Joe Lycett will take on water companies amid the UK’s “sewage crisis” for a new Channel 4 documentary, Joe Lycett vs Poo.
Billed as an investigation into “how our waterways have become so polluted and why water companies have been allowed to taint one of our most precious resources”, his hour-long documentary will be released in 2024.
The comedian had been teasing the public with a stunt to launch his fake podcast, Turdcast, in which a giant inflatable toilet he dubbed the Turdis accidentally leaked fake sewage into Liverpoool Docks.
The spillage was later revealed to be marine mud, which had no environmental or biological impact on the area.
“Thought I’d record a little video to explain what’s been going on over the last few days and give my side of the story,” Lycett, 35, said in a clip shared to his social media channels.
“What I like to do is big stunts that get people talking about the big issues... On this occasion, everything went exactly to plan. Of course I didn’t spill raw sewage into the Royal Albert dock. I’m not spilling s*** into public everywhere, who do you think I am, GB News?”
Turdcast was never a real podcast, he continued, but instead a stunt to get people talking about the billions of litres of sewage being spilled into Britain’s waterways every year.
Just this week, a damning report revealed that untreated sewage is being dumped in UK waters 1,000 times each day.
Sewage is discharged into Earlswood brook from the nearby treatment works, run by Thames Water on April 13, 2023 in South Earlswood, England.— (Getty Images)
Surfers Against Sewage released its annual Water Quality Report for 2023 on 21 November. The report, which looked at data from environmental regulators across the country between October 2022 and September this year, further claims there were thousands of reports of sewage-related sickness in the same period.
“I spilled fake sewage because I wanted to get people talking about the billions of litres of real sewage that are released every year by our water companies,” Lycett said in a statement about the documentary.
“Last year, according to one analysis the water companies paid shareholders £1.4bn in dividends. That’s a lot of money that could have been used to improve the sewer network and reduce spills.
“We’re asking the water companies to stop paying dividends and instead invest the money in solving this problem.”
Lycett is asking members of the public to sign “Joe’s Poo Promise” and send it to their local water company. They can find the letter on turdcast.co.uk.
Tom Beck, head of live events and commissioning editor for Channel 4, said: “Joe is our leading mischief maker; he uses humour, wit and absolute fearlessness to call out companies, celebrities and even our politicians.
“He’s taken on the oil giants and David Beckham; now he’s highlighting one of our biggest environmental issues by diving into the murky waters of the utility companies polluting our seas and rivers.
“It will be provocative, revealing, important and feature lots of poo jokes. Who else could promise all of that?”
In previous Channel 4 specials, Lycett has taken on the oil industry, as well as footballer David Beckham and the Qatar World Cup.
The news of his latest project has been met with praise from his fans, who have commended Lycett for shining a spotlight on a pressing issue.
“Joe Lycett once again doing more for the country against the current government’s evil deeds than the actual opposition,” editor Sarah Keeling wrote on X/Twitter.
“Get Joe Lycett on the honours list please,” Lindsay Robertson wrote, while another fan called for the comedian to be installed at No 10 Downing Street.
“Excellent [Joe Lycett] strikes again to raise awareness. Spectacularly,” wrote fellow comedian Omid Djalili.
“Do watch and let’s do something about this horrendous problem once and for all.”
Meanwhile Dragons Den star Deborah Meaden commented: “Of course he didn’t and of course I knew… and if he had it would been a mistake… unlike our Water Companies regular sewage dumps! Watch out for the prog in the New Year. [Joe Lycett] genius!”
