The Pilot (Not The Pilot) Goes Wrong Along

Mischief makers including Dave Hearn, Henry Lewis, Charlie Russell and Jonathan Sayer sit down to watch an episode of The Goes Wrong Show.
In this Goes Wrong Along, the group watch The Pilot (Not The Pilot). They share behind-the-scenes gossip, their favourite moments and show their appreciation for the team who helped them.
Watch the full series:
BBC IPlayer: bit.ly/WatchGWS
Buy the DVD: bit.ly/BuyGWS
In The Goes Wrong Show, the well-meaning amateurs of the Cornley Dramatic Society perform a half-hour play on BBC1 : a horror story, a wartime drama, a legal thriller, a period romance, a deep south melodrama and a Christmas fable. And every week, the performance goes terribly, terribly wrong. Sets collapse, special effects fail, actors dry - life, limb and the studio audience are threatened. But the show must go on… From the creators of The Play That Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong.
The Mischief team are one of the UK's leading improvised theatre companies. The group is formed of students and graduates from The London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA). The company of young, dynamic and highly skilled improvisers been training in performance improvisation since 2007 and the company was formed in 2008. Since then the group has performed across the UK, created new long-form and short-form show formats, received five star reviews, won awards and performed to thousands of people.

[@66Roses]

If Jonathon as Dennis had visibly climbed back into position, audibly gotten comfortable, and then shouted "Buzz" I would have questioned nothing. In fact I can't think of anything funnier to "go wrong" than that.

[@PassionPi]

Oh that’s such a good idea!

[@harryturner8701]

Definitely I think if they ever have a blooper in the show they should just incorporate it

[@cassidyjohnson2207]

Honestly, I don’t think anyone (not even the producers filmmakers camera crew or rest of the cast and writing team would have either

[@davidesimonetti8989]

Honestly such a great opportunity missed!

[@stipfedart]

They should’ve kept in John’s error, have him rush back into the telegram, and then go “beep!”. Would’ve been magical.

[@slitor]

The play that goes wrong....goes wrong.

[@AlexanderWandering]

These things tend to go: Everyone else: Jonathan just made this super fun and brought absolute mayhem and chaos Jonathan: *proceeds to describe his role as an inanimate object as the most challenging highlight of his acting career*

[@DeathnoteBB]

The moose head

[@phousefilms]

The wrong messages being sent through kills me. "The War is over!" "NO IT ISN'T!"

[@oscargill423]

What I find even funnier is that they actually read what's on the messages as if the actual line wasn't written in the script, or as if they actually think that their troupe of all troupes is more reliable in that department than just memorising the script.

[@eleanorhadfield2844]

I’d love to see extended versions. Some of the cut material sounds like comedy gold 😂

[@MischiefComedy]

Transmission received, loud and clear!

[@vii6429]

@@staceymarcon1111 THERES GONNA BE A SEASON TWO??

[@mattwood1562]

@@Blayze That’s more just the Christmas special that was released in December haha (though it does say 2.1)

[@CinemaBiohazard]

@@MischiefComedy Can we also get the disturbing Churchill scene where he succeeds in pulling off his face? Now that would be worth watching.

[@misterhoeflak]

Seconded.

[@themastersmadface8241]

The look of desperation on his face and then "I'm Winston Churchill" always gets me

[@postbunnie]

It made me laugh extra hard because the first time I watched it, after the nth “I’m not Winston Churchill,” I said out loud, “Then who are you?” And then he said the “I’m Winston Churchill.” And I laughed so hard.

[@attiasprouse682]

“He hates being picked up so... Whoa... There’s a cat there!” Favorite part of this.

[@davidnissim589]

Nancy with the body double is one of the best parts. How was she able to get from the bathroom to behind the closet to the mirror without being seen?

[@Ghargr18]

'I was just under a table for 7 hours a day, which is a bit of a weird way to make a livng. But that's chairs for you' hahaha, he cracks me up

[@Waggers789]

My favourite part of this episode is the body double part with Nancy and the shower, it’s so clever and makes me laugh so much..... still can’t work out who’s body it is lol.

[@MischiefComedy]

That would be the amazing Jack Heasman!

[@Waggers789]

Mischief Theatre he looks great 😜☺️

[@putrijoyceirawati2638]

Yes! And the ways they took to hide his face, the binoculars hilarious!!

