British Comedy Guide

Protesting Too Much

  • Radio sitcom
  • BBC Radio 4
  • 1997
  • 6 episodes (1 series)

Satirical sitcom about an MP organising a protest in the run-up to an election. Stars John Fortune, Eleanor Bron, Louisa Milwood Haigh, Brian Bowles, Chris Pavlo and Elliott Nicholls

F
X
R
W
E

Key details

Genre
Sitcom
Broadcast
1997
Channel
BBC Radio 4
Episodes
6 (1 series)
Stars
John Fortune, Eleanor Bron, Louisa Milwood Haigh, Brian Bowles, Chris Pavlo, Elliott Nicholls, Sally Phillips, Alan Francis and more
Writers
Sally Phillips and Kate Brooke
Producer
Jane Berthoud
Company

Set on the eve of the 1997 General Election, bumbling Conservative MP George Dank climbs a tree in protest at the building of a new bypass through his constituency. The protest soon draws all the wrong kind of attention as smears hit the newspaper, orchestrated by the villainous Robbins. To make matters worse, university job cuts are looming, which means George could be soon joined by his scholarly wife, Hermione.

Hermione's hero is Dante and she can't help finding parallels between the poet and her husband. As she falls in love all over again with her formally inept, but now seemingly dashing husband, things get complicated when their daughter Anne comes to join them too... Will the disaster-prone MP ever be able to climb down from his bypass protest? Is Hermione's instruction of fellow protestors in medieval siege tactics really the best idea? And what on earth will they do with that stuffed owl? The battle rages and George is up a tree - can he save his family, the constituency and moreover, the day?

Broadcast details

First broadcast
Wednesday 30th July 1997 at 12:25pm on BBC Radio 4

Share this page