Nathan Barley

Nathan Barley first aired on Channel 4 in February 2005, meaning it recently celebrated its third glorious year of existence. Even longer, in fact, if you include the time Nathan Barley was imagined in the form of fake TV listings in TV Go Home. If you’ve ever worked in (or even walked through) Shoreditch, you’ll either love or resent Chris Morris and Charlie Brooker’s creation.

Nathan Barley (”aka as trashbat dot co.ck”) is played by Nicholas Burns. He has a mobile phone with a “massive number 5 cos it’s the most common number” and embodies many of the things Charlie Brooker hates about the world. On the other side of the idiot spectrum is the thoughtful, frustrated Dan Ashcroft (Julian Barratt), a misunderstood hero railing against the world. That includes not just Barley, but Ashcroft’s boss Jonatton Yeah? (the ? was added by deed poll) and the rest of the staff (including Ned, played by the excellent Richard Ayoade) of the uber-hip SugarApe culture magazine at which Ashcroft finds himself working.

Here’s just the first chunk of the first episode. Parts two and three of episode one are on YouTube too, and although you’ll find the rest of the series online pretty easily you’ll probably end up wanting to buy the DVD or something. The first part below might well be enough to get you hooked, since it contains some amazing moments. Look out for Nathan Barley describing himself as a “self-facilitating media node” and Dan’s increasingly prophetic description of idiots using their “hand-held twit machines”.

Totally jackson.