E4 is a channel on British digital television, launched as a pay-TV companion to Channel 4 on 18 January 2001. The "E" stands for entertainment, and the channel is mainly aimed at the lucrative 15–35 age group. Programming includes US imports such as The O.C., Smallville, Veronica Mars, The Cleveland Show, Glee, Everwood, What About Brian?, Desperate Housewives, How I Met Your Mother, 90210,One Tree Hill, Scrubs, Rules of Engagement, The Big Bang Theory and formerly Friends. Other programming includes British shows such as Shameless, Hollyoaks, Skins, The Inbetweeners and Misfits. Some of the imports, e.g. Desperate Housewives and Ugly Betty are screened on E4 up to one week ahead of their Channel 4 broadcasts. Its most successful broadcast to date was on 11 October 2010 when an episode of The Inbetweeners pulled in over 3.7 million viewers.^[1] E4 uses the voiceover of Peter Dickson to advertise its programmes.

History[link]

On 16 December 2004, Channel 4 announced that the subscription channel would return to digital terrestrial television. From its launch until the closure of ITV Digital it was available as a bonus subscription channel. It became part of the Top Up TV subscription scheme until 27 May 2005, when the channel became available on Freeview, with the potential to increase advertising revenue by attracting a larger audience.

E4 was also available as part of the basic Sky satellite subscription channel package, due to a long term contract with BSkyB it only became free-to-air in 2008. This change happened on 6 May 2008 and the channel joined Freesat alongside with More4.

In May 2005, E4 introduced "First Look", showing episodes of popular programmes such as Come Dine With Me, Hollyoaks and drama series such as Lost and Invasion in advance of transmission on Channel 4.

In October 2005, More4 was launched to complement Channel 4's digital channels. ER and The West Wing subsequently moved from E4 to More4.

E4 launched a Republic of Ireland service in June 2002 which has become the second most popular non-terrestrial channel in Ireland with 1.1% of the audience; Sky1 is the most popular.^[2]

Since 2006, E4 has sponsored the E4 UdderBELLY venue (part of Underbelly) at the Edinburgh Fringe and Brighton Festival. The venue took the form of a giant upside cow in the purple colour of E4's logo.

In July 2007, it was announced Channel 4 would be launching E4 Radio, the first of a network of channels to be broadcast on DAB radio. The station was planned for launch in July 2008 and aimed at a similar demographic to its sister television channel,^[3] however this launch date was later delayed. In October 2008 Channel 4 announced it was abandoning its plans for digital radio, and thus scrapping the E4 Radio proposal.

On 14 December 2009, a high-definition simulcast of E4 launched on Sky+ HD channel 215, it was later added to Virgin Media on 1 April 2010.^[4][5] Unlike the other standard definition channels from Channel 4, which are free to air, E4 HD is only available with a subscription to either Sky's HD pack or Virgin Media's TV XL pack. Similar to this, the high-definition simulcast of its sister channel, Film4, is only available to Virgin Media's TV L and XL HD customers.^[6]

Friends[link]

In 1996, Channel 4 purchased the broadcast rights to the popular American sitcom Friends. The series proved to be very popular amongst the UK audience and Channel 4 acquired syndication rights and re-ran the series for another 7 years after the show's original run ended. In October 2011, contract with Warner Brothers came to an end and Cable/Satelite television channel Comedy Central purchased the broadcast rights and began showing episodes from November 2011 in both standard definition and high definition.

Channel programming[link]

Most watched programmes[link]

The following is a list of the ten most watched shows on E4, based on Live +7 data supplied by BARB up to 15 May 2011.^[1] The number of viewers does not include repeats or airings on E4+1.

E4 Music[link]

In August 2005, following the close of that year's Big Brother, E4 introduced the E4 Music programming block. The slot initially ran through much of the morning/daytime schedule, though was later reduced to mornings only, with the amount of scripted comedy and drama screened in daytime increased.

Prior to the launch of E4 Music, E4 was off-air during daytime for much of the year, only going on air in daytime for rolling coverage of reality shows such as Big Brother. The introduction of E4 Music led to E4 broadcasting 24/7 all year round. Initially, E4 Music would take a summer break to allow Big Brother coverage to replace it, but in later years Big Brother coverage was reduced, allowing a cut-down E4 Music to run during the summer.

In 2008, the launch of 4Music as a channel led to questions being asked about the future of E4 Music. However, E4 retained its commitment to music content, stating that E4 Music had been commissioned to run until at least the start of Big Brother in 2009.^[7]

At 10am on Thursday 4 June 2009, the day before the launch of the 2009 Big Brother series, E4 Music ceased broadcasting.

