Charles Brammall on mockumentary “star” Philomena Cunk.
She reflects about creation, the afterlife, spirituality, religion and the supernatural. When she was about 11 or 12, staying at her grandmother’s house, brushing her hair in front of a mirror, she felt someone staring …
A black shadow on the wall, inch by inch, moving towards her: “It kept coming closer- until I ran out. It wasn’t summer so that it couldn’t have been my own shadow. I ruled everything out.”
This was a formative moment – not just theatrics – for her sense of the unknown. The image clearly left a mark: not just a thrill, but a subtle shift in how she viewed existence, the unseen, the perhaps-possible beyond.
So, from ghost shadows to theological jokes. A woman haunted as a child now uses that haunting to ask: What lies beyond? Who made this? Why are we here? Diane Morgan – AKA Philomena Cunk, and Mandy.
I don’t laugh out loud when I watch Philomena Cunk. The only show where I know I will laugh out loud (literally) every episode is Lee Mack’s, David Mitchell’s and Rob Brydon’s “Would I Lie to You?”
But I LOVE Cunk. Can’t pull myself away from her gorgeous weirdness. And naivety. There’s something mesmeric about her, like watching an open fire. I long to see bloopers, but can’t find any on YouTube.
In her comedy, rich with jokes about ending sentences, banana-factories and “our-souls/arseholes”, she invites us to think— while laughing. The afterlife isn’t a punch-line for her, it’s part of the landscape. Creation isn’t just a myth— it’s a question to ask.
Religion isn’t just parody— it’s ripe for inquiry. Her programmes tackle the “big questions”, meaning consciousness, morality, and creation.
She said: “My show is all about what it means to be human— I ask important questions about the meaninglessness of life. There’s a lot in it about religion, but also quite a lot about sex.
Partially because without sex there’d be no life, but mainly because no one would watch a show about religion over Christmas, so we had to throw in the sex to make people tune in.”
So creation, religion, and meaning are on her radar— albeit through comedic lenses.
She hasn’t spoken publicly about creation, but one can glean clues from Cunk on Life. For example, in one scene, she asks a Philosophy of Religion professor whether God has a brother named Simon. The Professor says no.
Cunk: “But they can’t prove that either, so he might have. The universe could have been created by Simon.” Again, comedic, but the question is serious: who authored creation, on what basis, isn’t asked?
Although comedic, this reveals a tone of sceptical curiosity: exploring creation myths, theological assumptions, and the unseen. Again, through the comedic lens, she is engaging with meaning and existence.
In an interview about her role in “After Life”, she commented:
“I think some people will find it devastating. They’ll look at it, and they’ll go, ‘Oh, G_d, what does that mean?’… But hopefully, you’ve got to see that that’s it. Life goes on.”
This signals a worldview that accepts finitude, but also affirms continuation (life goes on) rather than neat closure.
There are also other clues to her views on religion and faith: she has not publicly aligned with a particular religious institution. But the ghost-encounter and her “belief in an afterlife” signal a spiritual openness.
In interviews, she never brands herself as an “Evangelical” or “doctrinal Christian”, but her supernatural interest is real.
In her work as Cunk, the religious discourse is both parodied and interrogated. A “TV Tropes” entry notes:
“Cunk refers to the Old Testament as ‘the first entry in the Christian Cinematic Universe’.”
While comedic, this suggests a familiarity with Christian mythology as cultural text, whereas Morgan’s character uses it to question assumptions. And fan forums pick up on this.
She once said she’s becoming “more of a hippy as I’m cascading towards the grave.”
This signals a loosening of a strictly rational/modernist stance toward something more holistic and open.
Her fascination with her ancestors, the supernatural, and meaning suggests she sees her genealogy as part of the spiritual question- what and who came before, and how does that shape meaning?
She has discovered fascinating ancestors in her past, illegitimacy, and court battles.
Morgan uncovered that her 4 x Great Grandmother had five illegitimate children by five different fathers. The men all refused to give her money, so she (very boldly for the time) took them all to court and won all but one of the cases.
I share her genealogical fascination: I discovered that my 4 x Great Grandfather on Dad’s side, Robert Southey, is the author of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, “What are Little Girls Made of…”, and Poet Laureate to Mad King George III. He was a dear friend of fellow Lakes Romantic poets Wordsworth and Coleridge, and the latter’s brother-in-law.
My children have an ancestor, “The Breton Giant”, who was 7’ 9” (2.4m). He is in Guinness World Records as the tallest ‘normally shaped’ human who ever lived. Ie, he was ripped, like a Rugby player tripled, not slim and asymmetric/stooped because of a congenital condition.
If you have seen the Hugh Jackman movie, The Greatest Showman”, the kid’s ancestor was the giant in PT Barnham’s circus troop.
So, synthesising these clues about Diane, we can fairly assume:
- She believes there is something beyond just physical life.
- She does not present herself as dogmatic; relatively curious, sceptical, comedic, and open.
- Her comedy engages with religious/creation questions- not to mock faith, but to expose assumptions, absurdities, and gaps.
- She likely holds a spiritual (but unlikely institutional) view: meaning, continuation, and ancestors matter, and that the unseen is very possibly real. She is not a materialist.
- She uses her work (Cunk, Mandy) to explore the big questions, albeit through absurdity.
- She seems comfortable with ambiguity and allows space for mystery.
This depth matters because Diane Morgan isn’t just a comedian who happens to be funny. She’s someone whose life, quirks, spiritual curiosities and identity feed into her creative work.
Her character work- especially Cunk and Mandy– rests on the tension between what we think we know (about history, creation, and existence) and the absurdity of not knowing, and being flawed.
Her personal spirituality (ghost story, belief in afterlife, interest in ancestors) adds a layer: the comedy isn’t just surface laughter— it stems from someone comfortable with weirdness, with unknowns, and the possibility that things aren’t as tidy as we like.
The result: the north accent, working class origins, the belief in ghosts— all feed into a creative engine that asks serious questions via silliness.
From a Guardian interview:
“I’ve not got a problem with making myself look disgusting.”…
From fan-reddit:
“While the guests are in on it– they don’t know what she’s going to ask… the reactions are genuine.”
And the woman who once tried to hide her broad accent and working-class upbringing now fires them as her signature.
And she tells the story of how at her acting school: “For two weeks my class went into Epping Forest and played Jews and Nazis. I don’t think they do it any more but I think it was a regular thing back then.”
So that’s Cunk. On earth. Diane Morgan – from working class Bolton girl to spiritually aware cult comic, feited from Bloomsbury, to Australia, to the US.
Please thank God with me for Diane’s clever and thought-provoking humour and pray that she and her boyfriend Ben Caudell will know Jesus.
Image: Diane Morgan as Philomena Cunk. Image Credit: BBC