10 Seriously Overlooked British TV Shows
2. The New Statesman
The deliciously corrupt dealings of the late great Rik Mayall’s Tory MP Alan B’Stard might strike a nerve with some, especially now. Satire seldom mixed such heights of silliness with such deep horridness as it did with The New Statesman, and it was the better for it.
No form of corruption is too low for Alan B'Stard, MP, the most savage critique of Thatcherite conservatism to reach screens (and later newspaper columns). Lewd, rude, chock full of greed, and willing to kill in his quest for power, it is a true testament to the genius of Rik Mayall that so ghoulish a figure as Alan is so funny to watch. That and, of course, the show does love, quite rightly, to be silly.
Despite being something of a storming success in its day, critically and otherwise, it's odd to say that The New Statesman is rather overlooked these days. The exquisite The Thick of It is the uncontested sovereign of British satire of late, and yet it is doubtful whether it ever would have been so bold as it was had not Alan B'Stard devilishly paved the way.