harry Hill
Jennifer Saunders
| opentheme =
| theme_music_composer =
| country = United Kingdom
| network = BBC Three (pilot)
Sky Atlantic (series)
| company = Tiger Aspect Productions
| first_aired = {{start date|2010|3|1|df=y}}
| last_aired = {{end date|2014|2|12|df=y}}
| num_series = 2
| num_episodes = 17 (including pilot)
| related =
}}
This Is Jinsy is a British comedy television series. The pilot was first broadcast on 1 March 2010 on BBC Three. The programme is about the bizarre residents of the fictional island of Jinsy which is based on Guernsey, where the two writers are from.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/comedy/2010/01/what-is-jinsy.shtml|title=What is Jinsy?|publisher=BBC comedy blog}} The show was written by Chris Bran and Justin Chubb who also play the leading roles. Although the pilot episode was made for the BBC, the full series of eight episodes was picked up by Sky Atlantic.{{cite web|url=http://tv.sky.com/sky1-announces-new-comedy-line-up|title=Sky1 Announces New Comedy Line-up|publisher=Sky UK|date=29 July 2010}}{{cite web |url= http://skyatlantic.sky.com/this-is-jinsy-amazing-guest-stars-announced |title=This is Jinsy: Amazing Guest Stars Announced |work=Sky Atlantic |year=2011 |accessdate=2 June 2011}} The first series began airing with a double bill on 19 September 2011 and ended on 31 October 2011.{{cite web|url=http://www.entertainment-focus.com/news/this-is-jinsy-air-date-announced |title='This Is Jinsy' Air Date Announced |publisher=Entertainment Focus |date=31 August 2011 |accessdate=7 November 2012}} A second series was commissioned and was first broadcast on 8 January 2014.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2011/dec/16/bskyb-comedy-this-is-jinsy-second-series|title=BSkyB gives comedy This Is Jinsy a second series|work=The Guardian |date=16 December 2011 |accessdate=14 January 2012}}
Cast
- Justin Chubb as Arbiter Maven, various
- Chris Bran as Sporall Lertock, various
- Alice Lowe as Soosan Noop
- Janine Duvitski as Mrs Goadion
- Geoff McGivern as Trince
- David Tennant as Mr Slightlyman
- Harry Hill as Joon Boolay (Series 1){{cite web |url=http://uk.tv.yahoo.com/news-extra/article/168245/daily-tv-round-upharry-goes-drag-in-new-comedy.html |title=Daily TV round-up – Harry goes drag in new comedy |work=Yahoo! TV |year=2011 |accessdate=28 July 2011}}
- Greg Davies as Jennitta Bishard (Series 2){{cite web|url=http://www.comedy.co.uk/guide/tv/this_is_jinsy/special/greg_davies/ |title=Greg Davies in This Is Jinsy - Pictures |publisher=Comedy.co.uk |date= 2013-12-10|accessdate=16 January 2014}}
- Jennifer Saunders as The Voice of Miss Reason{{cite web|title=This Is Jinsy - Season 1 Episode 1|url=http://tvpixie.com/tv-listings/19-sep-2011-2210/sky-atlantic-hd/this-is-jinsy|work=TV Pixie|accessdate=20 September 2011}}
- Tim Downie as Jinsy Player
- Dave Mounfield as Jinsy Player
- Emma Kennedy as Jinsy Player
Episodes
=Series 1=
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! scope="col" style="background:#3F578D;"| No. ! scope="col" style="background:#3F578D;"| Title ! scope="col" style="background:#3F578D;"| Directed by ! scope="col" style="background:#3F578D;"| Written by ! scope="col" style="background:#3F578D;"| Guest(s) ! scope="col" style="background:#3F578D;"| Original air date ! scope="col" style="background:#3F578D;"| Viewers {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = Pilot | Title = Bandy Dog Red | DirectedBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Christopher Fairbank | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2010|3|01}} | Viewers = - | ShortSummary = Maven and Sporall are tasked with the historic installation of the first tesselator on Old Jinsy, a tribal island covered in brambles. | LineColor = 3F578D }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 1 | Title = Wedding Lottery | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = David Tennant | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2011|9|19}} | Viewers = 0.179{{cite web |url=http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing/weekly-top-10? |title=Weekly Top 10 Programmes |publisher=Broadcasters' Audience Research Board |accessdate=14 September 2011}} | ShortSummary = The islanders are married off in the wedding lottery. Maven enters Sporall into the draw. | LineColor = 3F578D }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 2 | Title = Cupboards | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Peter Serafinowicz | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2011|9|19}} | ShortSummary = Maven is convinced cupboard salesman Eric Dunt is their deity. Sporall is unconvinced. | LineColor = 3F578D }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 3 | Title = Beardboy | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Catherine