ComedyCollective
Writers Project
Ivan Shakespeare
"The Bad Erotic Fiction Award, for bad writing
about sex, went to AA Gill.
He told the organisers what they could do with it - but not very well."
28 November 1999
Ivan was a founding member of the Comedy Collective. He was a commissioned writer for BBC Radio 4's political satire sketch show WeekEnding for five years (1992-1997) and wrote regularly for the London satirical political stage revue NewsRevue (Thursdays to Sundays at the Canal Café Theatre, London). He was a writer for Rory Bremner's television show (Channel 4) 1996-1999. His BBC Radio 4 spoof of Virginia Woolf and her Bloomsbury Set A Square of One's Own was broadcast in 1996, and repeated in 1997.
All rights reserved by The Ivan Shakespeare Estate . For inquiries about Ivan's work, please contact Ivan's widow Elspeth MacLean through the Writers Guild (or John Random).
Pilot Episode: A Square of One's
Own
(BBC Radio 4, First Broadcast 15 May 1996)
Sketch: The Dead Parody Sketch
(Performed by the Smiling Assassins at the Canal Café, Summer
1999)
Song: The Farmers' Song (sung to the theme
tune of BBC Radio 4's The Archers)
(Stage Revue, Willesden Green, 1993; NewsRevue, Canal Café Theatre,
Little Venice, London, 1993 and 2000)
One-liners from Bremner, Bird and Fortune
(Broadcast on Channel 4 Television 1999)
Sketch: Pay Explosion
(Broadcast on Weekending, BBC Radio 4, 1994)
Sketch: They Ought To Be Locked Up
(Sky Television (UK) 1994)
Sketch: Living Leg-end
(Broadcast on The News Huddlines, BBC Radio 2, 1993)
Sketch: Hovis Ad Parody - The Good Old Days
(Broadcast on Week-Ending, BBC Radio 4, 1995)
JEFFREY ARCHER
JONATHAN AITKEN
(Motes and Beams)
JONATHAN AITKEN Ansaphone
McGONAGAL AND THE FORTH BRIDGE DISASTER
QUICKIES AND GAGS FOR WEEKENDING AND RORY BREMNER
Additional
Material:
(A Night for Ivan production, NewsRevue)
Obituary: Ivan Shakespeare
The Independent (London), Feb 11, 2000 by John Random
AS A comic writer, Ivan Shakespeare would have been the first to see the
irony of the manner of his death - felled by a heart attack in the act of
keeping fit. (He was jogging at the time.) A commissioned writer on Radio
2's The News Huddlines and Week Ending and The Beaton Generation on Radio
4, he most recently worked on Bremner, Bird and Fortune for Channel 4, in
which his talent for sharp, political satire found a perfect home.
Born and brought up in West Bromwich, he escaped at the relatively late age
of 23 to read Sociology at Lancaster University. After various jobs he moved
to London to pursue a career as an accountant, working for - among others
- the Bank of Bermuda, where he met his partner, Elspeth McLean. In 1989
he won a competition in Time Out and took the decision to strike out as a
full-time writer. It was especially brave of Shakespeare, since he was the
least pushy person imaginable and always feared that his talents would be
outshone.
He was wrong, of course, and soon established himself in the corridors of
BBC Radio Comedy, as well as becoming a stalwart of the live topical satire
show Newsrevue at the Canal Cafe in Little Venice in north London. In both
places, he brought his own distinctive touch to the difficult business of
satirising a Tory government that was increasingly beyond parody.
Ivan Shakespeare was an immensely erudite and cultured man, the north London
home he shared with Elspeth McLean crammed with a collection of more than
400 music tapes - chiefly classical - and a shelf-buckling 4,000 books. It
was to the Bloomsbury Group that he turned for his sitcom A Square of One's
Own, which first went out on Radio 4 in May 1996 and was repeated a year
later.
At the time of his death, he was busier than ever with screenplays, a radio
play and a TV sitcom all in various stages of development, and on a personal
note seemed happier and more settled than he had ever been.