Big Brother coverage[link]

Whenever the Big Brother reality show was being transmitted, E4 devoted much of its schedule to live coverage from inside the Big Brother house; interactive features that gave access to additional camera angles have also been transmitted. The channel also had Big Brother voting options, "Big Brother" spin off shows such as Big Brother Live, Big Brother's Little Brother, Big Brother's Big Mouth, Big Brother's Diary Room Uncut and Big Brother highlights repeats. Big Brother coverage was among the highest-rating programming on the channel, and came at a time when most of the year's American imports have ended.

Promotions[link]

E4 has become somewhat notorious for its strange promotion campaigns, initially narrated by the ‘voice of E4’, Patrick Allen. Since Allen's death in 2006, the similar voice of Peter Dickson has been used. Trailers often make use of dry humour and phrases which, at first, do not appear to make any sense. Past examples include:

• “Big shiny films in your dinky little home!”
• “Coming to you, straight into your telly box”
• “Second chance Sunday — not just a bunch of repeats, honest”

Programme trailers sometimes have the narrator repeating things that characters have said, such as, in a trailer for Ugly Betty that includes one character asking Betty "Why are you crying in the bathroom?", the narrator immediately asks "Why is Betty crying in the bathroom?!". And on another occasion, he says "Oh No! Kerry Katona must be double booked." commenting on a cameo by Victoria Beckham. Sometimes the narrator appears to interact with the characters of the programme, especially notable in recent trailers for Miss Match and What About Brian.

Films are usually gently ridiculed in their promotion, such as with the voice of E4 telling viewers they "probably will" guess the ending of She's All That, naming actress Kim Cattrall as "That slaggy one from Sex and the City" when advertising Big Trouble in Little China, and re-dubbing a scene from Entrapment where the two characters are running along a rooftop before being caught in a helicopters' search light with "Catherine Zeta-Jones! This is the old man police!". There is also quite heavy use of British words which have generally fallen out of circulation, such as ‘ruddy’ and ‘gaff’.

E4's continuity sends up the channel's Friends-reliant schedule - while in the past, announcements would generally be the same for example "Now it's time to relax with Friends", more recently the announcers have been more inventive with phrases such as "....after an episode of Friends we've shown so many times the tape's gone a bit wobbly" before a Series 1 episode which indeed had a distorted soundtrack. There have only been a handful of days since the creation of E4 when Friends hasn't been shown. It was announced on 10 February 2010 that E4 and Channel 4 would stop airing the programme in Autumn 2011.^[8]

On one occasion when a playout-error caused part of an episode of Desperate Housewives to be repeated, continuity announcer Dominic O'Shea said, "I know we repeat ourselves a lot on E4 but that was of course a technical fault. Hopefully we'll have it fixed by the time it's repeated on Sunday,"[2] playing on the fact that many of E4's imported American drama programmes are shown at least twice for each episode.

Following the US premiere of Glee the first episode was aired as a sneak peek on 15 December 2009, one month before the actual premiere. Due to the launch of the second series of 90210 and the UK premiere of Glee both premiered with a "double bill" effect, the first two episodes of the second series of 90210 ("To New Beginnings" and "To Sext or Not to Sext") was screened on 5 January 2010, with the first two episodes of Glee ("Pilot" - which was already screened on 15 December 2009 as a sneak-peek and "Showmance") on 11 January 2010. The Cleveland Show and Accidentally on Purpose also premiered like this.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Graham Kibble-White (2001). "Friday Night Every Night". Off the Telly. http://offthetelly.co.uk/?page_id=1844. 
• Ian Jones (2001). "Countdown to E4". Off the Telly. http://offthetelly.co.uk/?page_id=1857. 
• Ian Jones, Jack Kibble-White, and Graham Kibble-White (2001). "The ABC of E4". Off the Telly. http://offthetelly.co.uk/?page_id=1859. 
• Ian Jones and Graham Kibble-White (2002). "Big Thursday". Off the Telly. http://offthetelly.co.uk/?page_id=1864. 
• Burrell, Ian (7 December 2009). "Is this a magic formula to attract young people back to television?". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/is-this-a-magic-formula-to-attract-young-people-back-to-television-1835376.html. Retrieved 7 December 2009. 