Tate | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2011|9|26}} | ShortSummary = While Maven prepares for an interview with the editor of Glove Hygiene Monthly, the beard-growing contest is disrupted by an attacker with a taste for facial hair. | LineColor = 3F578D }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 4 | Title = Ool Bat | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Kevin Eldon, KT Tunstall and Adam Gillen | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2011|10|03}} | ShortSummary = An environmentalist threatens to scupper Maven's project for a new bridge in the shape of his nose. | LineColor = 3F578D }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 5 | Title = Nameworm | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Simon Callow and Nigel Planer | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2011|10|11}} | ShortSummary = Maven embarks on a journey in treacherous winter conditions accompanied by a former teacher, who torments him on the way. | LineColor = 3F578D }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 6 | Title = Vel | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Jane Horrocks, Don Warrington and Marek Larwood | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2011|10|17}} | ShortSummary = Maven attempts to cheat in order to join Jinsy's Intellectual Elite. | LineColor = 3F578D }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 7 | Title = Zoop | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Marcia Warren | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2011|10|24}} | ShortSummary = After a banned rock band plan to break the Arbiter's rules, Maven himself tries to foil their plans. | LineColor = 3F578D }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 8 | Title = Kelpman | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Brian Murphy and Colin Hoult | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2011|10|31}} | ShortSummary = Maven becomes the highlight of Jinsy as he tries to fix a desolate tessellator. Meanwhile, Sporall discovers a new form of entertainment. | LineColor = 3F578D }} |
=Series 2=
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! scope="col" style="background:#000033;"| No. ! scope="col" style="background:#000033;"| Title ! scope="col" style="background:#000033;"| Directed by ! scope="col" style="background:#000033;"| Written by ! scope="col" style="background:#000033;"| Guest(s) ! scope="col" style="background:#000033;"| Original air date ! scope="col" style="background:#000033;"| Viewers {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 1 | Title = Intelligent Hair | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Stephen Fry | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2014|1|08}} | Viewers = 0.067{{cite web |url=http://www.barb.co.uk/viewing/weekly-top-10? |title=Weekly Top 10 Programmes |publisher=Broadcasters' Audience Research Board |accessdate=5 February 2014}} | ShortSummary = Maven's annual Arbiter ceremony goes catastrophically wrong when the historic wig used to crown him suddenly becomes reanimated. | LineColor = 000033 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 2 | Title = Acco! | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Ben Miller | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2014|1|08}} | ShortSummary = Time is of the essence as Maven races against the clocks to get his accounts done in time. The only problem is, Jinsy's ink-addicted accountants have gone feral, forcing him to strike a deal with the Chief Accountant involving his daughter, Berpetta. | LineColor = 000033 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 3 | Title = Double Duck | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Katy Brand | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2014|1|15}} | ShortSummary = Maven and Sporall are in high spirits as they attend Jinsy's Firelock Festival, but the mood soon sours when they stop by to see Madame Astralina. The local astrologer specialises in rat bum-reading and she's got some dire news to share with poor Maven: he's going to be assassinated. | LineColor = 000033 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 4 | Title = Penny's Pendant | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Eileen Atkins | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2014|1|22}} | ShortSummary = Decency levels may have plummeted from Mildly Vulgar to Severely Smutty across the island, but Maven is refusing to let his slip. | LineColor = 000033 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 5 | Title = Nightly Bye | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Rob Brydon | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2014|1|29}} | ShortSummary = Party