By the mid-80's, Rik Mayall was firmly established as one of the biggest comedy stars on British television, thanks to 'A Kick Up The '80's' in which he had played the idiotic Kevin Turvey, and of course 'The Young Ones'. Lawrence Marks and Maurice Gran had created the brilliant 'Shine On Harvey Moon' which Mayall admired, so it seemed only natural to combine their talents.
The title 'The New Statesman' had been used three years earlier for a now-forgotten Windsor Davies B.B.C. sitcom. Marks and Gran's series centred around Alan Beresford B'Stard, Machiavellian Tory M.P. for Haltemprice, a man so corrupt and evil as to defy description. He only wins his seat by default after arranging for the other candidates to perish in a car crash. He is married to the lovely Sarah, who plays the devoted wife in public but is in reality a promiscuous bisexual. Alan shares an office at The House Of Commons with Piers Fletcher-Dervish, with whom he has a 'Blackadder/Baldrick' style relationship. A running gag in the first series had Alan's financial adviser Norman Bormann trying to escape a prison sentence by undergoing a sex change. Credited as 'R.R. Cooper', the character was in fact portrayed by Rowena Cooper.
I remember watching this back in 1987 and finding it hard to believe it was a Yorkshire Television production. 'Statesman' had the gloss of a London Weekend Television series. Each episode had Alan embarking on some new 'get-rich-quick' project; in the first he gets the law changed to enable policemen to carry guns. Guess who supplies the weapons? In another, Alan stores nuclear waste under a school. In the series' best episode, Alan was apparently assassinated, but as we later found out, it was another cunning ploy on his part.
Mayall was simply superb as the scheming 'B'Stard', a character a world away from 'Rick' of 'The Young Ones', and he was ably supported by sexy Marsha Fitzalan as 'Sarah' and Michael Troughton as the imbecilic 'Piers'.
The final series took Alan away from Westminister and to Brussels, where he became an M.E.P. Though it had its moments, it wasn't as funny as before. At the very end of the final episode, Alan becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain. Despite the topical references to Thatcher and Reagan, 'Statesman' has dated far less badly than, say, 'Spitting Image'.
Mayall recently revived B'Stard in a West End stage show, which I haven't seen, but I think Marks and Gran made a blunder in having him defect to New Labour. B'Stard has Tory written through him like Blackpool rock. They should have waited for the Tories to regain power before bringing back B'Stard.
If nothing else, the show proved there was more to Rik Mayall than nose picking and farting. Here he proved that he could do satirical farce, and do it extremely well.
The title 'The New Statesman' had been used three years earlier for a now-forgotten Windsor Davies B.B.C. sitcom. Marks and Gran's series centred around Alan Beresford B'Stard, Machiavellian Tory M.P. for Haltemprice, a man so corrupt and evil as to defy description. He only wins his seat by default after arranging for the other candidates to perish in a car crash. He is married to the lovely Sarah, who plays the devoted wife in public but is in reality a promiscuous bisexual. Alan shares an office at The House Of Commons with Piers Fletcher-Dervish, with whom he has a 'Blackadder/Baldrick' style relationship. A running gag in the first series had Alan's financial adviser Norman Bormann trying to escape a prison sentence by undergoing a sex change. Credited as 'R.R. Cooper', the character was in fact portrayed by Rowena Cooper.
I remember watching this back in 1987 and finding it hard to believe it was a Yorkshire Television production. 'Statesman' had the gloss of a London Weekend Television series. Each episode had Alan embarking on some new 'get-rich-quick' project; in the first he gets the law changed to enable policemen to carry guns. Guess who supplies the weapons? In another, Alan stores nuclear waste under a school. In the series' best episode, Alan was apparently assassinated, but as we later found out, it was another cunning ploy on his part.
Mayall was simply superb as the scheming 'B'Stard', a character a world away from 'Rick' of 'The Young Ones', and he was ably supported by sexy Marsha Fitzalan as 'Sarah' and Michael Troughton as the imbecilic 'Piers'.
The final series took Alan away from Westminister and to Brussels, where he became an M.E.P. Though it had its moments, it wasn't as funny as before. At the very end of the final episode, Alan becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain. Despite the topical references to Thatcher and Reagan, 'Statesman' has dated far less badly than, say, 'Spitting Image'.
Mayall recently revived B'Stard in a West End stage show, which I haven't seen, but I think Marks and Gran made a blunder in having him defect to New Labour. B'Stard has Tory written through him like Blackpool rock. They should have waited for the Tories to regain power before bringing back B'Stard.
If nothing else, the show proved there was more to Rik Mayall than nose picking and farting. Here he proved that he could do satirical farce, and do it extremely well.