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 I get more of the political jokes now but they are out of date and redundant but there's more to it than that.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.
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fibreoptic24 July 2004
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Howlin Wolf11 May 2002I'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. -
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! -
Chew-76 March 2000When 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!
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ShadeGrenade12 January 2007By 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. -
Rabical-9124 March 2015This, in my opinion, is satirical comedy at its very finest. It was a vehicle created by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran to showcase the talents of Rik Mayall ( who had become a household name with viewers in the early '80's with 'The Young Ones' and 'The Comic Strip Presents' ) which came about after Mayall, who was impressed by their earlier hit 'Shine On Harvey Moon', had approached Marks and Gran to pen a show for him. The result was 'The New Statesman', made by Yorkshire Television in 1987.
Here Rik played Alan Beresford B'Stard, a Tory MP for Haltemprice who has the largest majority of votes in The House Of Commons. B'Stard is a corrupt, sleazy, loathsome backbencher who only obtains his seat by default after plotting a fatal car crash between the Labour and Liberal Democrat candidates. His wife is Sarah, a devious bisexual who despises Alan but stays married to him for his money. Alan too only remains married to Sarah because her father, Roland Gidleigh Park ( played by the late Charles Gray ), controls the local Conservative party. In parliament, Alan shares an office with Piers Fletcher Dervish, a well meaning but extremely dim-witted MP who often finds himself involved in Alan's schemes and scams.
In the first episode, Alan cleared a law which allowed the police to carry firearms, however the guns he supplied for them were defective an in another he engineered the liquidation of a company in which his wife has shares in. In a sketch created for 'Comic Relief' in 1988, we even saw Alan attempt to shut down the BBC.
As the evil B'Stard, the late Rik Mayall was outstanding to say the least. He certainly was not recognisable as the goofy Rick from 'The Young Ones'. Marks and Gran's scripts cleverly combined visual slapstick comedy with satire. One of the most memorable recurring jokes in the series is Alan's inability to make sex last any longer than half a minute ( which he believes is a sign of virility ). Also excellent in the cast were the stunningly beautiful Marsha Fitzalan as Sarah and Michael Troughton as the dippy Piers. Rowena Cooper appeared in the first series as Alan's financial adviser Norman Borman, who is undergoing a sex change in order to elude a prison sentence.
After series three, Alan deported from Westminster to Brussels to become an M.E.P and in the final episode, 'The Irressistible Rise Of Alan B'Stard', he became Prime Minister of Great Britain. It seemed by this point that the show had run out of ideas. In 1994, a special episode entitled 'A. B'Stard Exposed' was made for BBC Television in which Alan was interviewed by Brian Walden to reveal his vision of 21st Century Britain. This was indeed the last viewers saw of B'Stard.
Like 'Spitting Image' and the later 'Drop The Dead Donkey', many of the topical references used in 'The New Statesman' have resulted in it looking dated. Nonetheless, it is one of the greatest sitcoms to emerge from the 1980's and proved that Mayall was capable of so much more than farting and hitting people with frying pans. -
FilmBlokeJ27 February 2020I 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.
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I own the complete New Statesman box set and think it is absolutely brilliant. Alan B'Stard is riotous and his ability to find a profit in any venture is often hilarious. I do have one question though, and wonder could anyone answer it.
While browsing this excellent site I saw the complete list of episodes for the New Statesman. The episode "Alan B'Stard closes down the BBC" is not on my "complete New Statesman" box set. Was this not an official episode? Why is it not included? I unfortunately was too young to appreciate this show when it first aired so have no idea if it was just a charity special or anything like that. I have always assumed that the episode "Who shot Alan B'Stard" was a one-off, though without giving too much away there is no way they couldn't include that episode on the boxset without raising too many questions.
So, overall the show is brilliant, and if anyone can tell me what happened to this lost episode I'd appreciate it. Thanks for reading this.
PS I didn't really know where else to put this question, so put it in here with my praise. -
13Funbags22 September 2017I enjoy this show but it's very average. It's just him trying to make conservatives look as bad as possible and it's not always funny. The first season has some weird transvestite character that seems to have no reason to be there but it ends up being the funniest character. Having Charles Gray in two episodes really helped, they should have kept him in the show.
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Mac Styran10 January 2002The 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. -
drunkenmonkey224 December 2004This is a hilarious political-cum comedy, this series reminds me instantly of the political bits in Little Britain.
Rik mayall at his best, TNS has more of an intellectual side than his usual fast witted comedies boyish humour and innuendo's aplenty, which is quite political correct in this respect! :p
A sheer classic, lots of fun and humor to be had, just don't watch it in front of your inlaws, unless they like the show of course! Beg borrow but don't steal a copy! watch it, laugh it and you're gonna really enjoy it!
In fact, all this talk has got those memories flooding back again, i'm gonna order the DVD set now! ;) 10/10 -
smarty-114 May 1999I used to watch this years ago in Australia... It started out airing at 11:30 pm but was moved to some crazy time like four in the morning because it was so controversial. It's a nastily accurate skewering of a Thatcher-ite backbencher more evil than Satan himself. If you ever get a chance to see it, do!
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Mmyers200329 December 2002Rik Mayall always makes me laugh i don't think hes ever done a single duff sitcom or comedy routine. Its one of the rare ocassions hes not working along side Ade Edmundson but he still manages to do well. Its a shame theres no reruns of this but then i'm buying them on DVD. I guess we'll have to wait until The tories come back into power before we'll see this rerun. Someone should maybe try the same thing with the labour party.
TC Raymond, Benny hill and the carry on films are old hat and out of date. You'll have to accept that and move along. In my opinion they were boring and i'm glad we've left that era. You don't seem to like alot of comedy do you? Oh well your choice I guess. -
a3854254 November 1999In my opinion this is maybe the best political satire ever made.It´s main character Alan B´Stard played by Rik Mayall is excellent.There will pass quite long time while somebody makes such good series as this one.So I recommend it to anybody who loves British humor!!
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Corky198420 March 2006Virtually everything Rik Mayall stars in is funny and this great series is no exception. Depicting a money-grabbing, corrupt and debauched MP in Thatcher's Britain, it sees Mayall at his peak. The scheming and wordplay are brilliant, whilst the stories rush along at a swift pace with plenty of laughs. I like the fact that the series pokes fun not just at the Tories (the typical cries from the left that they're all toffs and buffoons etc), it also attacks Labour (opportunistic, double-dealing and stupid) whilst savaging the Liberals now and then as well!!! Now that's the kind of approach I like to see! Alan B'Stard is of course one of comedy's great characters. In just 4 series and a special, he managed to hide nuclear waste near a school, get assassinated and survive, be sentenced to death and escape his hanging because the ropes (which he had sold them) didn't work, find himself trapped in a gulag, have numerous affairs, kill a few people, make loads of dodgy cash and get a telling off from the Iron Lady herself!!! Plus loads more! The New Statesman is a fantastic show, with outrageous humour and slapstick, twinned with a sinister undertone. Cynics will love it. Lets hope the new stage show, with B'Stard now one of Tony's Cronies in the discredited Labour party, is as good as the original.