pooper Maven is dreading the arrival of forbidden festival Nacken, so much so that he's being extra vigilant about everyone taking their nightly bye pills. | LineColor = 000033 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 6 | Title = Speckled Pom Pom | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Stephen Mangan, Debbie Chazen and KT Tunstall | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2014|2|05}} | ShortSummary = Preferring crackpot theories to common sense, Maven is convinced that the island is going to be overthrown by a group of subversive residents communicating via coded textile messaging. His evidence? The number of islanders wearing novelty knitwear. | LineColor = 000033 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 7 | Title = Population 791 | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Derek Jacobi | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2014|2|12}} | ShortSummary = The Great He orders Maven to dispose of a resident when the island population exceeds its limit of 791. Favourite for the chop is Jinsy's oldest inhabitant, the romper suit-wearing Robunce Barnatty, but an unexpected revelation changes everything. | LineColor = 000033 }} {{Episode list | EpisodeNumber = 8 | Title = The Golden Woggle | DirectedBy = Matt Lipsey | WrittenBy = Chris Bran and Justin Chubb | Aux2 = Phil Davis and Olivia Colman | OriginalAirDate = {{Start date|df=yes|2014|2|12}} | ShortSummary = Maven is shocked to discover that he's been wearing a makeshift woggle and sets out to retrieve the official one from former Arbiter, Roley Jenkins. Obstacles arise, however, in the form of his wife Joan and a pesky parrot. | LineColor = 000033 }} |
Production
The pilot of This Is Jinsy was produced by the Welded Tandem Picture Company and filmed at Greenford Studios in July 2009. It was directed by Chris Bran and Justin Chubb; the script editor was Emma Kennedy.
Production for the first series started at the end of January 2011 and was directed by Matt Lipsey. Charlie Phillips, who worked with Lipsey on Psychoville, is the editor.{{cite web |url= http://www.entertainment-focus.com/news/sky-atlantic-announces-this-is-jinsy |title=Sky Atlantic Announces 'This Is Jinsy'|work=entertainment-focus.com |date=2 May 2011 |accessdate=19 May 2011}}
Reception
The Radio Times described the pilot as "infectiously funny as an overstuffed owl. A full series please."Radio Times 27th - 5 February March 2010 issue Time Out described it as "a lo-fi joy to behold".Time Out Magazine TV preview Wed 24 March
Alice-Azania Jarvis, reviewing the first two episodes for The Independent, calls it "brilliantly done" and "genuinely surreal".{{cite news |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/last-nights-tv--sandhurst-bbc4-this-is-jinsy-sky-atlantic-made-in-chelsea-e4-2357393.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/reviews/last-nights-tv--sandhurst-bbc4-this-is-jinsy-sky-atlantic-made-in-chelsea-e4-2357393.html |archive-date=7 May 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=This Is Jinsy Review |first=Alice-Azania |last=Jarvis|work=The Independent |date=20 September 2011 |accessdate=20 September 2011}}{{cbignore}}
Keith Watson writes in The Metro, Bran and Chubb "teetered on the brink of drowning in the ocean of whimsy", but that "This Is Jinsy pulled off the trick of turning its multifarious influences into something that felt fresh and new."{{cite web |url= http://www.metro.co.uk/tv/reviews/875911-this-is-jinsy-instantly-created-a-world-true-only-to-itself |title=This Is Jinsy, series 1, episode 1: TV review |first=Keith |last=Watson |work=Metro |date=19 September 2011 |accessdate=20 September 2011}}
Awards
The pilot episode (directed by Bran & Chubb) was nominated in the Sitcom category for the Rose d'Or 2010.[http://www.rosedor.ch/en/history/2010/nominees/ Rose d'Or Nominees] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707002245/http://www.rosedor.ch/en/history/2010/nominees/ |date=7 July 2011 }}. The Rose D'Or 2010 Website
Series 1 of This Is Jinsy (directed by Matt Lipsey) was nominated in the Best Sketch Show category for the British Comedy Awards 2011.
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{Official website}}
- {{BBC programme}}
- {{IMDb title|id=2055490|title=This Is Jinsy}}
- {{British Comedy Guide|tv|this_is_jinsy}}
{{Sky Atlantic}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:This Is Jinsy}}
Category:2010 British television series debuts
Category:2014 British television series endings
Category:2010s British comedy television series
Category:BBC television sitcoms
Category:British surreal comedy television series
Category:British musical television series
Category:Sky Atlantic original programming
Category:Television series set on fictional islands