The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008

The Secret Policeman's Ball 2008 was a show in the Secret Policeman's Balls series of benefit shows for Amnesty International.

In July 2008, Amnesty announced that it would present another show in its long-running series^[1][2] Like its 2006 predecessor the show was a single-night live event at London's Royal Albert Hall, on Saturday 4 October 2008.

In common with other recent Amnesty benefit shows, the majority of the performers were British (or UK-based) and well-known primarily only in Great Britain, the one Canadian comedian Russell Peters appeared via a pre-recorded video-tape. Performers who were listed to perform were:

The 3-hour event was video-taped and a 95-minute television special adapted from the show was broadcast the following day, Sunday 5 October 2008, on Britain's Channel Four. There was also a "cinecast" in which the Royal Albert Hall event was shown live in 35 cinemas in major British cities.^[3] It was also available live in 4 cinemas in Australia.^[4] The "cinecast" was available in cinemas in six of Canada's thirteen provinces and territories. The Cineplex cinema chain made the film available on 50 of its 1,317 screens, however Amnesty and Cineplex did not announce the Canadian "cinecast" until Wednesday October 1 2008, just three days before the screenings^[5] which did not allow time for the event to be effectively promoted in Canada.

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