Steve Pemberton

Radio Times review

The piquant minutiae of Tilling make the world of Mapp and Lucia go around. It's about bridge parties and who takes tea with whom. Since Lucia's arrival the social map has been re-drawn now that she dominates its cultural life, to the exclusion of its grinning once-grande dame, Elizabeth Mapp.

In the second episode of Steve Pemberton's adaptations, the quaint town is thrilled by the arrival of a mysterious Indian gentleman who claims he is a "guru". He is immediately annexed by a ravenous Mapp (Miranda Richardson, outrageous teeth bared) who aims to run him while excluding her arch rival and nemesis, Lucia (Anna Chancellor, oh-so-chic).

Devotees of E.F. Benson's Mapp and Lucia books will know that the guru didn't visit Tilling (he went to Riseholme) but no matter, it's another deliciously snooty hour.

Steve Pemberton's gorgeous new adaptation of author EF Benson's Mapp and Lucia stories is so delicious in every detail you won't be able to stop after just one episode.

Like a massive box of luxury ­chocolates you'll want to devour another one as soon as the first is over, so thank you to the BBC for ­scheduling the three episodes on consecutive nights - ending on New Year's Eve - so you don't have too long to wait.

And when that's over, you'll ­probably want to track down the Channel 4 version that was screened 30 years ago, go and buy the original books and then start badgering the BBC to make another series.

That landmark 1985 version is a tough act to follow and Pemberton - who is quite brilliant here as Lucia's gay best friend Georgie Pillson - has secured two superb actors to bring the warring queen bees of the seaside town of Tilling to life a second time.

As Miss Elizabeth Mapp, Miranda Richardson is armed with a set of slightly too large false teeth to turn her overly polite smiles into acts of pure passive aggression, while Anna Chancellor as the elegant Mrs ­Emmeline "Lucia" Lucas looks as though she has stepped straight out of the 1930s.

As she rents Miss Mapp's house for the summer, and sets out to win over the townsfolk of Tilling with her smatterings of bad Italian and limited musical accomplishments, the battle lines are drawn for an unmissable comedy of manners in this genteel war of social one-upmanship.

Radio Times review

Miss Elizabeth Mapp, all big teeth and buttery smiles, is the queen of Tilling, ruling the social and cultural life of her dinky little seaside town like a cloche-hatted monarch.

But Mapp's reign is threatened by the arrival in Tilling of chic, elegant Emmeline Lucas, known to all as Lucia, so glamorous in her widow's weeds. The stage is set for war over the bridge tables as the women battle for supremacy.

Fans of E.F. Benson's peerless 1930s Mapp and Lucia series of comic novels should be thrilled by Steve Pemberton's careful adaptations for this three-part series (he's a huge fan and plays Lucia's fey, platonic friend Georgie Pilson).

Miranda Richardson, who's Mapp with a terrifying set of gnashers and a touch of the Margaret Thatchers, and Anna Chancellor, in a series of fabulous vintage dresses, are just marvellous as the rivals. The whole thing is the campest of treats.

Siobhan Finneran & Steve Pemberton on leaving Benidorm

"It's been heartbreaking to leave Benidorm!"

Steve Pemberton interview

Social climbing has never been so funny for Steve Pemberton.

Radio Times review

This was the rarest of comic beasts: half a dozen standalone episodes with jokes that weren't laid out on a plate, but instead jumped out from corners or tripped you up during awkward pauses. It was written by League of Gentlemen alumni Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, and performed by them in various guises alongside the likes of Timothy West, Helen McCrory and Gemma Arterton. It was dark, of course, but otherwise deliciously unpredictable: the first was about an uncomfortable engagement party; the second was a silent comedy with slapstick from Charlie Chaplin's great-granddaughter, Oona.

A Steve Pemberton-scripted adaptation of EF Benson's arch novels of small-town social snobbery. Mapp And Lucia may seem to have comedy gold written all over it, but in truth this opener takes too long to get going and, for all everyone involved seems to be having fun, at moments lacks pace and zing. Things improve, however, once busybody Elizabeth Mapp (Miranda Richardson) and regal Emmeline Lucas, AKA Lucia (Anna Chancellor), begin to battle in earnest to lead Tilling society. Continues tomorrow and New Year's Eve.

In the last in the series, Toast is knocked very much for six by the arrival of an old flame, Lorna Wynde, more than three decades after she broke his heart when the pair starred in a US soap together. But is she just using him to make her rock star husband jealous? Tormented by feelings from the past, Toast takes up with his very-much-alive chum Francis Bacon. Sterling guest appearances come from Queens Of The Stone Age's Josh Homme and The League of Gentlemen's Steve Pemberton.

Radio Times review

Steven Toast is in turmoil - the greatest love of his life, Lorna Wynde, is appearing in The Graduate on the London stage. Toast has never recovered from their break-up, after which he had an unfortunate accident in Oddbins.

The best bits of the final, typically uneven episode are the masterly pastiches of dreadful 1980s American soaps. Toast (Matt Berry) and Wynde (Morgana Robinson) starred together in one such atrocity, but it put an end to her TV career as she went cross-eyed in close-ups.

Steve Pemberton, soon to be seen in Mapp and Lucia on BBC One, plays a very effete Francis Bacon and Josh Homme, lead singer of rock band Queens of the Stone Age, guests as Lorna's jealous husband.

Can new take on Mapp and Lucia compare to 1985 series?

The BBC's new version is written by The League of Gentlemen's Steve Pemberton, who says we should expect "a genteel version of Royston Vasey".