[@Truthoscope91]

@@MischiefComedy Can he post his fitness routines somewhere? I mean, damn

[@CoRLex-jh5vx]

@@Truthoscope91 it's all just from having to hold stuff over his face constantly

[@ethansloan]

I want to see someone produce an actual performance of The Pilot. Have the whole thing go right, just to highlight how batshit insane the story is all on its own.

[@greythomas6199]

i think watching episodes and thinking what it would be like if everything went right

[@RJ-wx3fh]

i think a if they get a third series, a 2 part 'goes right show' like the drama festival where cornley have been contracted to rerecord them could be a good as an anthology of sorts- the 'goes right' version would probably be shorter too than the full original episodes, so they could maybe pick 2 or 3 for each episode.

[@awmperry]

I can’t help but think it would have been funny to have Sayer scurrying in from the wings quietly muttering “sorry... sorry...”

[@MischiefComedy]

To steal a line from Chris Bean: "Excuse me..."

[@Michelle-fz7wm]

They should’ve made that part of the show!

[@kirstenfarr5071]

Nah, look through the window and just say beep and the rest of the cast look round. Followed by sorry I had to go to the toilet and scurry past them back to the machine as they all look dumb founded.

[@stipfedart]

It would’ve been amazing

[@spacewarpphotography1667]

He seems to have missed the irony that the Goes Wrong show went wrong!

[@tealcandtrip]

I love that Jonathan is taking this so much more seriously and informative than everybody else. God, I love your company.

[@MischiefComedy]

We love our Mischief Makers too!

[@FrenkTheJoy]

My favorite part is, after all the historical inaccuracies, they reveal that it's *1961*.

[@ellenkingsley]

I love it how Charlie is struggling not to laugh when Dave gets himself tangled up

[@ells787]

"To hell...with...the test!" was definitely one of my favourite lines in this one! All of it was funny, but that and Vanessa's failed phrases in different languages are what come to mind when I think of this episode 😂

[@phousefilms]

Lmao, my favourite scenes in this episode have to be everyone trying to "go upstairs"and cramming themselves into the closet(including Chris with the coat rack), Dennis giving the wrong information in the telegrams("The war is over..." "NO IT ISN'T!"), Cassandra getting hurt and the attempted sayings in foreign languages that were just song lines.

[@theboogeyman2590]

frere jacque

[@oscargill423]

I'm shocked none of them were included here

[@ellenkingsley]

The cat is so cute I love the scene in The Pilot when Charlie,Bryony and Henry are all in the cupboard and a telegram arrives and Henry says "About Time makes me laugh every time

[@MischiefComedy]

We're adding the cat to Mischief's Hall of Fame for Animals: Ruffles, Winston, the cat!

[@oliviab.2374]

@@MischiefComedy Now, with Series Two, we will say welcome to Monty!

[@phousefilms]

@@oliviab.2374 Everyone will want to feel Monty's little....

[@phousefilms]

Pause.

[@theangrymob8231]

Charlie's expression at 11:53 when The Cat popped up made me absolutely lose it! :P

[@ifmusicbethefoodofloveplay8076]

Really wish they could have released an extended version featuring any content that was cut from the episode that was aired!

[@MischiefComedy]

Thanks for your suggestion! 🤗

[@misskit123]

It frankly amazes me how they manage to keep it together as much as they do, when they're all just so flipping funny. Charlie laughing just reminds us that they're human after all. (It's so good!)

[@JavertRA]

I remember watching "Peter Pan" and "Christmas Carol" and loving them so it was great when I saw the show had been made. We were doing a panto that was going badly at the time so I said "Perhaps we ought to plan what to do if we go wrong so it doesnt look so bad." It actually worked.

[@oscargill423]

Amazing that one can actually learn something even from The Goes Wrong series.

[@Blayze]

Should've worked Dennis shuffling in from off-screen into the final recording.

[@MischiefComedy]

*Shuffles awkwardly into shot* Buzz...

[@unsuspectingspoon2662]

Mischief Theatre if Dennis plays a machine or something similar again you really should do this

[@jenniferbuckley7353]

Saw this being recorded and such a fun night. I can hear my laughter in the background, but yes when they did the scene with the fax and he wasn’t in there, the laughter just went through the roof as literally the whole scene was going supposedly perfect for a goes wrong take and then it turned out he was missing so the reactions from the cast where pissed off and you can kind of see it in the second take....

