Harumble! I have spent the past few days listening to all of the wonderful Radio 4 comedy series Bleak Expectations. As the title might suggest, it starts off as a Dickens parody, and also makes reference to similar period dramas and their plot clichés, but also throws in surreal supernatural elements along the way.

The series is narrated by Sir Phillip Bin who is telling his story to the journalist (and later his son-in-law) Sourquill. He relates incidences from his life, starting with the death of his father and his banishment to the boarding school St Bastard’s by his guardian Mr Gently Benevolent (ironically a cruel and evil man). In later episodes he must further battle his nemesis, in increasingly surreal plots (Martian armies, undead enemies, possessed pigeons, cake-craving monsters, dinosaurs and so on).

The young Pip Bin is aided by his friend Harry Biscuit (a useless inventor, whose father invented the biscuit) and his sister Pippa (who later becomes Harry’s wife, and then turns to evil). Inevitably present are the allies of Mr Benevolent, who all come from families with evil names such as the Hardthrashers or the Sternbeaters, and who die at a rate of about one per episode.

The show is just fantastic, brilliantly silly and fun, and wonderfully funny. It is not just the plot, but the characters and acting too (Anthony Head obviously has a lot of fun hamming it up as Gently Benevolent), and the dialogue which is so full of one liners and great puns and word play, and several nice running gags. The post could easily have just been a long list of quotations from the show. It really is fantastic.

It took me ages to get around to listening to it, even though friends had recommended it to me before, and I am so glad that I finally listened to it all. There are four series so far, and I really hope that there will be more. It is definitely one of the best comedies I’ve experienced lately, not just radio but television as well. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Michael replied to my post about Bleak Expectations to say:

It’s produced by Gareth Edwards, who worked with Mitchell & Webb back in their radio days, as well as being a producer on Spaced. Wasn’t familiar with it until your posts - sounds like something to check out after re-reading a few of Dickens books.

It is indeed produced by Gareth Edwards, who worked on Spaced, and with Mitchell and Webb on That Mitchell and Webb Sound (on radio) and That Mitchell and Webb Look (on television).

Furthermore, it is written by Mark Evans and one of the actors is James Bachman (he plays Harry Biscuit) both of whom are regular collaborators with Mitchell and Webb (and they did a great sketch, which I think was an out-take on one of the M&W DVDs, about writing a pilot for ‘That Bachman and Evans Smell’!).

Plus David Mitchell appears in a few episodes of Bleak Expectations as well. Sarah Hadland, who is also in M&W things, is in Bleak Expectation too. So really, add Olivia Colman and John Finnemore, and you would complete your Mitchell and Webb bingo sheet!

All of which is just more proof of how great it is.

(As for having to read Dickens first, I wouldn’t bother, the references are not specific, more it is a parody of the kind of Dickensian clichés that most people are familiar with.)

I wrote previously about one of my favourite radio series, Bleak Expectations, a wonderful Dickens parody. There is now interesting news that it is being turned into a television show. Well, rather than a direct adaptation, it is apparently more of a spin-off in the same style, which will be called Bleak Old Shop of Stuff. The cast will include Robert Webb, Stephen Fry, Katherine Parkinson and David Mitchell. This could be very promising, I am certainly looking forward to seeing it (although I am sad to learn that Bleak Expectations will be ending next year too).

Here is another post reviewing some radio comedies that I have been listening to. Because of course my reviews of obscure radio programmes are always so popular! </sarcasm>

• The Castle is a radio sitcom which describes itself as, ‘a comedy set in the filth, stench and grime of the middle ages, with some nice music’. It was quite funny, and there were a few great jokes here and there, but overall it was nowhere near as good as some of the other Radio 4 sitcoms out there. But since I am rapidly running out of radio comedies to listen to, it was good to hear it anyway.

• Elvenquest is a parody of Tolkienesque fantasy epics. I wrote about it here when I listened to the show last year, so I won’t repeat myself, just see that review for a fuller summary of the show. The third series was recently broadcast so I listened to the whole show again including the new episodes. I really enjoy it, it is definitely one of my favourites of the radio sitcoms that I listen to, and if anything I enjoyed it more the second time through. I’d really recommend this one.
  

• Bleak Expectations was one of the first radio sitcoms I listened to last year; before that I was mostly tuning in (er, to iPlayer) for the panel shows and sketch shows. Again, you can read my earlier review for a proper summary. I listened to it all again over the recent holidays, and it is still superb. I am looking forward to the fifth series hopefully coming up this year, and to the spin off television show.

• I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue is Radio 4’s ‘perennial antidote to panel games’. It was pretty much the first radio show I started listening to, and it is still the finest panel show on the radio. I have quite a few old episodes that I have been listening to, and I realised that I have never really mentioned the show before, so I should at least include a mention of ISIHAC if I am doing a post about radio shows!

I’m not sure what I’ll be listening to next but I do love my Radio 4 comedies at the moment.

So I have just finished watching The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff. When I heard that they were adapting the radio show Bleak Expectations for the television I was excited but also a bit skeptical. There was a Christmas special on over the holidays which I enjoyed, and I thought it was good but not as brilliant as the original show overall. After a bit of a break the television show returned with three new episodes which have now finished airing. Again, I enjoyed them, they were funny in places and good enough, but they just seemed to lack whatever it was that made the radio show so brilliant. Overall I liked The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff and I would watch more of the same, and if I had never heard the radio show then I know I would have loved this one a lot more. But ultimately I was also somewhat disappointed and I am looking forward to the next (and sadly probably last) series of Bleak Expectations more than ever.