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Illness in comedy series, Ned Beauman, Thomas Meehan

Illness in comedy series with Peep Show creator Sam Bain and Alison Vernon Smith. Ned Beauman on his new novel Madness is Better Than Defeat. Thomas Meehan remembered.

Making TV comedy about of illness, with Peep Show writer Sam Bain, whose new series Ill Behaviour features a cancer sufferer refusing conventional treatment, and Alison Vernon Smith, producer of Bad Salsa, Radio 4's comedy drama about women who take up salsa dancing after their cancer treatment.

Thomas Meehan was behind successful musicals including Annie, The Producers, and Hairspray but he's not the name you're likely to know because he wrote the book: the narrative glue that holds a musical together. Theatre critic Matt Wolf assesses his legacy and discusses his partnership with Mel Brooks.

Ned Beauman on his latest novel Madness Is Better Than Defeat. Beauman is the author of four novels including Boxer, Beetle. He has been longlisted for the Man Booker prize, won a Somerset Maugham award, and in 2013 was named one of Granta's best British novelists under 40. This latest novel is inspired by the making of the films Apocalypse Now and Fitzcarraldo, though its setting is the earlier Hollywood golden age of the 1930s.

As Oscar-winning film-maker Michael Moore takes on Donald Trump in a new one man show Terms of My Surrender, Matt Wolf evaluates his attempt to "convert the unconverted" and whether the the stage is the best place to do it.

Main Image: Ill Behaviour: Nadia (Lizzy Caplan), Charlie (Tom Riley), Joel (Chris Geere), Tess (Jessican Regan) Image Credit: 大象传媒 / Fudge Park Productions / Jon Hall.

Available now

29 minutes

Chapters

  • Illness in comedy series

    Duration: 09:18

  • Thomas Meehan obituary

    Duration: 05:38

  • Ned Beauman

    Duration: 07:27

  • Michael Moore's Terms of My Surrender

    Duration: 05:33

Illness depicted in comedy series

Illness depicted in comedy series

Sam Bain's is on 大象传媒2, and also on 大象传媒 iplayer.
is on 大象传媒 Radio 4, and 大象传媒 iplayer.
Image:听 Ill Behaviour with Charlie (Tom Riley) and Nadia (Lizzy Caplan). Credit: 大象传媒 / Fudge Park Productions / Jon Hall

Ned Beauman

Ned Beauman

Madness is Better Than Defeat by is available now from Hodder.
Photo:听 Ned Beauman.听 Photo credit:听 Alice Neale.

Credits

Role Contributor
Interviewed Guest Sam Bain
Interviewed Guest Alison Smith
Interviewed Guest Matt Wolf
Interviewed Guest Ned Beauman

Broadcast

  • Thu 24 Aug 2017 19:15

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