with Richard Hurst. Bomb disposal, sunglasses, and Miranda Hart.

First broadcast 6 May 2021

Richard is a brilliant writer and director for television and the stage.⁠ His writing includes three series of ⁠Bluestone 42, the BBC sitcom⁠ about a bomb disposal unit serving in Afghanistan, which he co-wrote and created with James Cary. He co-wrote the ⁠multi-award-winning and Bafta-nominated Miranda⁠, also for the BBC, as well as several episodes of ⁠Secret Diary Of A Call Girl⁠, which was for ITV2. On the stage, he co-wrote and directed the ⁠Olivier Award-nominated Potted Panto and Potted Potter⁠.

Richard tells me about three projects that are either unfinished or unpublished. The first is Bluestone 42 (Richard has lots of ideas about what could happen to the characters), the second is a sitcom about an authoritarian leader that couldn’t go ahead because people were wary of being assassinated, and the third is a novel that’s completely finished but never made it into the public realm.

Richard has lots of anecdotes about the making of Bluestone 42 and Miranda (stick around until the end for the latter), including the real-life inspiration for Bluestone 42 provided by army contacts, and the lunch habits of the Miranda team…

We also have a chat about how Richard had to change certain jokes in performances of Potted Potter and Potted Panto depending on when and where they were being performed, and about whether or not comedy and satire have any effect on politics.

You can read more about Richard’s work here: ⁠http://www.richardhurst.co.uk/biog.html