Series synopsis
The Comic Strip Presents... is a British comedy television series that premiered on Channel 4 on November 2, 1982. It ended on May 27, 1993. It stars Rik Mayall, Raymond Francis, Sandra Dorne and Bimbo.
The Comic Strip is a group of British comedians, who do parodies of films, literature and sometimes major events.
Premise
The Comic Strip is a group of British comedians, who do parodies of films, literature and sometimes major events.
Cast and characters
Leading cast
- Rik Mayall
- Raymond Francis as Police Inspector
- Sandra Dorne as Aunt Fanny
- Bimbo as Timmy
- Barney Sharp as Policeman
- Zoe Clarke-Williams as Judy
- Kim Pappas as Tracy
- Colin Jacas as Saxophone Player
Supporting cast
- Neville Smith as Manager
- Charu Bala Chokshi as Cashier
- Mark Cooper as himself
- Oliver Stapleton as himself
- Lois Baxter as Beth
- Gerard Ryder as Jake
- Rupert Frazer as Simon
- Bert Parnaby as Man
- Martin Potter as Tarzan
- Elaine Ashley as Jane
- Megumi Shimanuki as Japanese Girl
- Sandy Johnson as himself (voice)
Guest cast
- Rik Mayall
- Raymond Francis as Police Inspector
- Sandra Dorne as Aunt Fanny
- Bimbo as Timmy
- Barney Sharp as Policeman
- Zoe Clarke-Williams as Judy
- Kim Pappas as Tracy
- Colin Jacas as Saxophone Player
- Neville Smith as Manager
- Charu Bala Chokshi as Cashier
- Mark Cooper as himself
- Oliver Stapleton as himself
Episodes
This series spans 6 seasons with 46 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 0 | 16 | April 11, 1981 | November 7, 2012 |
| Season 1 | 5 | November 2, 1982 | January 31, 1983 |
| Season 2 | 7 | November 2, 1983 | February 11, 1984 |
| Season 3 | 6 | February 20, 1988 | March 26, 1988 |
| Season 4 | 6 | February 1, 1990 | March 8, 1990 |
| Season 5 | 6 | April 22, 1993 | May 27, 1993 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The Comic Strip A tongue-in-cheek "behind the scenes" look at the Comic Strip comedy club in the early 1980s, which gave rise to 'The Comic Strip Presents' |
April 11, 1981 |
| 2 |
The Bullshitters: Roll Out the Gunbarrel Bonehead and Foyle reunite to find the police chief's kidnapped daughter. A parody of The Professionals. |
November 3, 1984 |
| 3 |
Consuela (or, The New Mrs Saunders) In this parody of Rebecca a young bride arrives at her husband's vast estate to find that she is left to fend for herself, at the mercy of a mysterious and sinister Spanish maid who she suspects does not have her best interests at heart. |
January 1, 1986 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Five Go Mad in Dorset Julian, Dick, George, and Anne are four children with a taste for adventure, as well as for lashings of ginger beer. They set out on a bicycle ride through the country, having picnics aplenty and exposing heinous crimes such as homosexuality. |
November 2, 1982 |
| 2 |
War It's 1985 and the Communist Warsaw Pact countries have seized control of England. A young married couple retreats to a countryside cottage, but they soon find themselves hopelessly separated and swept up in the chaos of a war-torn nation |
January 3, 1983 |
| 3 |
The Beat Generation A group of Beatnik artists and poets convene for a weekend of debauchery, destructive behavior, and clever conversation at the house of naive young wannabe Desmond while his parents are out of town. |
January 17, 1983 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Five Go Mad on Mescalin Child adventurers Julian, Dick, George, Anne, and their dog Timmy return to the countryside for the holidays, only to learn that Uncle Quentin, the well known scientist and homosexual, has escaped from prison. The children set out to unlock the mysteries of Love Island. |
November 2, 1983 |
| 2 |
Dirty Movie A theater owner waits for the mail to deliver his dirty movie |
January 7, 1984 |
| 3 |
Susie A lascivious schoolteacher has grown hopelessly bored with her bland small-town existence. Her world takes a sudden turn, however, when a wealthy, impetuous pop star moves to town to get a taste of country life. Suddenly, she must choose between her tedious but adoring husband, her indifferent but steady lover, and this intriguing, unpredictable new man in her life. |
January 14, 1984 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The Strike Al Pacino (Peter Richardson) and Meryl Streep (Jennifer Saunders) star as Arthur Scargill and his wife in an overly-dramatized Hollywood epic about the 1984 miners' strike. |
February 20, 1988 |
| 2 |
More Bad News Five years after their far-from-amicable break-up, the members of heavy metal band Bad News reunite when they are offered a record deal and a chance to play the festival at Castle Donington. |
February 27, 1988 |
| 3 |
Mr. Jolly Lives Next Door Two boozers who run the Dreamytime Escort agency are in for the night of their lives when they accept a job to ""take out"" popular TV entertainer Nicholas Parsons. |
March 5, 1988 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
South Atlantic Raiders (1) A security service driver for a British bank meets and falls in love over the radio with a woman stranded on a bird watching expedition in the South Atlantic. When he is tricked into thinking the Falklands are under attack by an enemy army, he takes drastic measures to finance a rescue mission to save his new girlfriend. |
February 1, 1990 |
| 2 |
South Atlantic Raiders: Argie Bargie! Having robbed a bank and hijacked a plane to travel to the South Atlantic to protect Frances, the woman he loves, Stan finds himself at the mercy of Argentinian soldiers plotting to recapture the Falkland Islands. |
February 8, 1990 |
| 3 |
GLC: The Carnage Continues Charles Bronson (Robbie Coltrane) stars in a big-budget Hollywood film as Ken Livingstone, a man of the people and elected leader of the GLC. After successfully preventing the Tories from flooding South London to turn it into a yacht club, Livingstone makes it his one-man mission to stop ""The Ice Maiden"" Margaret Thatcher from beheading the Prince of Wales and taking over the kingdom. |
February 15, 1990 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Detectives on the Edge of a Nervous Breakdown In a sequel to The Bullshitters, Bonehead and Foyle are called in to solve a 70s-style murder. Unfortunately, so are 70s detectives Shouting George of The Weeney and Jason Bentley of Department Z, and 90s Northern detective Dave Spanker. |
April 22, 1993 |
| 2 |
Space Virgins from Planet Sex Beautiful space aliens on a mission to repopulate their planet use their feminine wiles to capture healthy, intelligent specimens of Earthmen as sex slaves. It's up to decidedly non-feminist secret agent James Blond to shut down the Space Rats' baby factory and free Earth men from unspeakable sexual oppression. |
April 29, 1993 |
| 3 |
Queen of the Wild Frontier Two escaped convicts hide in a country house owned by two women. |
May 6, 1993 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | Channel 4 |
|---|---|
| First aired | November 2, 1982 |
| Last aired | May 27, 1993 |
| Runtime | 30 minutes |
| Status | ended |
| Schedule | Thursday at 22:00:00 |