WORLD CUP PUPPETS

BBC Television has signed up Irish comedian Mario Rosenstock’s Special 1 TV puppet show as a key part of its World Cup coverage. Rosenstock, who also does the Gift Grub impersonations on Today FM, has confirmed that his company has agreed a “large six figure” deal with BBC 3 to run the puppet show throughout next month’s big soccer spectacular.
In a front page article, the Sunday Times reported that the comedy would be one of BBC 3’s biggest investments this year. The “stars” of the show are former Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, the ex-England boss, Sven Goran Eriksson, Manchester United super-striker Wayne Rooney and the current England manager Fabio Capello.
As well as their own slot, the puppets will interact with Gary Lineker on BBC 1’s flagship coverage of the World Cup. The show, which starts on 11 June, will also run online daily and will have its own BBC 3 Facebook page, a blog YouTube channel and Twitter page.
It will be filmed in Dublin, with two puppeteers for each character and Rosenstock doing the voices. The audio version will be aired on Today FM. Special 1 TV was a cult hit on Setanta Sports but it ended 12 months ago when Setanta was forced to close  its British operation.