The New Statesman 

The ultra right-wing Alan B'Stard, the most selfish, greedy, dishonest, sadistic and sociopathic Conservative MP of them all, plots to achieve his meglomaniacal ambitions.

Creators:

Maurice Gran, Laurence Marks

Stars:

Rik Mayall, Michael Troughton, Marsha Fitzalan

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Rik Mayall	...	Alan B'Stard / ... 29 episodes, 1987-1994
Michael Troughton	...	Piers Fletcher-Dervish 26 episodes, 1987-1992
Marsha Fitzalan	...	Sarah B'Stard 21 episodes, 1987-1992

Storyline

Tells the adventures of Conservative MP Alan B'Stard, a man who doesn't have any morals at all. He stops at nothing to make himself richer and more powerful in the party and is involved in drugs, adult films, fraud (making up charities with the initials C.A.S.H when writing on cheques) and even murder but believes that he will never be caught as he is a Conservative MP and therefore all powerful. He has almost complete power over another MP - Piers Fletcher-Dervish who is nearly completely brainless. His wife Sarah B'Stard has very loose morals (both of them have affairs mostly every day) and has hated her husband from five minutes after they got married and tries to use Alan to get anything she wants. Each episode contains recent news items and Alan moves with the times with things like the end of the cold war, the Nazi hunt in the late 80's as well as the Animal Freedom Party. Keeping up with the huge amount of cash, Alan moves (in the 4th season) to the European Union to continue ...

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Plot Keywords:

british humour | dark comedy | surreal | parody | drugs | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 September 1987 (UK)

Also Known As:

Državnik novog kova

Company Credits

Production Co:

Alomo Productions, SelecTV, Yorkshire Television (YTV)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

25 min (26 episodes) 70 min (1 episode)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Quotes

Alan's Mother: Dinner went rather well, I thought.
Alan B'Stard: Rather well? You poured an entire bottle of champagne down Fergie's cleavage!
Alan's Mother: There was room for it.
Alan B'Stard: And then you started to cut your toenails with the *grape* scissors!
Alan's Mother: Do you think anybody noticed?

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Connections

Featured in Britain's Best Loved Sitcoms (2015)

User Reviews

Mmm, Corrupt!

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!