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Boswell’s Lives: The Complete Series 1-3
- A BBC Radio 4 Comedy
- Narrated by: Harry Enfield, Arabella Weir, Lenny Henry, Miles Jupp, Henry Goodman, Alistair McGowan, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Freddie Fox, Amelia Bullmore, full cast
- Length: 5 hrs and 35 mins
- Radio/TV Programme
- Categories: Arts & Entertainment, Entertainment & Performing Arts
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Favourite, bloody favourite
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Story
Reporters Charlie Palmer and Moog Johnson are supposed to be exploring the galaxy in search of unimaginable news. But the beauty of an infinite universe is that if everything possible happens somewhere, there's no need to actually go there to check. So they may as well stay where they are - parked on Clapham Common disguised as a hedge - and simply make up their stories instead. Unfortunately, their terrifying boss at Inter-Galactic News, Korg, is on to them and won't tolerate their fake news any longer.
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Disappointing
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- The BBC Radio 4 Comedy Series
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Few can forget where they were in September 1993 when they first heard Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation. The show was an immediate smash-hit success, causing pubs to empty on a Saturday night, which was particularly astonishing since the show went out on Thursdays. Since that fateful first series, the show has gone on to win Sony awards, Writers Guild nominations and a Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Included here are all 10 series of Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation.
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Brilliant!
- By Graham on 26-09-21
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Miles Jupp Is Literally Unputdownable
- Ten Lively Literary Investigations
- By: Miles Jupp
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- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
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In these 10 entertaining documentaries, he explores why some books, games and binge-watched box sets are, as they say, 'literally unputdownable'; peers into Plotto, an ingenious manual of story devices, to discover whether it really can make writing easy; takes a sideways look at some familiar characters from literature, including James Bond, Dracula, Fu Manchu and Carruthers; delves into the intricacies of the locked-room murder; and revisits his old prep school to find out whether a book of stirring 19th-century verse can work its magic on today’s young people.
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Strangely smug
- By Liz on 01-01-21
Summary
Miles Jupp stars as James Boswell, Dr Johnson's time-travelling biographer, with a host of top actors and comedians as his celebrity interviewees.
Before James Boswell penned a biography of his friend, Dr Johnson, they were both nobodies. But his Life of Samuel Johnson made them famous - so now Boswell's out to work his magic on other celebrities. Travelling through the centuries, he gives 12 legendary figures the Boswell treatment, hoping to do for them what he did for Johnson....
Series one sees him attempting to write a biography of Sigmund Freud (Henry Goodman) - but it's Freud asking all the searching questions. Talking to Maria Callas (Arabella Weir), he gets up close and personal with her poodle; encountering Harold Pinter (Harry Enfield) he receives his very own 'Pinter pause' and, trying to beat Boris Johnson (Alistair McGowan) at whiff-whaff, he finds he's facing a fiendish opponent.
In series two, Boswell tries to help Muhammad Ali (Lenny Henry), who's been banned from boxing and is in the wilderness. Interviewing Karl Marx (Julian Rhind-Tutt), he finds himself collaborating on Das Kapital, but on meeting Madonna (Debra Stephenson), he struggles to get into the groove. And will he succeed in immortalising Alan Bennett (Alistair McGowan), or will they simply be talking heads?
Series three finds Boswell buttonholing Lord Byron (Freddie Fox) to find out if he's really mad, bad and dangerous to know; receiving some lessons in equality from Simone de Beauvoir (Amelia Bullmore); becoming involved in a murder mystery with Agatha Christie (Vicki Pepperdine) and attempting to become a better man under the guidance of Gandhi (Phaldut Sharma). But abstinence drives him to distraction - and worse....
Created by scriptwriter and novelist Jon Canter, this engaging, entertaining series won the 2015 Best European Radio Fiction Series or Serial of the Year at the prestigious Prix Europa.
Production credits
Written by Jon Canter
Directed by Sally Avens
First broadcast BBC Radio 4, 25 February-17 May 2015 (Series 1), 21 March-11 April 2016 (Series 2), 7-28 March 2018 (Series 3)
Cast
James Boswell - Miles Jupp
Sigmund Freud - Henry Goodman
Maria Callas - Arabella Weir
Harold Pinter - Harry Enfield
Boris Johnson/Alan Bennett - Alistair McGowan
Muhammad Ali - Lenny Henry
Boxing commentator - Ewan Bailey
Karl Marx - Julian Rhind-Tutt
Madonna - Debra Stephenson
Lord Byron - Freddie Fox
Simone de Beauvoir - Amelia Bullmore
Agatha Christie - Vicki Pepperdine
Rose - Abbie Andrews
Gandhi - Phaldut Sharma
Mr Fortescue/The Prince of Wales - Clive Hayward
Critic reviews
"Blisteringly funny...essential listening." (Radio Times)
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What listeners say about Boswell’s Lives: The Complete Series 1-3
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 30-07-21
Disappointed
It was very slow and dry. I expected a laugh but it was not for me.