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Features

The best books for reality TV obsessives

Identity Crisis

Comedian, screenwriter &amp; bestselling author returns with a blistering satire. No one is safe as Ben Elton sends up everything from fake news culture to extreme gender politics, from political sloganism to the power of the hashtag, and everything in between.

Ben Elton’s multi-award winning career as both performer and writer encompasses some of the most memorable and incisive comedy of the past thirty-five years. In addition to his hugely influential work as a stand-up comic, he was co-writer of TV hits The Young Ones and Blackadder and sole creator of The Thin Blue Line and Upstart Crow. He has written fifteen major bestsellers, including Stark, Popcorn, Inconceivable, Dead Famous, High Society, Two Brothers and Time and Time Again, three West End plays and three musicals, including global phenomenon We Will Rock You. He has written and directed two feature films, Maybe Baby and Three Summers. 
 
He is married and has three children.

Why are we all so hostile? So quick to take offence? Truly we are living in the age of outrage. 
 
A series of apparently random murders draws amiable, old-school Detective Mick Matlock into a world of sex, politics, reality TV and a bewildering kaleidoscope of opposing identity groups. Lost in a blizzard of hashtags, his already complex investigation is further impeded by the fact that he simply doesn’t ‘get’ a single thing about anything anymore. 
 
Meanwhile, each day another public figure confesses to having ‘misspoken’ and prostrates themselves before the judgement of Twitter. Begging for forgiveness, assuring the public “that is not who I am”. 
 
But if nobody is who they are anymore - then who the f##k are we? 
 
Ben Elton returns with a blistering satire of the world as it fractures around us. Get ready for a roller-coaster thriller, where nothing - and no one - is off limits.

Upstart Crow

The hilarious script book - with new introduction and annotations - to accompany Ben Elton's Upstart Crow, the BBC historical sitcom which is now entering its third series and attracts over 1.5 million viewers per episode.

A knockabout, well-researched take on the working and domestic life of Shakespeare

Gloriously restores Elton's credentials as a reliable provider of quality sitcom

This does indeed deserve comparisons with Blackadder

Ben Elton’s multi-award winning career as both performer and writer encompasses some of the most memorable and incisive comedy of the past thirty-five years. In addition to his hugely influential work as a stand-up comic, he was co-writer of TV hits The Young Ones and Blackadder and sole creator of The Thin Blue Line and Upstart Crow. He has written fifteen major bestsellers, including Stark, Popcorn, Inconceivable, Dead Famous, High Society, Two Brothers and Time and Time Again, three West End plays and three musicals, including global phenomenon We Will Rock You. He has written and directed two feature films, Maybe Baby and Three Summers. 
 
 He is married and has three children.

"This does indeed deserve comparisons with Blackadder" Radio Times 
 
"A knockabout, well-researched take on the working and domestic life of Shakespeare." The Guardian 
 
It’s the 1590s. William Shakespeare – brought to life on screen by the inimitable David Mitchell – is at the start of his career. But no one is taking him seriously. In London, he is mercilessly mocked by his rivals and at home in Stratford he is belittled by his sullen teenage daughter. 
 
Yet he is determined to find an ending for his newest creation Romeo and Juliet. Luckily, inspiration is forthcoming. The trials and tribulations of his closest friends and family reveal the plot twists he’d been missing. And not only for this famous tragedy but for many of his finest plays. 
 
With sparkling wordplay, hilarious gags and his trademark wit, Ben Elton celebrates the great William Shakespeare and reveals the startling stories behind the playwright’s best-known plays.

Time and Time Again

If you had one chance to change history...Where would you go? What would you do? Who would you kill?

Time and Time Again triumphs and it’s the best I’ve read of Elton’s many bestsellers

It’s the 1st of June 1914 and Hugh Stanton, ex-soldier and celebrated adventurer is quite literally the loneliest man on earth. No one he has ever known or loved has been born yet. Perhaps now they never will be. 
 
Stanton knows that a great and terrible war is coming. A collective suicidal madness that will destroy European civilization and bring misery to millions in the century to come. He knows this because, for him, that century is already history. 
 
Somehow he must change that history. He must prevent the war. A war that will begin with a single bullet. But can a single bullet truly corrupt an entire century? 
 