External links[link]

• Official website

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Sarah Barnes is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera Hollyoaks, played by Loui Batley. She debuted on-screen during the episode airing on 10 October 2005. Sarah was created by executive producer David Hanson as part of the Barnes family. In 2009 Batley quit the serial in order to pursue other projects. Although the character is no longer part of current story lines, she has been central to many key story lines, one of the earliest the high profile gay storyline involving "supercouple" John Paul McQueen and Craig Dean. The theme of sexuality was further explored through Sarah, seeing her have a relations with Zoe Carpenter and a serious relationship with Lydia Hart, which Batley initially found strange to portray because of Sarah many relationships with male characters. Other story lines include her embarkment on a modelling career, competing in swimming competitions and her many relationships. According to Batley, Sarah relies on people too much for support and was "man-crazy" in her early years. Sarah's final storyline is her death in a skydiving accident, which was a first for a British soap opera. The storyline aired in the second series of Hollyoaks Later and was devised by producer Bryan Kirkwood. Sarah's death scene won "Spectacular Scene Of The Year" at the British Soap Awards in 2010 and the scenes have been praised by certain critics.

Casting[link]

Auditions were held for the part of Sarah, the eldest daughter of the Barnes family and actress Loui Batley secured the role. On 1 July 2009, Digital Spy reported that Loui Batley had quit the soap and would leave towards the end of the year.^[2] Loui's decision matched co-worker Zoë Lister (Zoë Carpenter). The Hollyoaks website officially announced on 23 July 2009 that both Batley and Lister would leave towards the end of that year. Their final storyline was described as a "A tragic curtain call for one of them", stating that either Sarah or Zoë would die.^[3] Batley wanted to quit the serial in December 2008 when her contract ran out. Kirkwood asked her to stay another six months with the promise of a good exit storyline. The plot also involved Zoe and Lydia Hart (Lydia Kelly).^[4] She made it clear to Kirkwood and new executive producer Lucy Allan that she would leave afterward. Allan then came up with the idea of writing Batley out of the serial in its sister show Hollyoaks Later.^[4] Upon hearing Kirkwood's ideas for her exit storyline, Batley said: "I've been there for quite a while and it was a great ending for the character - I couldn't have asked for a better way to go..."^[4] Hollyoaks Later producer Bryan Kirkwood said: "Loui's been brilliant in Hollyoaks and she's massively underrated. She's been at the centre of some of the biggest storylines on the main show. She never turned in a performance less than top-notch and I wish she had a little more recognition for that. She's a very strong actress and it's been fantastic to work with her - and great to be involved in her exit."^[5]

Development[link]

Craig's affair[link]

In 2007, Sarah discovered fiancé Craig Dean's (Guy Burnet) affair with best friend John Paul McQueen (James Sutton), in the storyline dubbed "McDean". The storyline reached its climax as the truth is revealed "dramatically" at her engagement party.^[6] Sarah walked in on the pair kissing, A Hollyoaks spokesperson stated in an interview with Digital Spy, "John Paul's sick of all the lies and decides enough is enough. He sends a text from Craig's phone asking Sarah to come upstairs to see him. Safe in the knowledge that Sarah is on her way, JP sets about seducing Craig. When she walks in, she can't believe when she's looking at..."^[7] Sarah tried to recover from this and Batley said: "I don't think she got over Rhys, either. Craig more so, though. He absolutely destroyed her happiness and belief in men. Her relationship with Craig was going to be her life and she put so much effort into it, emotionally and physically, and it completely destroyed her."^[4] Batley said Sarah could not handle the fact he cheated on her with another man. She opined this was the reason her storyline with Zoe and Lydia worked well.^[4] However John Paul's betrayal also had impact on Sarah's life because he was one of her best friends. Batley said: "John Paul was her confidante and she thought they were best friends - it's hard to say which part made more of an impact on her. It was all just one horrible experience. It was the betrayal from both of them."^[4]

Sexuality[link]

Sexuality continued to be a focal point in Sarah's storyline. The new plot featured Sarah questioning her sexuality after a one-night-stand with Zoë. Speaking to Digital Spy, Batley said Sarah and Zoe always been close. Zoe is the best friend she has ever had because in her life people have always let her down, whereas Zoe has been "her rock"; despite their fall outs.^[9] Batley felt this to be the reason why they share a mutual friendly love for one another. In comparison, Sarah's feeling intensified and Batley commented: "For Sarah it's something more - she completely relies on her and that turns into love for her as well."^[9] Whilst filming the raunchy scenes, there was a nervous atmosphere on set.^[10]

Sarah then embarked on her first full relationship with a woman, with Lydia. The pair have a series of "misunderstandings" until Sarah admits her feelings for Lydia and comes out.^[11] Batley spoke of the storyline during an interview with The Sun branding her relationship with Lydia as serious compared to her fling with Zoe.^[8] The rocky relationship led to Lydia being jealous of Sarah and Zoë's friendship, and eventually Sarah's death within the show.

