Ben Elton

Review: Upstart Crow, BBC Two

David Mitchell, like all the cast, is superb, and his pedantic, sarcastic panel show persona works beautifully for the put-upon Will. Ben Elton's script is a gag-rich riot of clever comedy, the kind that has to be watched at least twice to appreciate all the jokes and references, the sight gags and throwaways. Complete joy from start to finish.

I'd been looking forward to this new series. It's a sitcom about Shakespeare, written by Ben Elton and starring David Mitchell and so, naturally, anyone with half a brain would be anticipating it. But perhaps I set my expectations too high as it was a disappointment.

Mitchell plays Shakespeare, trying to keep his temper as he composes Romeo and Juliet in his messy kitchen while his family deride his work. He asks his teenage daughter to recite Juliet's words and she responds like every modern teenager when faced with Shakespeare's ornate language: "I don't say stuff like this, Dad. I'd sound like a complete turnip!" Yet he can hardly made it sound like authentic teenspeak: "Ugh. Shut up, Romeo. You're so weird. I hate you."

Things perk up when Elton makes some digs at privilege and the upper classes, mocking "the English posh boy" and their membership of Oxbridge clubs like The Fisted Peasant. It's funny in places but not quite big enough for its boots.

Ben Elton talks about Upstart Crow

As Ben Elton gives the Bard the sitcom treatment in Upstart Crow, he argues that Bill suffered from class prejudice then - and is still suffering from it now...

What's in a name? When it's Ben Elton, quite a lot, considering his new sitcom marks the writer's return to a historical setting for the first time since Blackadder. The principal character in this comedy should offer more meticulous wordplay than Bladders could: the action revolves around one William Shakespeare (David Mitchell). Sadly, this veers towards Elton's insufferable The Wright Way, with double-entendre-strewn dialogue masking a distinct lack of laughs.

Upstart Crow review

Gadzooks! After some high-profile flops in both hemispheres, Ben Elton has rediscovered his mojo... and all it took was a return trip to Elizabethan England.

Ben Elton's Shakespeare sitcom was not too Bard

Its sitcom format feels lumbering and it has a complacent tendency to rely on David Mitchell's waspish delivery of cod-Shakespearese - but, since it's the poor chap's anniversary, I could give it one more chance next week. Not quite Bard yet, then.

Preview: Upstart Crow

Never mind Leicester winning the league, what odds would you have got on Ben Elton being funny again? But hold the front page: Elton has got his mojo back. Well, everything is relative. After his appalling The Wright Way it looked like the acclaimed comic might never make us laugh again. But he has done it with Upstart Crow, which, let's not mince words, is Blackadder Does The Bard.

David Mitchell interview

The actor and comedian chats to Gerard Gilbert about starring in Ben Elton's Blackadder-esque new comedy.

New Ben Elton comedy takes a pop at Ricky Gervais

"Affectionate" lampooning has the Bard's cocky actor colleague speaking exactly like The Office star.

Is Upstart Crow as good as Blackadder?

Ben Elton - the writer of both shows, who has been pilloried for a lot of his recent work including the fairly dire The Wright Way - is clearly returning to his strengths. And I would say this does indeed deserve comparisons with Blackadder, the brilliant comedy he co-wrote with Richard Curtis, because it is very good.