The New Statesman

When I first sat down to view my first helping of "The new statesman" I was of course expecting a programme with a fantastic mix of Rik Mayall's wonderful wit and charm, his comic acting genius and the creative talent of Maurice Gran and Laurence Marks. I'll be honest... I was not disappointed! It had all of these along with bag fulls of beautiful political corruption thrown in at every opportunity. A treat from beginning to end, while Rik's character, (suitably named "Alan B'stard) managed week in week out to be the most cruel, obnoxious and all round disturbingly corrupt um, "B'stard" on TV, yet still came away with the audience loving him. The only warning that I will give is that if you're looking for another "Bottom" then this is not the place! In fact the ideal viewer for this show would be a half-crazed political mess who adores Rik Mayall's wiley wit and charm... Oh, and it would help if you're a bit left wing, and if you're right wing... Have a laugh at yourself!

I detest politics from all sides of the spectrum (I don't even vote) and this perfectly illustrates why. Despite it beginning it's broadcast run in 1987 it's still relevant in the world of British (or maybe global) politics today. Rik Mayall plays corrupt Tory back bencher Alan Beresford B'Stard and he fits this role perfectly as a slimy character who we are suppose to utterly detest and yet the character (written and acted) is so evil and so cruel that he is incredibly entertaining (and even a little bit admirable). The series is firmly set in the 80s under Thatcher's government but it's still surprisingly relevant even 30 years later (which can't be said for a lot of other satire shows), for example in one episode B'stard says he wants to shut down the health service to reduce waiting lists and 30 years later Boris Johnson is going on about doing the exact same thing (maybe he watched this and didn't get that it was suppose to be making fun of people like him), in fact in a lot of ways Alan B'stard is like Boris Johnson, although B'stard is more openly corrupt. Proof that even though tech and ideas have changed idiots will always be idiots.

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 watched this when i was a kid, i didn't really like politics but i liked this and Spitting Image. One of the reasons i think i watched this was because it was on on a sunday night and my mum let me stay up to watch it. I found it hilarious though and still do. I recently watched Series 1 and it dawned upon me that Alan B'Stard is infact a more evil version of Blackadder which is probably why i liked The New Statesman so much. I get more of the political jokes now but they are out of date and redundant but there's more to it than that. Will never be considered a classic due to it being about British politics but was one of the few great comedy sitcoms that appeared on ITV because most of the greats appeared on the BBC. I'd like to see it repeated so i hope some ITV or Sky executive reads this and sorts it out.

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.