The New Statesman is a British political satire sitcom that ran from 1987 to 1994, satirising the United Kingdom's Conservative government of the period. It was written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran at the request of, and as a starring vehicle for, its principal actor Rik Mayall.

The programme was produced by the ITV franchise Yorkshire Television, although the BBC made two special episodes: one in 1988, the other in 1994. It won the BAFTA Award for Best Comedy Series in 1991.

Premise

The New Statesman follows Alan B'Stard, a Conservative politician who has just won an election for the fictional constituency of Haltemprice (not to be confused with the actual constituency of Haltemprice and Howden), and is now an MP. The show is mostly set in B'Stard's antechambers in the Palace of Westminster and features Piers Fletcher-Dervish, a fellow MP who is B'Stard's gullible upper-class sidekick.

Production

In 1985, actor Rik Mayall, writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, as well as Vernon Lawrence, who was the controller of light entertainment at Yorkshire Television, met at a symposium on comedy organized by the Independent Broadcasting Authority. During the meeting, Lawrence had an idea for a potential new series featuring the other three. Although Marks and Gran declined as they disliked working with an alternative comedian due to work on Roll Over Beethoven. When Mayall, Marks, and Gran ended up in the same episode of Wogan months later, they decided to work on a show together.

The title of this show, The B'Stard File, had to be changed after the broadcasting authority declined it. Mayall proposed alternative titles to ITV such as The Member, then The New MEMBER (neither accepted due to perceived explicitness), and then No Minister; he eventually settled on The New Statesman. Additionally, to research for the series, Mayall went to the House of Commons following the announcement of the 1987 United Kingdom general election. In January 1994, BFS Video released the first six episodes as a three-video cassette set. It was followed in 2007 by a slightly altered version, since Gordon Brown was the Prime Minister instead. Due to Mayall being sick, Mike Sherman played B'Stard.

In March 2017, Laurence and Gran announced their interest to develop a sequel, titled The B'Stard Legacy. It would have followed his son Arron, adopted by two Green Party activists in Welwyn Garden City, who is behind an internet media empire and is involved in several political crises. Although it was initially pitched to ITV, they declined to air the series, fearing it would have flopped. The sequel was scrapped by 2016.

Reception

Critical response and legacy

The series received relatively favorable reviews. Bob Shields of The Evening Times was more critical, saying that "once you got used to seeing Rik Mayall in a pin-striped suit, and realized that he wasn't going to give his customary V sign, it quickly dawned that this comedy was no better than your average student revue". Marvin Kitman, in his column in Newsday praised the show, calling it "The most promising satirical comedy since 'Hot Metal'" as well as noting that compared to Yes Minister, The New Statesman "is the sabre slashing of young cavalry officers, chopping heads off where the light touch would do". Gavin Heynes of The Guardian called it an "unhinged sitcom [that] centred on the scheming of B’Stard a shameless, shagaholic money-grubber". as well as the BAFTA TV Award for Best Comedy Entertainment Programme in 1991.

The death of Rik Mayall on June 9, 2014, prompted the producers to kill off B'Stard by writing an fictional obituary for him (with B'Stard's date of death the same as Mayall's). The obituary stated that B'Stard died while having sex with his two Polynesian masseuses and states that he went on to marry five women, with Lady Gaga being his fifth wife, and left behind five children and twelve grandchildren. It also revealed that his birth date is February 29 and that he was responsible for the political career of Tony Blair, the creation of New Labour, as well as the Iraq War.

See also

  • Yes Minister
  • The Thick of It
  • In the Loop
  • List of fictional prime ministers of the United Kingdom
  • James Anderton

References

  • Guide to Comedy
  • The New Statesman at the British Film Institute