The New Statesman 

In a parody of 1980s Conservatism, Rik Mayall is Alan B'Stard MP, the most machiavellian Tory of them all.

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

Sheriff: [about Piers] Say, Is your buddy all right in the head?
Alan: It's too early to tell. There's a search party in there as we speak looking for his brain.

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Connections

Featured in Greatest Ever Sitcoms (2014)

User Reviews

Simply the greatest piece of comedy since Fawlty Towers.

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!