And, if so, could another single bullet save it?

Two Brothers

A deeply poignant novel set in Berlin between 1920 and 1945

Berlin 1920 
 
Two babies are born. 
Two brothers. United and indivisible, sharing everything. Twins in all but blood. 
 
As Germany marches into its Nazi Armageddon, the ties of family, friendship and love are tested to the very limits of endurance. And the brothers are faced with an unimaginable choice....Which one of them will survive? 
 
Ben Elton's most personal novel to date,Two Brothers transports the reader to the time of history's darkest hour.

Blackadder: The Complete Collected Series

The complete soundtracks of all four Blackadder series, plus over three hours of specials and extras

The complete soundtracks of all four Blackadder series, plus over three hours of specials and extras 
 
Through the ages of Britain, from the 15th century to the 21st, Edmund Blackadder has meddled his way along the bloodlines, aided by his two imbecilic sidekicks, Lord Percy and Baldrick, and hindered by an assortment of dimwitted aristocrats. With cunning plans and cutting comedy, listen as the Blackadder dynasty plot their way through history… 
 
The Black Adder – Set in the Middle Ages, this iconic first series follows the fictitious reign of King Richard IV, played by Brian Blessed, through the experiences of his unfavoured second son Prince Edmund “The Black Adder” 
 
Blackadder II - The Blackadder genes resurface in Elizabethan England for more historical comedy 
 
Blackadder the Third - Blackadder turns up as butler to the Prince Regent in the late 18th Century 
 
Blackadder Goes Forth – The scheming Blackadder is dropped into the trenches during the First World War 
 
Also included in this collection are eight Blackadder TV and radio specials: Blackadder’s Christmas Carol, Blackadder: The Cavalier Years, Blackadder: Woman’s Hour Invasion, The Shakespeare Sketch, Blackadder: Back and Forth, Blackadder: The Army Years, Blackadder: I Have a Cunning Plan and the Blackadder instalment of the TV series Britain's Best Sitcom. 
 
Written by film and TV royalty Richard Curtis, Ben Elton and Rowan Atkinson, and starring comedy giants Rowan Atkinson, Tony Robinson, Tim McInnerny, Hugh Laurie, Stephen Fry, Miranda Richardson, and Rik Mayall, this is history at its grittiest and funniest. 
 
Track Listing:<ul><li>Chapters 1-6: The Black Adder</li><li>Chapters 7-12: Blackadder II</li><li>Chapters 13-18: Blackadder the Third</li><li>Chapters 19-24: Blackadder Goes Forth</li><li>Chapter 25: Blackadder’s Christmas Carol</li><li>Chapter 26: The Cavalier Years</li><li>Chapter 27: Woman’s Hour Invasion</li><li>Chapter 28: The Shakespeare Sketch</li><li>Chapter 29: Back and Forth</li><li>Chapter 30: The Army Years (Royal Variety Performance)</li><li>Chapter 31: I Have a Cunning Plan</li><li>Chapter 32: Britain's Best Sitcom</li></ul>Cast and credits 
Written by Richard Curtis, Ben Elton and Rowan Atkinson 
 
Edmund Blackadder - Rowan Atkinson 
S. Baldrick - Tony Robinson 
Melchett - Stephen Fry 
Lord Percy Percy – Tim McInnerny 
George – Hugh Laurie 
Queen Elizabeth I / Various – Miranda Richardson 
 
Including standout performances by Rik Mayall, Miriam Margolyes, Patsy Byrne, Brian Blessed, Robbie Coltrane, Jim Broadbent, Gabrielle Glaister, Elspet Gray, Robert East, Helen Atkinson-Wood, Bill Wallis, Stephen Frost, Mark Arden, Lee Cornes, Warren Clarke, Philip Pope, Barbara Miller, David Nunn, Denis Lill, Adrian Edmondson, Nigel Planer, Stephen Frost, Chris Barrie, Jeremy Hardy and Ben Elton. 
 
 
©2019 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2019 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Richard Curtis (Author) 
Richard Curtis is a British screenwriter, actor, film director and music producer. Among his screenwriting credits are Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill and Love Actually, whilst for television he created and wrote Blackadder, Mr. Bean and The Vicar of Dibley. He created the first Black Adder series with Rowan Atkinson, before going on to write subsequent series with Ben Elton. 
 
