Television, drug of the nation

The Trip to Spain is coming out soon. This time on Sky Atlantic. I love Steve Coogan:

How do they feel about the move of channels?

“Rob feels fine, I feel awkward,” Coogan says firmly, within ear of the Sky press officer. Brydon laughs. “Because you’re more nuanced?” he asks. “No,” Coogan says, “because I don’t like Rupert Murdoch.” Brydon leans back a little in his chair. “Whereas I … I adore the man. Listen, my thing is, if you’ve signed, it’s a bit disingenuous to then take the …” Coogan cuts him off: “Whereas I think it’s more dishonest to reverentially toe the line of your employer. The thing is, it’s not like we’re doing them a favour. We are providing them with ‘content’.” He picks the word up limply.

Coogan smiles. “I wish more people watched Sky,” he says, more gently. “That’s another thing. But maybe they will when The Trip goes out.” He has, after all, already publicly labelled the show “Last of the Summer Wine for Guardian readers”. “It’s my theory that a lot of people who like The Trip are the very demographic who are resolutely non-Sky subscribers. So I think we might just be a cynical ploy by Sky to get them to adopt the platform. If they manage to do that I’ll be very impressed. But it wouldn’t sway me.”