The New Statesman

Rik Mayall always makes me laugh i don't think hes ever done a single duff sitcom or comedy routine. Its one of the rare ocassions hes not working along side Ade Edmundson but he still manages to do well. Its a shame theres no reruns of this but then i'm buying them on DVD. I guess we'll have to wait until The tories come back into power before we'll see this rerun. Someone should maybe try the same thing with the labour party.

TC Raymond, Benny hill and the carry on films are old hat and out of date. You'll have to accept that and move along. In my opinion they were boring and i'm glad we've left that era. You don't seem to like alot of comedy do you? Oh well your choice I guess.

I'm referring in the above summary to horribly bland and safe output like "Birds of a Feather". Thankfully, this is the polar opposite of such nauseous bonding, and shows us that these two guys CAN write terrifically insightful and acerbic comedy if they pull their finger out.

Ably assisting them is the often sublime Rik Mayall, here ditching the over-the-top lunatic quality that made him famous, in favour of a more insiduously subtle style, and boy is it hilarious! There are also some fantastically observed secondary characters present too; but there's no doubt about it, Alan is the star of the show, and he's gleefully nasty.

A comedy series that arrived in the UK at just the right time to skewer Thatcher's horrendously selfish government, this is often uproariously funny. A great and sadly underappreciated half-hour, with loads more 'bite' and 'bile' than many of its contemporaries or contenders.

Been a fan of Riks for years. But this tops the lot. The character Alan Beresford B'stard and Rik Mayall go hand in hand. They were meant for each other. Such a refreshingly original comedy series, with so much scope for political satire, plots, characters, you name it. An excellent supporting cast with characters Piers, Sarah, Sir Stephen Baxter, Sir Greville, Geof Diquead and many more.

Each series has its own uniqueness. The first series entrenched with 80s Thatcherism, we all remember those days. The nineties comes in with the faceless John Major, and Europe with all trimmings. Alan B'stard as MEP for Obersaxon in Germany is quite brilliant. This is especially good as it gives him the chance to lay into Europe and take the mickey out of our European neighbours, especially the Germans, or the krauts as he would say.

I suggest anybody who loves British comedy and political satire at its very best should watch it. It just a pity it has ceased production. Would have loved to see Alan tackle Labour and Tony Blair, knowing him he probably would have defected!

The New Statesman and Black Adder.

Two brilliant pieces of work everybody should see.

(Btw. Rik Mayall stars in both of those series. He's Lord Flashheart in Bladders)

New Statesman sometimes seems to me as if it is Black Adder 5: Present Politics... (or something like that)

It's distinguished, utterly funny and just GOOD.

Go, buy it, see it.

I used to watch this years ago in Australia... It started out airing at 11:30 pm but was moved to some crazy time like four in the morning because it was so controversial. It's a nastily accurate skewering of a Thatcher-ite backbencher more evil than Satan himself. If you ever get a chance to see it, do!