[@eseobahor945]

Now i want a list of all the fish puns they had to cut

[@harrywithanh]

Maybe at another time in another *plaice*

[@eseobahor945]

@@harrywithanh I think you need to scale it back.

[@MischiefComedy]

@@eseobahor945 We've just about haddock with these puns! 😂

[@eseobahor945]

@@MischiefComedy not bad, cod do better. If you think of any others let minnow

[@kevinbiggs8572]

The episode was funny enough without them, so it's probably just as whale.

[@Xenotric]

honestly if he'd just called out beep from the sidelines that would have been hilarious

[@GregJamesMusic]

Or run back onstage while the camera was rolling, which does sound like something Dennis would do.

[@gryffinkat]

How is it possible that they watched that entire episode and never talked about the body gag?! I am dying to know who was playing the buff body for Nanc's Wickham!!

[@mattamys]

I absolutely love watching these watch-a-longs, such a great insight into how you guys made this!!

[@MischiefComedy]

Thanks for watching with us Matt! We've loved creating them!

[@joshuacrafts9284]

I would love to hear the fish puns sometime!

[@JavertRA]

Anyone else think that Sandra's character looks like Agent Carter in this? Also, listening to these and the podcasts make Jonathan Sayer seem as dizzy as Dennis at times (though without the stupidity0).

[@crazyt1483]

I really want a episode where the actors are given a goes write script/ with only the goes wrongs that need to have pre knowledge and then the crew sabotage them and they just need to act it out.

[@browncoatkevin]

Did the fish puns actually exist, or was that just another red herring?

[@joeminchinton]

Don't know they would have felt out of plaice

[@MasonJulianGregory]

@@joeminchinton You’re really floundering with that pun.

[@joeminchinton]

@@MasonJulianGregory you don't need to be coi,I have a tuna good fish puns, if you want I cod do some more

[@cantthinkofaname3344]

@@joeminchinton cod rest our soles after this

[@spacewarpphotography1667]

7:30 Jonathan described how he caused a long take to fail, and utterly missed the irony that the Goes Wrong Show went wrong!

[@esmeecampbell7396]

If they'd gone back and recorded a bit of "Dennis" leaving the photocopier they could have kept the bit where he comes back on and says I had to go to the bathroom "but I didn't have time" Which would have been the ultimate peak British humour, the toilet gag.😂 To go with all the trou down gags 😂

[@DarkOtakuGaming]

You know, the bathroom bits could have worked. Everybody look at the machine and say the last sentence and we see Denis get back inside and say in the machine voice "BEEEEP Sorry, i was in the bathroom" xD

[@AnAverageSortaGuy]

Do the jokes never get old? Assuming they've seen the episode a couple of times now. Love seeing them finding it as funny as first time viewers!

[@ronharmsen8466]

Seriously that split screen scene is comedy gold! You all are comedic geniuses!

[@karlhoward2737]

I would love to see these shows longer with everything included….the whole Gone Wrong experience…..what brilliant comedy….thanks guys

[@joffbrown]

Really great love seeing back stage or people talking about the show

[@MischiefComedy]

Thanks! We love our Mischief Makers sharing these behind the scenes bits!

[@mediakira6621]

Love it. I love it all. My only regret is I didn’t see Play That Goes Wrong when you guys were doing it. However, it is great to see what you started continue and I adore your work. Congratulations

[@jujukats8]

Watching the Goes Wrong Show and your other specials have helped me deal with my depression through quarantine. Thank you so much!!!

[@MrJotaroStar]

I have loads of fan art of The Play That Goes Wrong of Insepector Carter, Thomas Collyemoore, Perkins, Florence Collyemoore, Cecil Haversham, Charles Haversham, and The Stage Mangers

[@MischiefComedy]

Amazing! Great to hear you're making Mischief yourself!

[@MrJotaroStar]

Thank you Mischief Theatre you people are so nice!!!😀😀😀

[@JosephCWest]

These videos are keeping me going in lockdown XD

[@MischiefComedy]

👍

[@samuellawrencesbookclub8250]

You know I'd actually pay good money to see a goes right version

[@tiffanym8494]

It could be goes wrong goes right, like a task failed successfully. They make many mistakes but they all get fixed by sheer luck of other mistakes. What I wouldn't do for this to be real

[@postbunnie]

@@tiffanym8494 or is it?