Ben Elton (Author) 
Ben Elton is a British comedian, author, playwright and director. His early career was in stand-up comedy, as well as writing for TV series including The Young Ones. He met Richard Curtis, and together they co-wrote the second and subsequent series of Blackadder. Ben Elton went on to success as a novelist and stage writer.

Meltdown

A biting satire of the credit crunch from this hugely popular and bestselling author

An entertaining, well-written, often very funny read

Bang up to date... Very funny... Emotionally engaging

For amiable City trader Jimmy Corby money was the new Rock n' Roll. His whole life was a party, adrenalin charged and cocaine fuelled. If he hadn't met Monica he would probably have ended up either dead or in rehab. 
 
But Jimmy was as lucky in love as he was at betting on dodgy derivatives, so instead of burning out, his star just burned brighter than ever. Rich, pampered and successful, Jimmy, Monica and their friends lived the dream, bringing up their children with an army of domestic helps. 
 
But then it all came crashing down. And when the global financial crisis hit, Jimmy discovers that anyone can handle success. It's how you handle failure that really matters.

Gridlock, Chart Throb and Blind Faith

Ben Elton Collection

Together in one ebook file, Gridlock, Chart Throb and Blind Faith are a triple bill of biting social satire from bestselling novelist &amp; comedian, Ben Elton

Gridlock 
 
Too many cars and not enough space equals gridlock. 
 
Gridlock is when a city dies. 
 
Killed in the name of freedom. Killed in the name of oil and steel. Choked on carbon monoxide and strangled with a pair of fluffy dice. 
 
How did it come to this? How did the ultimate freedom machine end up paralysing us all? How did we end up driving to our own funeral, in somebody else's gravy train? 
 
Deborah and Geoffrey know, but they have transport problems of their own, and anyway, whoever it was that murdered the city can just as easily murder them. 
 
 
Chart Throb 
 
Chart Throb The ultimate pop quest. 
 
Ninety five thousand hopefuls. Three judges. Just one winner. 
And that's Calvin Simms, the genius behind the show. 
 
Calvin always wins because Calvin writes the rules. But this year, as he sits smugly in judgement upon the mingers, clingers and blingers whom he has pre-selected in his carefully scripted 'search' for a star, he has no idea that the rules are changing. The 'real' is about to be put back into 'reality' television and Calvin and his fellow judges (the nation's favourite mum and the other bloke) are about to become ex - factors themselves. 
 
Chart Throb. One winner. A whole bunch of losers 
 
 
Blind Faith 
 
Imagine a world where everyone knows everything about everybody. Where 'sharing' is valued above all, and privacy is considered a dangerous perversion. 
 
Trafford wouldn't call himself a rebel, but he's daring to be different, to stand out from the crowd. In his own small ways, he wants to push against the system. But in this world, uniformity is everything. And even tiny defiances won't go unnoticed. 
 
Ben Elton's dark, savagely comic novel imagines a post-apocalyptic society where religious intolerance combines with a sex-obsessed, utterly egocentric culture. In this world, nakedness is modesty, independent thought subversive, and ignorance is wisdom. 
 
A chilling vision of what's to come?Or something rather closer to home?

The Whole Damn Dynasty

Blackadder

The complete Blackadder scripts by Richard Curtis, Ben Elton, Rowan Atkinson and John Lloyd. 
 
Twenty-six years ago, Edmund Blackadder made his first appearance on our screens. Comedy has never been the same since (nor indeed has history). 
 
Gathered here - in this twenty-sixth anniversary commemorative edition - are the complete scripts of Blackadder's adventures and, mostly, misadventures. Blackadder, Blackadder II, Blackadder the Third and Blackadder Goes Forth. Every word, every lie, every cunning plan and cock-up. 
 
From medieval nastiness, through Elizabethan and Regency glory, to the mud and sautéed rats of the First World War, Blackadder and his oafish underling Baldrick can be most definitely blamed for ruining England's reputation as a country with a great history. 
 
This historical record has been set down by Mr Richard Curtis, Mr Ben Elton, Mr Rowan Atkinson and Mr John Lloyd. 
 