When asked if she thought Sarah had come to terms with the fact she is a lesbian, Batley said: "I don't know because from the beginning, Sarah was always boy crazy, so for her, I don't think it's about being one way or the other — I think she's just very clingy.^[12] Batley also gave her views on how Sarah should have to developed, opining it would have been good for her to spend more time on her own, be herself and learn who she really is. She felt that Sarah had to often clung on to people and believing that ultimately it would make her happy. Sarah tries this notion with Zoe, describing this Batley added: "I think that's what happened with Zoe as well because they were such good friends. With Lydia, she brought something to her and she got on with her and was sparky, which is something that Sarah liked. I don't know if she'd suddenly turned, though. Maybe she was more bisexual than anything."^[12]

Exit[link]

Loui Batley (pictured) filming her final scenes for Hollyoaks at Tatenhill Airfield, Staffordshire.

Alongside Batley's departure, it was that revealed Lister, who plays Zoe, would also leave the show. The exit storyline was described as a "tragic skydiving death" caused by a jealous Lydia.^[13] Prior to transmition of the skydiving, Lister had explained the storyline during an interview with Sky TV. She said Lydia initially severed a parachute to end her own life, later deciding to cut Zoe's parachute so she could have Sarah to herself.^[14] She also explained that viewers were not permitted to know who would have parachute. The parachute mix up was described as the storyline's "dramatic twist".^[14] Speaking on how Zoe's friendship with Sarah causes Lydia to commit her actions, Lister stated:

It was revealed that cast members filmed on a number of location settings. One of these included an army barracks.^[14] They also filmed scenes at Tatenhill Airfield. The airfield's staff had been asked to remain secretive regarding details of the storyline.^[15] Lister explained that the episodes were fun to film and they had to do "funny" stunts.^[16] Lister was the only cast member out of her, Batley and Kelly who performed the aired skydiving for real.^[14] A Hollyoaks producer released two pictures of funeral wreaths, one reading 'Zoe' and the other 'Sarah', in order to confuse viewers further as to whom the victim would be.^[17] When the episode aired it played out with Sarah dying in the jump. When executive producer Bryan Kirkwood described the exit to Batley, she thought it was a "perfect and amazing" end for Sarah.^[5] Further adding that "It really draws a line under the four years" of Sarah's storylines.^[5]

Storylines[link]

During the character's original appearance on Hollyoaks, there was no additional information to Sarah's life beforehand. Mike (Tony Hirst) and Kathy Barnes (Sarah Jane Buckley) struggled to cope with Kathy's pregnancy, as the two were still teenagers at the time, and they discussed putting her up for adoption, although Mike then became attached to Sarah after her birth and the couple decided to keep her when Mike realised that he wanted to be a father after all.

Sarah befriends Rhys Ashworth (Andrew Moss) and Gilly Roach (Anthony Quinlan), Rhys and Sarah grow close, but he is put off by her age. Despite her mother's high hopes for her to become an Olympic swimmer, Sarah starts a relationship with Rhys. Kathy is horrified and vows to stop Rhys seeing Sarah. Kathy then seduces a drunken Rhys and sleeps with him. When Sarah finds out, she ends both her relationship with Rhys, and her mother. After some time, Sarah forgives Rhys. He takes nude photographs of her and shows them to his friends, Sarah grows close to Gilly, however decides not to begin a relationship. Sarah and Hannah strike friendships with friends Craig and John Paul. She and Craig begin dating and set Hannah up with John Paul. Craig is caught kissing John Paul by Hannah, which leads to John Paul's coming out. Craig convinces Sarah he is heterosexual and John Paul initiated the kiss. Regardless, Sarah sees John Paul as a friend and encourages him in his first relationship with Spike (Tom Vaughan). Craig is angry to learn the pair slept together, he tries to force himself on Sarah and calls her a whore. They later make up. Sarah does a photoshoot for a fictional magazine named Ripple and she delves further into the world of modelling, in spite of Craig's feelings. Sarah turns to John Paul for advice over her relationship. Unbeknownst to her, John Paul and Craig are having an affair. They go on holiday to repair their problems. Sarah becomes suspicious of Craig, to avoid her finding out the truth Craig proposes marriage to her, which she accepts. They then plan to move to Dublin and Craig's mother Frankie Osborne (Helen Pearson) decides to host an engagement party at The Dog in the Pond. John Paul is heartbroken. John Paul uses Craig's mobile phone to text Sarah and tell her to come to Craig's room, where he and Craig are kissing. Sarah walks into the room and is shocked to find Craig cheating. She then tells everyone at the party about Craig and John Paul's affair. Sarah later asks Craig to take her back, assuming he is just confused. Craig then admits his love for John Paul and he leaves with him for Dublin.

