A video of Ian McKellen and John Bishop hatching from a giant golden egg on The One Show has been going viral on social media.
As one of the most unpredictable and eclectic shows on British television, The One Show has undoubtedly produced some brilliant – and, more often than not, questionable – moments over the years since it first aired on our screens back in 2006.
Airing each weeknight on BBC One, The One Show is described as a magazine-style show that tackles current affairs and other issues in the UK by using a mix of interviews, topical stories, and features – with regular contributors taking to the big red sofa to present reports on everything from history and wildlife, to consumer affairs, health and medicine, and so much more.
Let’s just say, it’s a variety show in the true sense of the word.
Yet, despite the fact we’ve grown to become fairly unfazed by what happens on the show nowadays, we have to hold our hands up and say we never imagined we’d see the day Sir Ian McKellen and John Bishop hatched from a giant golden egg live on national television.
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A video of this quite frankly bizarre moment has been doing the rounds on social media since it hit our screens last night, and it’s fair to say viewers are baffled by the whole thing.
To briefly sum up what happened in the short nine-second video – which has already racked up tens of thousands of views, and plenty confused comments – presenters Jermaine Jenas and Lauren Laverne are seen standing outside the BBC studios, and without any wider context, Laverne proceeds to announce the pair’s entrance.
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“Crack open the egg… please welcome, Ian McKellen and John Bishop,” Laverne exclaims.
Laverne and Jenas then lend a hand to help one of Britain’s most-revered and beloved actors, and the hugely-popular Liverpudlian comedian step safely out of the giant golden egg.
And that’s it, that’s the end of the video.
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A video of Ian McKellen and John Bishop hatching from a giant golden egg on The One Show has been going viral / Credit: BBC OneViewers have been left completely baffled by the whole thing / Credit: BBC
As hilarious and completely nonsensical as the clipped version of the video is, and while it may not seem like an explanation for it is good enough, there is actually a reason why McKellen and Bishop have been travelling the country inside the giant golden egg, and it’s because the pair are due to star alongside one another in a new pantomime called Mother Goose that’s heading out on a big UK tour.
The pantomime tells the story of Mother Goose and her husband Vic, who run an animal sanctuary and live a wholesome life inside an abandoned Debenhams department store – but the sudden arrival of a goose causes upheaval.
During the launch for the pantomime, it’s actually become a bit of a tradition for McKellen and Bishop to introduce themselves by hatching out the giant golden egg and then posing for photos with co-stars, so even though The One Show viewers couldn’t wrap their heads around it, this isn’t the first time the pair have made this kind of an entrance.
This hasn’t stopped people on Twitter from chipping in with their commentary though.
Popular television critic Scott Bryan – who goes by @scottygb on Twitter – has had a hand in making the short video go viral by sharing it to his 94,000 followers and aptly branding the clip “peak One Show”, which is hard to deny.
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Why is there an egg? Why is Lauren Laverne introducing a drumroll for the egg? Why is Ian McKellan and John Bishop in the egg?
He also then posed a series of questions as a follow-up, which let’s be honest, we were all thinking ourselves – “Why is there an egg? Why is Laverne introducing a drumroll for the egg? Why is Ian McKellen and John Bishop in the egg?”
BBC Radio 5 Live presenter Clare McDonnell also then commented on the video saying: “I walked past that earlier… if only I’d known… how long did they keep them in there?”
“Imagine some cheese induced nightmare where you were trapped inside an egg with Sir Ian McKellen and John Bishop,” another viewer commented.
This is why I love British light entertainment. It really gives you everything you want, even if you never even imagined you wanted Sir Ian McKellan and John Bishop coming out of a giant golden egg.
A fourth person then gave a brilliant analysis on the situation.
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“This is why I love British light entertainment. It really gives you everything you want, even if you never even imagined you wanted Sir Ian McKellan and John Bishop coming out of a giant golden egg,” – and we couldn’t have phrased it any better ourselves.
Featured Image – BBC
Trending
Met Office launches nationwide search for new storm names and wants YOU to pick
Emily Sergeant
Is your grandma a force of nature? Does your best friend cause an impact wherever they go? Now you can give them the recognition they deserve…
By naming a storm after them, of course.
We know all the talk is about heatwaves at the moment, especially after weather forecasters have recently predicted that the UK is in for a ‘hotter than average’ summer this year, but let’s turn our eye to the upcoming storm season for a second, shall we?
That’s right – the Met Office is inviting the public to submit their suggestions for storm names for the upcoming 2025/26 season.