 
Richard Curtis is the writer/director behind Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually and The Boat That Rocked) and Ben Elton is the bestselling author and writer of The Young Ones, The Man From Auntie and The Thin Blue Line. The character of Blackadder was played by Rowan Atkinson, who is the star of the Mr Bean TV series and films, and Johnny English. The four Blackadder series, produced by John Lloyd, won numerous BAFTAs and also an EMMY.

The Blackadder series - Blackadder, Blackadder II, Blackadder the Third and Blackadder Goes Forth - were written by Richard Curtis (writer/director of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Love Actually and The Boat That Rocked) and Ben Elton (the bestelling author and writer of The Young Ones, The Man From Auntie and The Thin Blue Line), and starred Rowan Atkinson (star of the Mr Bean TV series and films, amongst others). The four Blackadder series, produced by John Lloyd, won numerous BAFTAs and also an EMMY.

Twenty-six years ago, Edmund Blackadder made his first appearance on our screens. Comedy has never been the same since (nor indeed has history). 
 
Gathered here - in this twenty-sixth anniversary commemorative edition - are the complete scripts of Blackadder's adventures and, mostly, misadventures. Every word, every lie, every cunning plan and cock-up. 
 
From medieval nastiness, through Elizabethan and Regency glory, to the mud and sautéed rats of the First World War, Blackadder and his oafish underling Baldrick can be most definitely blamed for ruining England's reputation as a country with a great history. 
 
This historical record has been set down by Mr Richard Curtis, Mr Ben Elton, Mr Rowan Atkinson and Mr John Lloyd.

Blind Faith

A dark, savagely comic novel from the bestselling author of Chart Throb.

Imagine a world where everyone knows everything about everybody. Where 'sharing' is valued above all, and privacy is considered a dangerous perversion. 
 
Trafford wouldn't call himself a rebel, but he's daring to be different, to stand out from the crowd. In his own small ways, he wants to push against the system. But in this world, uniformity is everything. And even tiny defiances won't go unnoticed. 
 
Ben Elton's dark, savagely comic novel imagines a post-apocalyptic society where religious intolerance combines with a sex-obsessed, utterly egocentric culture. In this world, nakedness is modesty, independent thought subversive, and ignorance is wisdom. 
 
A chilling vision of what's to come? Or something rather closer to home?

Chart Throb

A biting social satire of one of the world's most popular cultural phenomena from the bestselling author of The First Casualty.

Another brilliantly savage, laugh-out-loud page-turner from Elton

Chart Throb.The ultimate pop quest. 
 
Ninety five thousand hopefuls. Three judges. Just one winner. 
And that's Calvin Simms, the genius behind the show. 
 
Calvin always wins because Calvin writes the rules. But this year, as he sits smugly in judgement upon the mingers, clingers and blingers whom he has pre-selected in his carefully scripted 'search' for a star, he has no idea that the rules are changing. The 'real' is about to be put back into 'reality' television and Calvin and his fellow judges (the nation's favourite mum and the other bloke) are about to become ex-factors themselves. 
 
Ben Elton, author of Popcorn and Dead Famous returns to blistering comic satire with a savagely hilarious deconstruction of the world of modern television talent shows. 
 
Chart Throb. One winner. A whole bunch of losers.

The First Casualty

A work of formidable imaginative scope ... the writing is so good, the language so surprisingly subtle and the characters so beautifully delineated

Riveting action scenes bristle with a queasy energy ... unputdownable and disgustingly realistic

Elton writes a good crime story with lots of twists and excitement

Flanders, June 1917: a British officer and celebrated poet, is shot dead, killed not by German fire, but while recuperating from shell shock well behind the lines. A young English soldier is arrested and, although he protests his innocence, charged with his murder. 
 
Douglas Kingsley is a conscientious objector, previously a detective with the London police, now imprisoned for his beliefs. He is released and sent to France in order to secure a conviction. Forced to conduct his investigations amidst the hell of The Third Battle of Ypres, Kingsley soon discovers that both the evidence and the witnesses he needs are quite literally disappearing into the mud that surrounds him. 
 