Sarah begins to grow close to Rhys again and they contemplate back together. However, Rhys is using her to make Beth Clement (Sinéad Moynihan) jealous. Beth and Sarah are friends and she convinces Sarah to break up with Rhys. Sarah befriends Zoë and asks her to move in. Kathy accuses Zoë and Mike of having an affair, Mike breaks up with Kathy, who leaves him. Mike confesses his feelings for Zoë and they begin a secret relationship. Sarah discovers the truth and moves in with friend, Nancy Hayton (Jessica Fox).Sarah finds an odd friend in Elliot Bevan (Garnon Davies), who develops feelings for her. Elliot's physics lecturer Roger Kiddle (Quentin Tibble) meets Sarah and the pair have a fling. Elliot is angry, but eventually forgives Sarah. Sarah then breaks up with Roger when she discovers he has a wife and made a pass at Zoë. Sarah then falls for Elliot and they begin a relationship. Elliot decides they are to different and finishes with her, Sarah is jealous when best friend Hannah dates him.

Sarah makes up with Zoë and moves back into the Barnes home. They, and Nancy, then set off on a holiday to Zoë's old school so that she could make a speech on careers to current students. While at the school, it becomes apparent that Zoë had been involved in an affair with her teacher while she was fifteen. A drunken Sarah then accuses her of using her dad to fulfil her fantasy of being in a relationship with an older man. The pair end up in a fight. Sarah and Zoë make up as they are left alone in the hotel room. The pair drunkenly share a kiss before sleeping together. After this, Sarah feels more guilty and cannot look at Zoë, who tells her it was a drunken mistake and urges her to put it behind her. Arriving back in Hollyoaks, Sarah makes Zoë leave for a trip to give them space. Zoë returns and Sarah threatens to tell Mike, however Kris Fisher (Gerard McCarthy) overhears and tells Nancy and Mike, who throws both Sarah and Zoë out. A guilty Sarah begins sleeping with strangers. First Archie Carpenter (Stephen Beard), who turns out to be Zoë's brother when she catches them. Sarah is then shocked when it turns out Archie is rating her against other girls. Sarah also sleeps with Warren Fox (Jamie Lomas).

Sarah moves back home when she reconciles with Mike. Whilst working at a dance class Persephone Hart (Elizabeth Hadley) claims that Sarah has assaulted her. The girl's older sister, Lydia manages to get her fired. Sarah and Lydia then become good friends. Lydia later reveals herself to be a lesbian. The pair then share a kiss which leaves Sarah confused. She becomes attracted to Lydia, she thinks is bisexual and that her experience with Zoë had started her sexuality crisis. Sarah eventually admits to having feelings for Lydia, and the pair begin a relationship. Lydia later accuses Sarah of cheating with Zoë. Mike begins to accept Sarah's sexuality. Sarah discovers she was nearly given up for adoption by Mike and Kathy as a baby, after Zoë steals a script from Mike and uses it in her film for college. Sarah is angry at Zoë for using her but they later make up. Sarah breaks up with Lydia when she catches her kissing ex-girlfriend Charlotte Lau (Amy Yamazaki). Lydia grows increasingly jealous of Sarah and Zoë's friendship. Lydia trouble bretween Sarah and Charlotte, so Sarah and Zoe go on an adventure trip. Lydia follows them as they get drunk and Sarah tells Zoe she loves her. Lydia over hears and is further fuels her jealousy. As they prepare for a skydive Lydia cuts Zoe's parachute, however the become mixed up. Sarah falls to her death with her faulty parachute. Lydia frames Zoe but is eventually convicted.

Reception[link]

Zoë Lister (pictured) plays Sarah's best friend Zoe Carpenter. Critics have praised the storylines the pair feature in.

