THE KEMPS - ALL GOLD
Created, written, produced and directed by Rhys Thomas
THE KEMPS - ALL GOLD
Created, written, produced and directed by Rhys Thomas
Written, produced and directed by Rhys, the one-hour BBC Two special follows Gary and Martin Kemp over a whole year as they make a Spandau Ballet biopic, navigate divorce and form an unlikely supergroup with Status Quo’s Francis Rossi. Meanwhile, Gary is developing his ambitious dance project, Spandau: The Ballet. Naturally, things don’t quite go to plan.
Guest stars included Michael Kitchen and Christopher Eccleston, reprising their roles from Brian Pern, alongside Tamzin Outhwaite, Dexter Fletcher, Perry Benson, Lucy Montgomery, Adil Ray, Ed Kear, Danny John-Jules, Lenny Rush, Ellie-May Sheridan, David Arnold and Francis Rossi.
Made by BBC Studios Comedy Productions, The Kemps: All Gold premiered on BBC Two on 29 December 2023 as a New Year special and one of the highlights of the BBC’s festive television schedule.
Reviews and television picks
★★★★ The Telegraph — Michael Hogan
“The funniest TV show of the season.”
“A spoof documentary with a high gag rate and a bracing lack of scruples about how it elicited its laughs.”
“This uproarious film was the work of comedian Rhys Thomas, who played himself as the long-suffering documentary-maker.”
Hogan praised Rhys’s “sparky script”, which took aim at everyone from Bros to Paul McCartney, alongside celebrity memoirs, vegan businesses and rock stars playing at being country squires. He described the captions and cutaway clips as “winningly daft” and singled out Michael Kitchen’s scene-stealing performance as the brothers’ manager.
“This was Spandau doing Spinal Tap. A laugh-out-loud send-up of earnest rockumentaries, ageing musicians and the pop nostalgia circuit. The Kemps were great sports, happy to play themselves as vain, uptight, pretentious and feckless.”
Read the full Telegraph review
The Telegraph — television preview
“Back in 2020, Spandau Ballet’s Gary and Martin Kemp sent themselves up mercilessly in The Kemps: All True, a brilliantly searing mockumentary about poptastic lifestyles and post-fame tribulations. Too successful for its own good, it’s spawned a follow-up. Dexter Fletcher and Tamzin Outhwaite are among those in on the joke this time round.”
The Guardian — Jack Seale
“More laughs a minute here than any other Christmas comedy … Rhys Thomas’s shamelessly silly mockumentary.”
Seale selected The Kemps: All Gold for the Guardian’s festive television picks, highlighting Gary’s preparations for Spandau: The Ballet, Martin’s divorce troubles with Pepsi and Shirlie, and the brothers accidentally forming a supergroup with Status Quo’s Francis Rossi.
Read the Guardian’s television preview
The i — Ed Power
“A hilarious satire of rock’n’roll at its most ridiculous.”
Daily Mail
“This follow-up is indeed gold.”
Press coverage and interviews