Michael Redmond resurrects Eamon, Older Brother Of Jesus for TV
- Father Ted star Michael Redmond is adapting his controversially axed Radio 4 series Eamon, Older Brother Of Jesus for television
- The radio series, which was cancelled four days before it was due to air in 1996, because of its supposedly blasphemous content, is to finally be broadcast on Radio 4 Extra after nearly 30 years
- "I never perceived it as being sacrilegious or blasphemous" said Redmond. "For me, the whole thrust of the show was based on a classic case of sibling rivalry"
Father Ted star Michael Redmond is writing a sitcom about Jesus' brother for television, just as its original radio incarnation is finally heard on the BBC, almost 30 years after it was controversially axed on the eve of its broadcast on the grounds of blasphemy, British Comedy Guide can exclusively reveal.
Eamon, Older Brother Of Jesus, written by and starring Irish stand-up Redmond in the title role, was originally due to air on Radio 4 in 1996. However, it was mothballed four days before broadcast by the channel's new controller, James Boyle, a devout Scottish Catholic, following a complaint about the show's profanity in the Sunday Times.
Described by the Observer's radio critic Sue Arnold as "the funniest programme you'll never hear", several minutes of Eamon, which began life as an Edinburgh Fringe show, were snuck out on Alan Davies' Radio 1 show Alan's Big 1FM in the mid-1990s.
But now the six 15-minute episodes are to air in their entirety on the Comedy Club strand of Radio 4's spin-off channel Radio 4 Extra from 30th January, even as Redmond, who told BCG that he's "really excited", is seeking to adapt the idea for television.
With the premise that the Holy Family were Irish immigrants to Palestine and that 40-year-old Eamon struggles with having a perfect younger brother and mother who is a saint, the radio series was criticised by the Sunday Times' Paul Donovan for jokes about Jesus' halo keeping Eamon awake at night and a Roman centurion sneering at Mary's unattractiveness.
Glasgow-based Redmond, best known for portraying the interminably boring Father Stone in Father Ted, turned the idea into a book in 2022. And it was thanks to him publicising the book on Richard Herring's RHLSTP podcast that the radio series is finally going out.
"A guy named Steve Roberts who works in the archives department of BBC Radio heard the podcast and decided to find out if the original tapes still existed" Redmond told BCG.
"Fortunately they did and because he liked the show, he arranged for the tapes to be digitised. He then sent them to a contact in Radio 4 Extra who decided it should be broadcast. A lucky coincidence, I suppose, that Steve happened to hear Richard's podcast."
Redmond maintains that he didn't feel bitterness over the cancellation of Eamon, which co-stars the late Harry Towb (Home James!), Stella McCusker (Two Doors Down), Peter Caffrey (Father Ted), Clare Cathcart (We Know Everything) and Moira Buffini (Murder Most Horrid).
"My initial reaction was one of bemusement" he said. "It was the sort of censorship I might have expected in Ireland at that time but not from the BBC.
"The original controller of Radio 4, Jonathan James-Moore, had commissioned the series and really liked it. But a month or so before it was due to be broadcast he retired and was replaced by a man named James Boyle who considered some parts of it blasphemous and pulled it."
Despite the existence of an older child implying that Mary was not a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus, Redmond, a lapsed Catholic, "never perceived it as being sacrilegious or blasphemous.
"For me, the whole thrust of the show was based on a classic case of sibling rivalry, which in this case was even more extreme because one brother was The Messiah and the other was left to a life of drudgery in the family's carpentry shop. Despite this, Eamon was determined to make his mark on the world and upstage his more illustrious younger brother."
The series was produced by Phil Clarke (Peep Show, Brass Eye). He considered its cancellation the one big disappointment of his career, "he was very aggrieved" Redmond recalls.
Clarke, currently a managing director at Various Artists Limited (Juice, Such Brave Girls) which he runs with Roberto Troni and Peep Show creators Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, commissioned Redmond to write a pilot script for a television adaptation in 2015 when he was Channel 4's head of comedy.
That pilot didn't make it to the filming stage. But Redmond, who hasn't performed stand-up for four years but hasn't ruled out returning to the circuit, has "decided to write up a fresh TV version of the show in which Eamon decides to compete with Jesus as an alternative Messiah.
"His attempt to perform a miracle by changing a bottle of water into wine for a next neighbour, who was throwing a party at the time and had run out of wine, results in disaster.
"Instead of the water, Eamon accidentally turns the next door neighbour into a bottle of Portuguese rosé."
Michael Redmond - Eamon, older brother of Jesus
Based on the hit BBC Radio 4 series, this is the first book from Michael Redmond (Father Stone of Father Ted fame). Michael has been lauded by a number of other well known comedians over the years, in particular Stewart Lee who credits him with the best opening line in stand up comedy...." People often say to me...Hey you, what are you doing in my garden?"
Not many people are aware that Jesus had an older brother named Eamon who was not happy just to stay in the background as the lesser brother of The Messiah. This is his story, taken from the Irish sea scrolls found off the Wexford coast, and of his attempts to emulate the deeds of his younger sibling. It has also not been documented that the 'Holy' family were originally Irish, both Mary and Joseph having independently emigrated from Ireland to escape the ravages of the mange tout famine which was sweeping across the Country at the time. They had both joined the Nazareth/Irish Club where they met and fell in love. It is not clear if Mary knew her destiny at the time concerning the Immaculate Conception but there is no doubt that Joseph was unaware that he was later to become the vicarious father of the Son of God.
First published: Monday 21st March 2022
- Pages: 106
- Catalogue: 9798436932019
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- Published: Tuesday 5th April 2022
- Pages: 117
- Catalogue: 9781399922869
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