British Comedy Guide

Sue Townsend

  • Writer

Press clippings

What Adrian Mole means to me

Four decades after Adrian Mole (13 ¾) shared his toe-curling diary, two writers pay tribute to the enduring comic genius of Sue Townsend.

Nina Stibbe and David Nicholls, The Sunday Times, 18th August 2024

Just like me, Adrian Mole author Sue Townsend was ahead of her time

As the Comedy Women in Print prize posthumously commemorates the beloved writer, comedian Helen Lederer celebrates her brilliant wit.

Helen Lederer, i Newspaper, 5th September 2022

Inside Leicester's comedy scene

Pun fights in boxing rings, nine-year-old stand-ups and a 19-day joke-a-thon ... anything goes in vibrant, diverse Leicester, finds our writer as she continues her comedy tour.

Rachael Healy, The Guardian, 4th September 2020

Adrian Mole musical hits the West End

Adrian Mole the musical opens in the West End on Saturday. Author Sue Townsend's novel of the puzzled and perplexed pupil aged 13¾ has sold more than 20 million copies since it was first published in 1982. After seven years development in regional theatre it opens for a three-month run at the Ambassadors Theatre in London on 15 June. We've been to meet one of the four child actors playing the lead role.

BBC, 10th June 2019

Adrian Mole musical to return for West End run

The musical inspired by Sue Townsend's Adrian Mole has announced it will return to the stage after two years for a run in the West End.

Georgia Snow, The Stage, 4th April 2019

Stephen Russell's comedy-drama is based on the novel and play by Sue Townsend, and stars David Walliams as a newly elected People's Republican party PM, whose first move is to oust the royals. The clan have to adapt to life in northern cul-de-sac "Hell Close". Funny and provocative, just as Townsend intended.

Mike Bradley, The Guardian, 24th December 2018

David Walliams to star in Sue Townsend comedy The Queen And I

David Walliams is to star in The Queen And I, a one-off comedy for Sky One based on the book by Sue Townsend.

British Comedy Guide, 21st September 2018

New Adrian Mole commissions celebrate 50 years of R4

Radio 4 plans to broadcast new serialisations of all the Adrian Mole books in the coming years, "reflecting some of the major social changes of the last fifty years through the satirical prism of this much-loved character", said the broadcaster.

Natasha Onwuemezi, The Bookseller, 18th September 2017

The enduring appeal of Adrian Mole, aged 50

Adrian Mole, the angst-ridden diarist created by the late Sue Townsend, reaches his 50th birthday on 2 April. His diaries, over eight volumes, made Townsend one of the best-selling British authors of recent decades. But what made the character so compelling?

Liam Barnes, BBC, 2nd April 2017

Penguin publishes Adrian Mole's collected poetry

Penguin is publishing The Collected Poems by Adrian Mole - in the character's own "imprint" Mole Press - to celebrate the 50th birthday of Sue Townsend's creation.

Katherine Cowdrey, The Bookseller, 24th February 2017

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