Kris Green of Digital Spy described the skydive as one of the best stunts he had seen in a long time, adding that the reaction to Sarah's death made him shed a tear and that the episode on a whole was "amazing".^[18] The parachute stunt won 'Spectacular Scene Of The Year' at the 2010 British Soap Awards.^[19] At the 2010 Inside Soap Awards the storyline gained nominations for Batley in the categories of "Best Exit" and "Best Stunt".^[20]

Virgin Media profiled some of Hollyoaks' "hottest females" in their opinion, of Sarah they stated: "Sarah Barnes' sex appeal stretched so far she even had to experiment with the ladies. Turns out that wasn't the brightest idea she'd ever had - her jealous girlfriend Lydia finally polished her off good and proper."^[21] Olly Riachards men's lifestyle magazine FHM commented on Sarah stating: "the one who fell out of a plane and splatted all across the ground, leading to a really drawn out and really boring plotline"^[22] Holy Soap opined that Batley "livened up screens as lesbian temptress Sarah Barnes." and that she had many "major storylines".^[23] Digital Spy brand Sarah as, just a "wannabe model".^[24] The Daily Mail have favoured Sarah's storyline with Zoe.^[25][26][27] They opined that Sarah has had a "string of bad relationships with men",^[26] that Zoe and Sarah's kiss was an "interesting turn"^[27] and call it a scandal, that "heats and spices up" Hollyoaks.^[26] Nadia Sam-Daliri of The Sun disagreed with Batley's comments on the lesbian scenes being weird and said "They've been far from weird to watch..."^[28] The Bristol Evening Post branded Sarah's coming out as an "amazing storyline", said Sarah is a "leggy brunette" and opined her attraction to Lydia developed into "full-blown obsession".^[11] Asian News International included Sarah and Zoe second on their top ten "girl-on-girl kisses on TV" list.^[29] The Liverpool Daily Post ran a quiz focused on style, on of their result trends read "You like to put your own stamp on trends and tend to mix designer and high street clothes to create the look you want. You are an "urban aspirant" like Sarah Barnes, from Hollyoaks."^[30] When Sarah dated males to convince herself she is straight, Lesbian culture website AfterEllen.com stated that "Sarah will surely find out de-gaying is just not possible".^[31] They also branded her storyline "scandalous" and said she "has had her fair share of failed relationships - with men, that is".^[32]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Character profile on the E4 website

The Midnight Beast, sometimes abbreviated as TMB, is a British comedy music group from London, perhaps most famous for their YouTube cover-parody of the 2009 single TiK ToK by American pop artist Ke$ha.^[1] The group currently consists of its three founding members, Stefan Abingdon, Dru Wakely and Ashley Horne.

Book[link]

The group released a semi-autographical book titled Book at Us Now on 27 October 2011. The book included interviews with the band members, the history of The Midnight Beast, as well as exposition on the groups videos and songs. The group held book signings around the country in a promotion titled the Book at Us Now Tour.^[2]

Sitcom[link]

In 2011, it was announced that the band would star in its own, self-titled, sitcom, The Midnight Beast. The show is currently set to be broadcast in 2012 by E4.^[3] The series will consist of 6 episodes, and follow fictionalized version of the band members as they attempt to become successful musicians.

Reception[link]

The Midnight Beast have over 290,000 subscribers and a combined 40 million views on their YouTube channel alone, as well as over 300,000 Facebook fans as of September 2011. The group's songs often appear on iTunes music charts,^[4] and their accompanying music videos routinely reach over 1 million views on YouTube. On Christmas Day 2009, the "TiK ToK" parody was featured on the front page of MTV.com,^[5] and the group have made videos in collabaration with BBC Comedy and MTV Rocks.

The group has also garnered praise from artists that they have parodied. Both Ke$ha and Jay Sean have tweeted positive reactions to the group's parody of their respective songs, TiK ToK and Down, with Ke$ha stating "holy. shit. this is better than my version",^[6][7] and Jay Sean posting "Hahha brilliant. Someone should mix this with 'pants on the ground.'"^[8]

The group has also attracted minor controversy with its music. In an online post from February 2011, Metro, a British newspaper, raised issue with the lyrics of "Use Ya Head", a sexual education-themed skit made for the Marie Stopes International charity's Have A Larc organization, which promotes safe sex. The paper cited the lines "One up the bum and it’s no harm done" and "One up the bum and you won’t be a mum", stating that it appeared that the group was suggesting anal sex as a birth control method. It also quoted unnamed critics who mentioned that the video failed to point out that anal sex could still lead to the transmission of STDs.^[9]

Discography[link]

EPs[link]

Singles[link]

"—" denotes a release that did not chart or was not released in that country.

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Midnight Beast on Facebook