[@evambknl6546]

I love this series every time me and my family watch them we all end up dying with laughter, I got a stitch in this episode because I was laughing so hard!!! I’m hoping for a season 2 because these are the funniest things I’ve ever seen !

[@MeganSin]

I don’t know who I love more Charlie and Dave or Charlie and Dave’s cat...???

[@row8756]

I wish you guys would do more episodes of the goes wrong show, they're brilliant!

[@Kyrean86]

This is great to see, adore every show that i've seen and so happy to see and hear more of the behind the scenes. Hope to see even more of the cast in other episodes if possible!

[@Rileyann130]

I love that Jonathan is wearing a boy meets world shirt lol love that show

[@SilverHatch1600]

Jonathan always has a favourite ever thing every episode

[@ashfuller3480]

These would be great extras for the DVD or Blu-Ray and Charlie and Dave's cat is the best

[@MischiefComedy]

Thanks Ash! Great suggestion for Series 2 for sure!

[@ashfuller3480]

@@MischiefComedy Always happy to help, I would love to see more merchandise like t-shirts as well

[@RespectMyArthurity]

Get the fish puns into the Dr. Frog play, Jonathan!

[@harmonicajay91]

This might be my favorite Jonathan as Dennis role.

[@alicecheesbrough-heath8344]

Series 2 is now put and I want a new series of goes wrong alongs for them

[@TheInternetHelpdeskPlays]

Time for my yearly go through of all these again. I just introduced these to my mum, shes addicted now.

[@thomaspalazzolo5902]

I really love this whole series, and I hope you kept the customized telegraph box and can now nip off to hide in it when you need alone time.

[@pauladams1915]

They should have done this with a split screen, so we can see what they're referring to

[@williamnethercott4364]

I just love everything they do, very funny.

[@thedesignresults]

I watch the reruns ALL the time..so funny!

[@giles852002]

With that wig on she reminded me of Hayley Atwell in Captain America.

[@benjaminfaulknor9588]

Oh it would have been perfect if you walked onto the live set, get back into the machine and say beep

[@postbunnie]

I KNEW IT!!! I was watching that today and thinking to myself that it would be very meta-comity if it actually WAS the pilot. It was only after the third time the Director assured the audience that It was NOT the pilot did I suspect it WAS.

[@dreamwolf7554]

I love the cat and the little hissed "stop it", ha pets are the best

[@charlotteillustration5778]

With so many sections cut because of time constraints, would it be possible to release extended versions? I am sure that they would be a success!

[@duncanwatson9054]

I love all the episodes but the Pilot episode is my favourite.

[@punkwrestle]

Why didn’t they just leave the missed beep in, seems like it would have fit...

[@joeberryman3563]

Why wasn't the extra footage on the DVD? I wanna see!

[@andy-roob6945]

Too bad you didn’t talk about the interrogation scene, the part with the lie detector. That and the phone call were my favorite moments from this episode.

[@monkeymanbob]

Knowing that there was material cut, I do hope someone made the sensible decision of putting the uncut episodes on the dvd (why no blu-ray, huh?) so that they become even more desirable than a slow burn to the camera from Charlie.

[@markwalford-groom]

2 a m on the 20th april , just found and watched this and realise im watching in the wrong order

[@MischiefComedy]

Or if you've done them in the wrong order... surely that's the RIGHT way for Goes Wrong!

[@markwalford-groom]

@@MischiefComedy ooooo a notification to tell me you replied.....and a new Christmas show ...to perouse just after easter

[@thedukeofnuts]

Looking crestfallen: "I'm Winston Churchill."

[@tanks4nuthin964]

The "fun fact" about his boots fucking killed me hahaha

[@RileySkye100]

Will there ever be the possibility of releasing a Blu-Ray set of all the episodes uncut and uncensored and such? I would really love to see all the deleted scenes, including the bit with Stalin with no trousers. lol

[@sarahbonder731]

I’m so curious, what’s the pilot’s actual ending ? who is he, other than Not Winston Churchill ?

