Black Books
- TV sitcom
- Channel 4
- 2000 - 2004
- 18 episodes (3 series)
Sitcom focusing on a foul tempered bookshop owner, his trusty assistant and the girl next door. Stars Dylan Moran, Bill Bailey and Tamsin Greig.
Episode menu
Series 3, Episode 2 - Elephants And Hens
Further details
Fran heads off on a hen weekend with some old school pals, armed with plenty of alcohol and tapes of Bananarama.
Meanwhile, after hosting International Children's Book Week, Bernard and Manny are convinced they can write a children's book to challenge all others. £50 each-way is at stake as the duo bet Fran they can write a book before she returns and that her hen party will inevitably be a total shambles. Not least because someone forgot to arrange the strippers.
Broadcast details
- Date
- Thursday 18th March 2004
- Time
- 10pm
- Channel
- Channel 4
- Length
- 30 minutes
Cast & crew
| Dylan Moran | Bernard Black |
| Bill Bailey | Manny Bianco |
| Tamsin Greig | Fran Katzenjammer |
| Lucy Davis | Becky |
| Olivia Colman | Tanya |
| Pandora Colin | Actor |
| Tony Bignell | Actor |
| Oliver Golding | Actor |
| Camilla Heaney | Actor |
| Charlie Hicks | Actor |
| Dylan Moran | Writer |
| Kevin Cecil | Writer |
| Andy Riley | Writer |
| Martin Dennis | Director |
| Nira Park | Producer |
| William Burdett-Coutts | Executive Producer |
| Karen Beever | Line Producer |
| Paul Machliss | Editor |
| Dennis De Groot | Production Designer |
| Jane Davies | Casting Director |
| John Connor | Casting Director |
| Annie Hardinge | Costume Designer |
| Andy Hollis | Director of Photography |
| Philip Lester (as Phil Lester) | Costume Designer |
| Fiona Coutts | Costume Designer |
| Lucy Cain | Make-up Designer |
| Kate Roberts | Make-up Designer |
| Martin Hawkins | Lighting Designer |
| Jonathan Whitehead | Composer |
| Lesley Noble (as Leslie Noble) | Make-up Designer |
| Susie Liggat | 1st Assistant Director |
| Edward Evennett | 1st Assistant Director |
Press
After last week's episode, which worked hard for its laughter, tonight's is a far more relaxed and subtle affair. Bernard (Dylan Moran) and Manny (Bill Bailey) decide to write a children's book. Bernard's first attempt at entertaining four to six-year-olds consists of a 1,300-page saga about the relationship between an academic who survived the Stalinist purges and a daughter whose long and bitter marriage is collapsing. "You should never talk down to children," he says. The episode plays to one of the great strengths of the series - the antagonistic co-dependence that binds the main characters together. It is a wonderful return to form.
David Chater, The Times, 13th March 2004