Sky Arts to show Stewart Lee's King Rocker

About post-punk band The Nightingales

A film Stewart Lee made about Birmingham post-punk band The Nightingales is to be broadcast on Sky Arts

King Rocker – which Lee shot with Brass Eye and Toast of London director Michael Cumming –  weaves the story of frontman Robert Lloyd with that of  a sculpture of King Kong that once stood in the city’s Bull Ring.

The film had been due to receive its world premiere at the Sheffield Doc/Fest last autumn before playing in cinemas - but Covid put a stop to that.

Lee said that spending two years on the project was ‘a labour of love’ resulting in ‘a lovely film’.

The Nightingales were a favourite of the late John Peel, who championed them on his radio show  in the 1980s. Lee calls Lloyd  ‘Britain’s ultimate post-punk survivor… buoyed by endless critical acclaim, but hampered by ongoing commercial indifference’. 

The comedian has supported the Nightingales on tour, performing his 1980s stand-up routine as their warm-up. 

King Rocker also features Frank Skinner, who briefly performed with Lloyd’s earlier band The Prefects, as well as comics Kevin Eldon, Nish Kumar, Bridget Christie, Andrew O’Neill and Seann Walsh.

Erected in 1972, King Kong is part of Birmingham’s folk history. Residents hated the 18ft fibreglass likeness, and it was taken down and sold to a used car dealer who used it on his lot. Victoria Wood even wrote song about the statue, in 1973, as part of her studies at  Birmingham University,

King Rocker will air on Sky Arts at 9pm on February 6 - and a new trailer has been released to promote it:

Published: 15 Jan 2021

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