Sometimes exasperated, but never self-pitying, Shakespeare was easy-going
and generous in his praise of other writers. Nor was he above being the butt
of jokes himself, as when he agreed to appear on television as a David Mellor
lookalike (complete with Chelsea strip). He once turned up to a wedding in
a second-hand suit that he'd snapped up for a song. "Yes, it's bespoke,"
said Ivan to another guest, "Unfortunately, it's bespoke for someone else."
Ivan Shakespeare, writer: born West Bromwich, Staffordshire 19 July 1952;
died London 3 February 2000.
OTHER OBITUARIES FOR IVAN
in The STAGE (by Kim Morrissey)
A Square of One's Own
Broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May-June 1996; repeated in 1997.
Complete script of the pilot
episode
Click on Virginia Woof
"Virginia Woof " detail. Artist: Clifford Harper
BBC Radio Times for May 11-17, 1996
all sketches were written by Ivan Shakespeare and the Ivan Shakespeare Estate retains the copyright until 2070.To contact the Ivan Shakespeare Estate, please contact Elspeth McLean (or John Random).
THE FORTH BRIDGE DISASTER
1. V/O :
And now, a few lines about the Forth Railway Bridge,
inspired by the spirit of William McGonagall.
2. McGONAGALL : Oh, beautiful Railway Bridge of the silv'ry Forth!
Taking the trains from South to North
From Edinburgh to the county of Fife
Alas, a journey that risks your life
Or at least makes your heart jump into your mouth
When going South to North, or North to South.
'Twas when Railtrack acquired the bridge I hear
They decided routine maintenance was too dear
And now it's no longer continually painted I fear
And soon became covered in dead birds and grime
Which will be there for a very long time.
And soon bits fell off the Bridge of the Forth
And the people below felt a very great wrath
As rusty lumps of iron hit the ground
Something for which the Bridge was never renowned
Before its owners started counting every pound.
And though Railtrack are penny-wise
The Bridge is now a sorry sight to the eyes
And worse - I fear unless some paint they slap on
It could be a disaster waiting to happen
Like the Tay Bridge disaster of 1879
Which will be remembered for a very long time.
(ENDS)
14 November 1999
Australian womens' football team posed for a nude calendar. They don't mind the topless shots appearing in Britain so long as no-one sees them Down Under.
2 December 1999 Chris Smith says that with rich foreigners buying our art works, Britain faces a heritage crisis - our Rembrandts and Botticellis are ending up in places like Holland and Italy. 5 December 1999
The Hamilton-Al-Fayed libel trial continued, with Mohammed al-Fayed accusing Prince Philip of murdering Diana, Michael Howard of taking a million and a half in kickbacks and Neil Hamilton of being a gay prostitute. You can see why he was so keen to join the British Establishment. 28 November 1999
Everyone says truth is stranger than fiction, though in Jeffrey Archer's case it's just rarer. 28 November 1999
Charlie Dimmock's cameraman denied focusing on her breasts - he said he wasn't using a wide enough angled lens. 4 November 1999
A man called the police to report his cannabis stash had been stolen. A police spokesman said 'It gives a whole new meaning to the phrase Grassing Yourself Up'. 5 December 1999
General Pinochet admitted wearing sunglasses to hide his lying. (HAGUE VOICE) Thanks, a bit late for the tip now! Archer's been banned - all he needed was to be Ray-Banned. 28 November 1999
Chris Tarrant's making about £3 million a year. (TARRANT VOICE) Yes, well who wants to be JUST a millionaire? 14 November 1999
One of the Railtrack chiefs told us not to get hysterical over safety. Sorry, we can't help it, it's the way you tell 'em. 17 October 1999
Peter Mandelson's got a dog. (MANDELSON VOICE) I may call it Thatcher, because it's almost always barking. 28 November 1999
Cherie Blair is pregnant. (HAGUE VOICE) Just watch - he'll extend the Nanny State right into Number Ten. 21 November 1999
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