Withnail And I: How a Beatle-funded comedy about alcoholic actors became a cult classic

The boozy British comedy classic was produced by Beatle George Harrison and made stars out of Richard E Grant and Paul McGann, but its initial cinema release went almost unnoticed. Nick Duerden looks at the film's chequered road to cult status.

Betty! A Sort of Musical, Royal Exchange, review

This tale of a bunch of am-dram actors putting on a show about formidable Speaker Betty Boothroyd barrels along with wit, warmth and laugh-at-loud numbers.

Betty! A sort of musical at Royal Exchange Theatre - review

At the turn of the millennium, after eight years as Speaker of the House of Commons, Betty Boothroyd declared "time's up". Just as she was a disruptor and counterpoint to the political class, this show, co-written by Maxine Peake and Seiriol Davies, takes a similarly flippant look at how she got there.

Maxine Peake stages Betty Boothroyd's life in comedy musical

The first female Speaker of the House of Commons is having her life story told on stage - but rather than being a dry political drama, it sees actor Maxine Peake sing in her first musical and return to her comedy roots.

Mandy review

Slap my bum and call me a satanist! Diane Morgan is back.

Mandy, BBC2 review - Diane Morgan's new creation

When the laugh-out-loud punchline came, it really landed.

BBC2's comedy evening is a hit-and-miss affair, but it's good that the Beeb is now producing enough new sitcoms and sketch shows - after a long barren patch - to stage a cavalcade like this.

Diane Morgan's slack-faced creation Mandy kicked it off with a couple of daft stories - one about a job at a banana factory, and one that pitted her in a line-dancing marathon contest against arch-enemy Maxine Peake.

Call me easily pleased, but I was weeping with laughter at the sight of a woman with a beehive and a fag in her mouth, splatting tarantulas on a conveyor belt of imported fruit.

I'm laughing less at Semi-Detached. It started well but I'm beginning to worry that Lee Mack - shorn of his one-liners - is a painfully depleted sight. He needs to be much more than just a character that things happen to.

Matt Berry rounded the evening off with Squeamish About.... It was funny for the first five minutes. Less would be more.

Review: Mandy series 1 episodes 1 and 2

Morgan's definitely created a very funny and likeable character here, one who manages to generate chaos without it ever seeming too ludicrous, and given how many people died because of her actions that's quite the thing.

Mandy, episode 1 and 2 review

Diane Morgan's sitcom is simply enjoyably escapist comedy.