[@matthewgg9286]

I think he's either the Nazi spy or Hitler. We'll never know

[@norbitonflyer5625]

I hadn't realised this was the actual first show (other than the TV versions of the staged productions) So many of the CADS (Cornley Amateur Dramatic Society's) regular fails first appear here - Sandra's problems with wigs (which culminate in "Summer Once Again" when it catches fire), Jonathan's inability to get out of anything from a suit of armour (Shakespeare) to a phone box (Jailbreak) to a room (nearly every episode) starts here with his Churchill mask - although the gag really starts when Chris (as Scrooge) can't get into his shop but Jonathan can get out. And of course, Bryony Corrigan (this being her actual first outing as a named character, although I like to think that, as Cornley are amateurs (in every sense of the word) Vanessa's actual job is receptionist at the BBC (as seen in Christmas Carol) and, like Annie after (well, during!) Haversham Grange, she has decided to come from backstage (as she was in Peter Pan) to become one of the acting team. Steven Fry, talking of Hugh Laurie, once said that acting "Being Hit" is very difficult to do convincingly (the hitting part is easy) but Bryony does it so well and it rapidly becomes Vanessa's trade mark as the series progresses (along with Sticking To The Script Come What May ("Would you carve the rump?") and being hopeless at ad libbing (especially in a foreign language, as in this episode). (and yes, of course a key element of the Play that Goes Wrong is an actress being hit in the face)

[@allancuseo7431]

So wonderful

[@keytohearts]

Is the actor who plays Dennis wearing a Boy meets world T-shirt? If so he is winning at life!!

[@hammerman199374]

If you pause this vid at 14:19, Greg with those prosthetics looks like Michael Shannon (plays General Zod in Man of Steel).

[@resolutepath5752]

PETITION TO POST THE FISH PUNS

[@Spartacus005]

I love your cat so much it's so cute!

[@BacadoTheSkoggy]

I need to hear those fish puns now

[@bloodmoon0205]

Are Dave and Charlie together in real life or are they just flatmates?

[@ellenkingsley]

Would be so cute if they are together

[@kirstygraceanderson6317]

They are!

[@ellenkingsley]

@@kirstygraceanderson6317 omg are they really?!

[@danielmorrison2376]

on the podcast i'm pretty sure Dave said they were together

[@kirstygraceanderson6317]

Yeah, I think Bryony said on one of her lives that they had been dating for a while

[@Cinemagic53]

That does it, we need a loo cam for these performances too. Half the action is there, apparently!

[@silencespectrereaper]

I wish they would have kept Stalin with no trousers in! That would have been something to behold!!!!

[@luma4902]

I wanna see the extended cut of these episodes heck i wanna see one in theater but you guys are far far far away 😅

[@emilybetts6703]

Please please please do one of these for series 2 and a Christmas Carol goes wrong please!!!

[@Derezzed5555]

Absolutely loved the Machine/Enigma bits. Me? xD

[@leefisher6366]

3:12 - Don't you mean you were always trying to GET OUT! GET OUT!

[@laurieellington163]

I love fish puns. I'd love to hear them.

[@stephenmuirhead2615]

For the love of Cod! Nooo! They'd probably be a load of pollocks!

[@tethfrute3569]

Please have the fish puns in season 2!

[@MrJotaroStar]

Dave and Charlie are you folks together I have fan art of them of Dave as Cecil Haversham and Charlie as Florence Collyemoore from The Play That Goes Wrong

[@ellenkingsley]

Yes they are together

[@MischiefComedy]

Sandra and Max forever! 💖

[@MrJotaroStar]

Sandra and Max forever!!!!!! ❤️❤️💖💖💗💗💗 Go team Mischief!!!!

[@thewizofpants]

They should release '"The Goes Wrong Show" Goes Wrong' the bloopers and deleted scenes from filming.

[@vickylewis8558]

Poor old Stalin! He must have been gutted.

[@tetchuma]

Where can we see the cut material?!?!?!

[@Matt561]

corpsing in the pilot? send for the man!!

[@AGBDYM]

If he wasn’t the real Winston Churchill, who was that man????

[@juliamavroidi8601]

Release the No Trousers Stalin Cut!

On the Goes Wrong Show, some things *really* did go wrong. Which is of course only natural. :D

[@nimeshgadhavi1636]

Where can i watch Play that goes wrong and bank robbery??? Please suggest...

[@slitor]

What is my CAT! Doing there?!