Ben Elton's tenth novel is a gut-wrenching historical drama which explores some fundamental questions. What is murder? What is justice in the face of unimaginable daily slaughter? And where is the honour in saving a man from the gallows if he is only to be returned to die in a suicidal battle? 
 
As the gap between legally-sanctioned and illegal murder becomes evermore blurred, Kingsley quickly learns that the first casualty when war comes is truth.

Gridlock

Too many cars and not enough space equals gridlock.

Important, topical and politically resonant

Combines passionate espousal of a cause with the machine-gun narration of a stand-up comic, peppered with good jokes and with the energetically managed, funny and violent action of a manic strip cartoon

The book is stuffed with funny lines and the lot is more gripping than any tyre advertisement

Gridlock is when a city dies. 
 
Killed in the name of freedom. Killed in the name of oil and steel. Choked on carbon monoxide and strangled with a pair of fluffy dice. 
 
How did it come to this? How did the ultimate freedom machine end up paralysing us all? How did we end up driving to our own funeral, in somebody else's gravy train? 
 
Deborah and Geoffrey know, but they have transport problems of their own, and anyway, whoever it was that murdered the city can just as easily murder them.

Satirical Thriller

Stark

Ben Elton's earth-shattering début novel.

Stark is a secret consortium with more money than God, and the social conscience of a dog on a croquet lawn. What's more, it knows the Earth is dying. 
 
Deep in Western Australia where the Aboriginals used to milk the trees, a planet-sized plot is taking shape. Some green freaks pick up the scent: a pommie poseur; a brain-fried Vietnam vet; Aboriginals who have lost their land...not much against a conspiracy that controls society. But EcoAction isn't in society: it just lives in the same place, along with the cockroaches. 
 
 
If you're facing the richest and most disgusting scheme in history, you have to do more than stick up two fingers and say 'peace'.

A heart-stopping thriller and killer comic romance

Past Mortem

It's warm-hearted characterisation and deft pacing should make the paperback popular on next summer's beaches

Past Mortem confirms Elton as craftsmanlike, thoughtful and readable.  Fans will find plenty to enjoy

A writer who provokes almost as much as he entertains

With old friends like these, who needs enemies? 
 
It's a question mild mannered detective Edward Newson is forced to ask himself when, in romantic desperation, he logs on to the Friends Reunited website in search of the girlfriends of his youth. Newson is not the only member of the Class of take back '88 who has been raking over the ashes of the past. As his old class begins to reassemble in cyberspace, the years slip away and old feuds and passions burn hot once more. 
 
Meanwhile, back in the present, Newson's life is no less complicated. He is secretly in love with Natasha, his lovely but very attached sergeant, and failing comprehensively to solve a series of baffling and peculiarly gruesome murders. A school reunion is planned and as history begins to repeat itself, the past crashes headlong into the present. Neither will ever be the same again. 
 
 
In Past Mortem, Ben Elton - previous winner of The Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award for Popcorn - delivers both a heart-stopping thriller and a killer comic romance.

Popcorn

The No.1 bestselling, topical, award-winning, high-octane thriller.

Serious, morally complex, structurally rich and bitterly funny

One of the most brilliantly sustained and focused pieces of satire I've ever read

Killer prose...a viciously funny satire that also works as a tongue-in-cheek thriller

Bruce shoots movies. Wayne and Scout shoot to kill. In a single night they find out the hard way what's real and what's not, who's the hero and who's the villain. The USA watches slack-jawed as Bruce and Wayne together resolve some serious questions. Does Bruce use erection cream? Does art imitate life or does life simply imitate bad art? And most of all, does sugar-pie really love his honeybun?

High Society

The searing new novel from the bestselling author of POPCORN, INCONCEIVABLE and DEAD FAMOUS

A fix of high comedy from a writer who provokes almost as much as he entertains

As I raced to the end, I found myself applauding Elton. This is a tough subject tackled with courage and commitment

Packed with Elton's trademark sharp wit and biting social commentary.. colourful and thought-provoking

The war on drugs has been lost but for want of the courage to face the fact that the whole world is rapidly becoming one vast criminal network. From pop stars and princes to crack whores and street kids. From the Groucho Club toilets to the poppy fields of Afghanistan, we are all partners in crime. 
 
