Fry & McKellen back campaign for Joe Orton statue

Ian McKellen and Stephen Fry are among those backing a fundraising campaign to erect a statue of comic playwright Joe Orton in his hometown of Leicester.

"I have high hopes of dying in my prime," Joe Orton wrote in his diary in July 1967. Wish granted. Fifty years after his brutal murder at the hands of lover Kenneth Halliwell, this revealing, rude and melancholy film, featuring the playwright's own words, explores his short but dazzling life and career, plus a performance of an unpublished "pornographic" playlet ("While you were diddling Auntie, I got carried away with several rolls of embroidery cotton").

Joe Orton Laid Bare, BBC2, review

The black farce, and tragedy, of theatre's rough boy.

Loot review

It's all tremendous fun and this is a production not to be missed.

The subversive genius of Joe Orton

Fifty years ago the playwright Joe Orton was bludgeoned to death by his boyfriend at the peak of his career. What is Orton's legacy, and what would he have made of the strides towards equality made since his death by gay people in the UK?

Joe Orton's Loot will be performed uncensored

Joe Orton's classic farce Loot will be performed in its uncensored glory for the first time since its 1966 premiere.

A production at the Park Theatre will open next week to pay tribute to the murdered playwright, who was killed by his partner Kenneth Halliwell 50 years ago.

Celebrating 50 years of Joe Orton & Mr Sloane

"I hope I've never written anything as bad as some of the early Shakespeare's," Joe Orton said shortly before he was murdered by his lover, Kenneth Halliwell, in 1967. It's a clip from an archive interview with the BBC, which I included in a piece for The Today Programme, marking the 50th anniversary of Orton's first stage play, Entertaining Mr Sloane.

This is the strangest episode so far, as Stuart (Derek Jacobi) and Freddie (Ian McKellen) invite young Ash (Iwan Rheon) and his new girlfriend Chloe (Alexandra Roach) to dinner and then behave abominably towards her.

Trouble is, Chloe is lovey-dovey, airy-fairy, vegan and teetotal - in short, incredibly annoying - but before long the wicked pair have brought out her own vicious streak. I don't want to oversell the comedy, because a lot of it is lame, but the tone veers towards Joe Orton.

This is also the show to turn to if you've longed to see Frances de la Tour (Violet) handcuffed to a bed in Argentina dressed in PVC bondage gear. Any takers?

Preview: Five Go to Rehab

Robbie Coltrane, a Comic Strip regular who appears in Five Go to Rehab in none-too-convincing drag, once described the series as "halfway between a Carry On film and Joe Orton". In its mixture of fantasy, outrageousness, black farce and parody, there's been nothing like it before or since.

Omid Djalili to star in Orton's 'What the Butler Saw'

Omid Djalili is to star in Joe Orton's What the Butler Saw in the West End.