Bill Dare

Share this page Dead Ringers: Writing the referendum

With the referendum, the resignation of David Cameron, the installation of a new PM and a Labour leadership challenge, Radio 4's topical impressions show Dead Ringers has been on air through arguably the most turbulent period British politics has seen in a generation. As they put together the final episode of the series, producer Bill Dare and script editor Laurence Howarth reflect on reacting to the changing news, every Friday at 6.30pm.

The problem with topical comedy

There comes a point when every topical comedy writer asks themselves this question, 'Haven't I done this joke before?'

Bill Dare interview

BBC producer and author Bill Dare travels to a world where comedy is topical, complicated... and funny.

Turn to Brian Gulliver's Travels (Radio 4, Wednesdays) for wit, invention and much laughter. This is the second series of satires on the way we live now, written by Bill Dare, presented as the memoirs of a libertine travel writer. Neil Pearson plays him, holed up in a mental hospital, telling his (initially) sceptical daughter about where he's been. Last week we heard his adventures in Lessington, where reading is forbidden and everything is instant (food, films, drink) and nearby Furington where the use of perfect grammar is mandatory and everything (food, films, beer) takes so much time that Gulliver and his latest female travelling companion flee back to Lessington, gratefully bolting down chicken nuggets and freely splitting infinitives. There are four more episodes to come. It is marvellous.

This is a great series, conceived and written by Bill Dare, a name more usually associated with comedy production. Brian Gulliver (Neil Pearson) is in a mental hospital, recounting memories to his disenchanted daughter. He's been far away, caught up in strange lands among peoples with outlandish ways. The more he talks the more we begin to see what he's on about, grasping the point of Dare's truly Swiftian satire on modern life. This time, among the people of Chamanoa, our Gulliver is swept into the war between its Naturites and Nurturites.

Watching television that makes you cringe can be inspirational - if you work as a comedian that is. Kevin Bishop was sat at home one weekend and caught Noel's HQ on Sky1.

This series was full of stories about people who'd been ripped off or mutilated or were desperately ill. Edmonds and the team would sort their lives out and, in publicising the show, noble Noel called upon the public to take matters into their own hands and help fix broken Britain.

Bishop felt a stirring in his funny bones. What if he were to meld Mr Edmonds with another TV host who was there to right the wrongs of "ordinary people" - by which, of course, he meant Jeremy Kyle. Working with comedy producer extraordinaire Bill Dare - the man behind such successes as Dead Ringers, The Now Show and Spitting Image - they created Les Kelly.

"He's a complete idiot," explains Bishop of his creation. "He's very right-wing, has lived an entirely sheltered lifestyle and he really wants to put right everything that he sees as being wrong in Britain."

The result is this superbly observed comedy, driven by strong character performances, at the centre of which is the utterly flawed Les Kelly. To say there is something of Alan Partridge about Les is a heartfelt compliment.

This series deserves to be huge. Don't miss it.

This is a comedy about a local radio station in Birmingham. It aims to promote fellow feeling and harmony between Pakistanis, Indians, Somalis, Polish builders and every other next-door neighbour. The show is written by Adil Ray and Anil Gupta, is produced by Bill Dare (whose comedy credits are a mile long) and stars such fine performers as Felix Dexter (from Down the Line as well as this week's daily Woman's Hour drama Ancient Mysteries). But, as the BBC still dithers over the fate of its own Asian radio network, it's an interesting time to broadcast it.

Visions were interpreted as mental illness in Brian Gulliver's Travels but the point of Bill Dare's highly original format was to both satirise and issue a warning about the nanny state.

Gulliver, played with his customary playfulness by Neil Pearson, insisted he had visited a country called Gelbetia. The country was run by doctors, lifestyle was no longer a choice but a matter of law, and every character flaw was part of a condition. So laziness was excused as "effort deficit syndrome", and impatience became "queue frustration disorder". The series began on an amusing and thought-provoking note.