HIGH SOCIETY is a story or rather a collection of interconnected stories that takes the reader on a hilarious, heart breaking and terrifying journey through the kaleidoscope world that the law has created and from which the law offers no protection.

This Other Eden

Comic apocalyptic satire by the No. 1 bestselling author.

SMALL, WELL APPOINTED FUTURE. SEMI DETACHED. 
 
If the end of the world is nigh, then surely it's only sensible to make alternative arrangements. Certainly the Earth has its points, but what most people need is something smaller and more manageable. Of course there are those who say that's planetary treason, but who cares what the weirdos and terrorists think? Not Nathan. All he cares is that his movie gets made and that there's somebody left to see it. 
 
In marketing terms the end of the world will be very big. Anyone trying to save it should remember that.

Dead Famous

The new killer read from the author of Popcorn and Inconceivable

Big up to Ben Elton and respect, big time. Top, top book

A book with pace and wit, real tension, a dark background theme and a big on-screen climax

The perfect modern-day whodunit. A cracking read full of hilarious insights into the Big Brother phenomenon

One of the best whodunits I have ever read...a funny, gripping, hugely entertaining thriller, but also a persuasive, dyspeptic account of the way we live now, with our insane, inane cult of the celebrity

One house. Ten contestants. Thirty cameras. Forty microphones. 
 
Yet again the public gorges its voyeuristic appetite as another group of unknown and unremarkable people submit themselves to the brutal exposure of the televised real-life soap opera, House Arrest. 
 
Everybody knows the rules: total strangers are forced to live together while the rest of the country watches them do it. Who will crack first? Who will have sex with whom? Who will the public love and who will they hate? All the usual questions. And then, suddenly, there are some new ones. 
 
Who is the murderer? How did he or she manage to kill under the constant gaze of the thirty television cameras? Why did they do it? And who will be next?

Inconceivable

The hilarious and poignant new novel from one of Britain's most entertaining and provocative writers.

A very funny book about a sensitive subject...Ben Elton the writer might be even funnier than Ben Elton the comic

A tender, beautifully balanced romantic comedy

Extremely funny, clever, well-written, sharp and unexpectedly moving...This brilliant, chaotic satire merits rereading several times

This is Elton at his best - mature, humane, and still a laugh a minute. At least

Only Ben Elton could combine uncomfortable questions about gender politics with a gripping, page-turning narrative and jokes that make you laugh out loud

A very funny book about a sensitive subject ... Ben Elton the writer might even be funniter than Ben Elton the comic

Sam and Lucy seem like the perfect couple. Successful, happy and in love. But life isn't that simple. Lucy thinks thinks Sam is a sad, cold sensitivity-exclusion zone who would rather read a newspaper than have an emotion. Sam thinks Lucy is blaming him because she can't walk past Mothercare without getting all teary. The problem is that they might be infertile. And in more ways than one. 
 
Lucy wants a baby. Sam wants to write a hit movie. And given that the average IVF cycle has about a one in five chance of going into full production, Lucy's chances of getting what she wants are considerably better than Sam's. 
 
What Sam and Lucy are about to go through is absolutely inconceivable. The question is, can their love survive? Or are the odds stacked against them once again?

Blast From The Past

A blast of energy and zeitgeist from Britain's foremost comic talent.

Elton at his most outrageously entertaining

The action is tight and well-plotted, the dialogue is punchy, and the whole thing rolls along so nicely

A lively thriller of sexual politics and morality. Elton's best book yet

It's two fifteen a.m., you're in bed alone and you're woken by the phone. 
 
Your eyes are wide and your body tense before it has completed so much as a single ring. And as you wake, in the tiny moment between sleep and consciousness, you know already that something is wrong. 
 
Only someone bad would call at such an hour. Or someone good, but with bad news, which would probably be worse. 
 
You lie there in the darkness and wait for the answer machine to kick in. Your own voice sounds strange as it tells you that nobody is there but that a message can be left. 
 
You feel your heart beat. You listen. And then you hear the one voice in the world you least expect . . . your very own Blast From the Past.