Now in its eleventh year, the Met Office works with Met Éireann in Ireland and KNMI in the Netherlands to compile the list every time the season rolls around, and this headline-grabbing naming initiative helps the media and the public communicate about the impacts of severe weather events more easily and effectively.
As part of the naming process, each of the three meteorological organisations will get to name storms using selected letters, with the aim being to reflect the diversity of the three countries, and in-keeping with usual storm naming conventions, names will be picked for every letter of the alphabet except for Q, U, X, Y and Z.
According to the Met Office, a number of factors are considered for a name to be on the list – including how difficult it might be to pronounce, if the name has different meanings in different countries, and if it could be considered controversial in some way.
Once the list of names is decided upon, it will be formally announced by the Met Office in September when storm season begins.
The Met Office has launched a nationwide search for new storm names and wants you to pick / Credit: Wikimedia Commons
“The storm naming system has helped us communicate weather to help people stay safe,” commented Will Lang, who is the Chief Meteorologist at the Met Office, “and wow we need the UK public to help us compile a new list.
“Whether you want to honour a weather-lover in your family, remember a family pet, or get a friend’s name in the headlines, we welcome submissions from the public to help us pull together next year’s list of storm names.”
People can only submit their names online via the submissions page here, where there’s also the option of adding a reason for the suggestion, and must not be submitted via social media as they will not be counted.
You have until 3 July 2025 to make your submissions, and the new list will be revealed in early September.
Featured Image – Johannes Plenio (via Unsplash)
Trending
First Look: Fitzpatrick’s – Stockport’s new Irish Bar gets off to a stunning start
Danny Jones
Stockport has a brand new Irish bar as the growing Greater Manchester trend continues, with Fitzpatrick’s officially debuting to the public on Thursday, 19 June.
Taking over the former Bask site just outside the train station, Fitzpatrick’s is the borough’s answer to American sports bar meets an Irish pub and grill, with live music, a wide array of food and more.
We had the privilege of walking in on opening day, and the place was absolutely packed to the rafters from the off, and we didn’t even stay until the end. More fool us…
We had a grand auld time seeing @fitzstockport open their doors yesterday evening. ☘️
As you can see, it hasn’t taken them any time at all to get an atmosphere going; good weather on their inaugural day, but the free-flowing beer, classic pub food flying out of the kitchen, and musicians reeling off classic Irish folk music did most of the heavy lifting.
Plus, that beer garden and covered outdoor terrace area are pretty perfect in any weather, to be fair.
The scran on their maiden evening mainly consisted of pizza, chips and other easy-to-serve-up plates as they gradually ease into the first week or so of service, but with a full menu of burgers, pies, breakfasts and even Sunday roasts to come, we’re very excited to try the full gamut.
Regardless, the staff were pulling pints like pros, John himself had plenty of involvement greeting people and getting behind the bar, and the atmosphere was buzzing from minute one.
ln fact, that was arguably the best part about it all: there was that genuine feeling of a new community cornerstone being born, with the well-known Stopfordian reeling off names and recognising what seemed like almost every face that walked through the door.
You don’t get that everywhere.
A lay of the land at Fitzpatrick’s Stockport. (Credit: The Manc Eats)
Although this was their first proper day of trading, they had already gauged the kind of crowds they could expect by soft launching with friends and family last week.
That being said, as mentioned, there was a real tight-knit, community feel to the place, full of County kits, young families and older couples alike, all of whom seemed to be dovetailing together as if the pub had always been around.
SK is often dubbed one of those places where everyone kind of knows everyone, even despite how big the town is as a whole, and this definitely felt like proof of that perception.
Of course, there is some familiarity with the space having previously been Bask, but the location of the stage, a newly decked out bar and the large jumbo-tron style TV set-up for live sport in the centre of the room (providing prime viewing from virtually all angles) have made a big difference.
Based solely on the hordes of people that piled into the place the second the doors opened, we can’t wait to see what the gaff is like once it’s in so-called ‘full swing’. John and his team might just be on to something big here.
Speaking to The Manc, he said: “As a local lad, I wanted to put something into the space that reflects a lot of my history and culture. Music, food, sport and a great atmosphere are all things I love, so I wanted to reflect that in this gorgeous space.”
Open 4-11 from Tuesday to Thursday, 2pm until late on Fridays, and the same only from 1pm at weekends, we can imagine Stockport punters are about to be spending a lot of time in Fitzpatrick’s.
Emily Sergeant -
20th October 2022 