Ben Elton

Rik Mayall

Lise Mayer

Adrian Edmondson

Nigel Planer

Christopher Ryan

Alexei Sayle

Dawn French

Jennifer Saunders

Stephen Fry

Hugh Laurie

Full Cast

The Complete BBC TV Soundtracks

The complete television soundtracks of all 12 episodes of the legendary BBC sitcom 
 
Ground-breaking, satirical and anarchic, The Young Ones introduced alternative comedy to mainstream TV, and made household names of its writers and performers. It ran for two series on BBC Two between 1982 and 1984, winning a host of devoted fans and a BAFTA Award for its second series. 
 
A world away from the cosy suburban sitcoms that preceded it, the show centred around four degenerate students sharing a squalid North London house: hippy Neil (Nigel Planer), right-on Rick (Rik Mayall), Mike 'TheCoolPerson' (Chris Ryan) and punk psycho Vyvyan (Ade Edmondson). Alexei Sayle co-starred as the various members of the dodgy Balowski family, and the plethora of guest stars included Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Stephen Fry, Hugh Laurie, Robbie Coltrane, Emma Thompson and series co-writer Ben Elton. Musical interludes were provided by top bands such as Dexy's Midnight Runners, The Damned, Madness, Motörhead and Nine Below Zero. 
 
Collected here are all the dysfunctional foursome's manic adventures - from discovering oil in the basement, to playing host to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, to representing Scumbag College on University Challenge. Now you can hear from your favourite characters once again, and listen to their iconic one-liners, inventive insults and fabulously funny quotes. 
 
Full of wild slapstick, surreal twists, over-the-top ultra-violence and absurdist humour, this innovative, iconoclastic series remains one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. This audio-only collection of the original TV soundtracks provides the perfect opportunity for fans to relive the show's finest moments while on the go. 
 
Contains strong language and humour that some listeners may find offensive. 
 
Production credits 
Written by Ben Elton, Rik Mayall and Lise Mayer 
With additional material by Alexei Sayle 
Music: Peter Brewis 
Sound: Laurie Taylor 
Directed by Paul Jackson and Graeme Story 
 
Rick - Rik Mayall 
Vyvyan Basterd - Adrian Edmondson 
Neil Pye - Nigel Planer 
Mike - Christopher Ryan 
The Balowski family - Alexei Sayle 
 
With Amazulu, Mark Arden, Helen Atkinson Wood, Jim Barclay, Christopher Barrie, Gary Beadle, Perry Benson, Paul Bradley, Arnold Brown, Ruth Burnett, Jean Campbell-Dallas, Jonathan Caplan, Hugh Cecil, Vikki Chambers, Jean Channon, Jacqueline Clarke, Robbie Coltrane, Ron Cook, Lee Cornes, Brian Croucher, The Damned, Mark Dewison, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Paola Dionisotti, Steve Dixon, Nick Dunning, Christine Ellerbeck, Chris Ellis, Ben Elton, Alan Freeman, Dawn French, Stephen Frost, Stephen Fry, Paul Gale, Peter Greene, Roger Ashton Griffiths, Gareth Hale, Damaris Hayman, Tamsin Heatley, Lenny Henry, Clair Hill, Jools Holland, Ceri Jackson, Terry Jones, Gerard Kelly, Steve Kelly, Ken Bishop 's Nice Twelve, Mark Lambert, Hugh Laurie, Peter Laxton, Helen Lederer, Justine Lord, Norman Lovett, Madness, Paul Martin, Hilary Mason, Kilian McKenna, Pauline Melville, Carla Mendonca, Motörhead, Patrick Newell, Nine Below Zero, Herbert Norville, Brian Oulton, John Otway, John Owens, Norman Pace, Robin Parkinson, Ken Parry, Daniel Peacock, Joanne Pearce, Jan Prince, Radical Posture, David Rappaport, Michael Redfern, Griff Rhys Jones, Rip Rig + Panic, Tony Robinson, David Rolfe, Jennifer Saunders, Cyril Shaps, Anthony Sharp, Cindy Shelley, Roger Sloman, Mel Smith, Barry Stanton, Maggie Steed, Kay Stonham, Tony Sympson, Emma Thompson, Andy de la Tour, Peter Wear, Julianne White 
 
First broadcast on BBC Two, 9 November-14 December 1982 (Series 1), 8 May-19 June 1984 (Series 2) 
 
© 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P) 2024 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd

Ben Elton

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