Bleak Expectations

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Bleak Expectations
BleakExpectations.jpg
Genre Sitcom
Running time29 minutes
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Language(s)English
Home station BBC Radio 4
Syndicates BBC Radio 4 Extra
TV adaptations The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff
Starring Tom Allen
James Bachman
Mark Evans
Sarah Hadland
Anthony Head
Richard Johnson
Susy Kane
Geoffrey Whitehead
Celia Imrie
Written by Mark Evans
Produced by Gareth Edwards
Recording studio BBC Radio Theatre
Original release15 August 2007 (2007-08-15) 
25 December 2012 (2012-12-25)
No. of series5
No. of episodes30
Opening themeMazurka from Three Characteristic Pieces by Edward Elgar
Ending themeMazurka from Three Characteristic Pieces by Edward Elgar
Website www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00cwgs6

Bleak Expectations is a BBC Radio 4 comedy series that premiered in August 2007. It is a pastiche of the works of Charles Dickens, such as Bleak House and Great Expectations , from which it derives its name, as well as adventure, science fiction, and costume dramas set in the same period. Bleak Expectations parodies several of their plot devices whilst simultaneously tending toward a surreal humor along the lines of The Goon Show . The series has also demonstrated a fondness for allusions to and parodies of the films of Alec Guinness, particularly the Edwardian satire Kind Hearts and Coronets .

Contents

It is written by Mark Evans, who plays minor characters in most episodes, and is produced by Gareth Edwards. Its opening and closing theme is the main theme of the Mazurka from Three Characteristic Pieces by Edward Elgar.

The plot revolves around Philip "Pip" Bin, inventor of the bin, and his various fantastic adventures as he attempts to thwart the machinations of his evil ex-guardian, Mr. Gently Benevolent. It is narrated by Pip as an old man to the journalist (and his eventual son-in-law) Sourquill, who brings various useless inventions to assist in recording the events.

Production and broadcast history

The pilot episode was recorded in March 2006. The first series was broadcast at 11.30am on Wednesdays from 15 August 2007, with the first series repeated on Radio 4 from 9 January 2008 and subsequently on BBC 7. A second series was commissioned in late 2007, and was recorded on 18, 23 and 26 May 2008 at the BBC Radio Theatre. The British Comedy Guide website gave it its British Comedy Guide Editors' Award for 2008. [1] A third series was recorded at the Radio Theatre, Broadcasting House, on 7, 14 and 28 June 2009, the first episode of which was broadcast on Radio 4 on 29 October 2009. [2] The third series won a Bronze Radio Academy Award in the Comedy category in 2010. [3] Recordings for the fourth six-part series began on 11 September 2010, again at the BBC Radio Theatre,[ citation needed ] and transmission began on 11 November 2010.

Mark Evans tweeted on 20 Dec 2011 that a fifth series of the show would be made in 2012 for broadcast on Radio 4. [4] The first of the six episodes of this fifth series, titled "A Pleasant Yet Dull Life Re-Evilled", was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 6.30pm on 20 November 2012. [5]

The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff , a televisual spiritual successor to Bleak Expectations, written and produced by the same crew, was first broadcast on BBC Two on 19 December 2011.

Bleak Expectations, a novelization of the first series, written by Mark Evans was published in November 2012 by Constable & Robinson. A theatrical adaptation of the show ran at the Watermill Theatre in summer 2022, and transferred to the West End at the Criterion Theatre from 3 May to 13 August 2023. [6]

Cast

Pilot cast

West End cast

Every week, the role of the Narrator (Old "Pip" Bin) would be played by a different actor or comedian. They were:

Episodes

Series 1

#TitleOriginal transmission date
1"A Childhood Cruelly Kippered"15 August 2007 (2007-08-15)
The idyllic life of Pip, Pippa and Poppy Bin is ruined by the scheming of their evil guardian and Pip's incarceration in Britain's most violent school, St Bastard's (based on Dotheboys Hall).
2"An Adolescence Utterly Trashed"22 August 2007 (2007-08-22)
Pip meets a mysterious aged crone who can help him escape from Britain's most terrifying school, with only a false beard and disguises of Admiral Nelson, a giant rabbit and a grandfather clock. But can they stop his evil guardian marrying his mother?
3"A Youth Utterly Crocked"29 August 2007 (2007-08-29)
Pip must thwart the plans of his evil guardian Mr Gently Benevolent. Can underwater squirrels, oddly-placed church bells and a stint in the workhouse foil him in his noble quest? Or will Aunt Lily and her Gloucestershire racing cows save the day?
4"A Young Adulthood Bitterly Dismantled"5 September 2007 (2007-09-05)
Pip finds himself saved from the workhouse with the arrival of a vast sum of money from a stranger. But new problems await him.
5"A Young Love Mercilessly Dismembered"12 September 2007 (2007-09-12)
Pip is saved from the wreck of Admiral Hardthrasher's vessel by Aunt Lily on a raft of trained tuna. He returns to London, to find true (if brief) love with the beautiful but terminally feeble Flora Dies-Early. Pippa and Mr Parsimonious flee to the continent, with Mr Benevolent in pursuit, but his nefarious attempts against them are thwarted by Aunt Lily. Harry, meanwhile, tries to join the army to forget his love for Pippa, but is thwarted by an allergy to the colour red.
6"A Life Sadly Smashed... Then Happily Restored A Bit"19 September 2007 (2007-09-19)
Things look grim for Pip as he faces a highly prejudicial court case to defend his masterful and eponymous invention, the Bin. Is he to be hanged, or will there be a last-minute escape?

Series 2

#TitleOriginal transmission date
1"A Happy Life, Cruelly Re-Kippered"7 August 2008 (2008-08-07)
Pip Bin struggles against the cruel plotting of his evil guardian Mr Gently Benevolent, recently returned from the dead. A plot is afoot to steal Britain's loveliest school.
2"A Re-Kippered Life Smashed Some More"14 August 2008 (2008-08-14)
Pip and Harry find themselves building an entire railway network in their bid to catch Benevolent.
3"A Recovery All Made Miserable"21 August 2008 (2008-08-21)
Pippa is lost so Harry makes a "Pippa Detector" which actually works! Sort of.
4"A Restoration Re-ruined, Only Even Worse"28 August 2008 (2008-08-28)
Pip finds himself heavily in debt when he has to bribe the whole of the House of Commons.
5"An Already Bad Life Made Worse but Sort of on Purpose"4 September 2008 (2008-09-04)
Full of self-loathing, Pip drinks some very strong gin, finds he is really quite keen on opium, and falls in with a gang of thieves. But is their Fagin-like leader Abraham Bagel all he seems?
6"A Happy Life Broken and then Mended a Bit"11 September 2008 (2008-09-11)
In a parody of The War of the Worlds , the planet is in deadly peril when Gently Benevolent summons a massive Martian invasion. Is this the end for Pip, Harry and the rest of the human race, not to mention Pippa's goose sanctuary?

Series 3

#TitleOriginal transmission date
1"A Lovely Life Re-Kippered Again Once More"29 October 2009 (2009-10-29)
The evil Gently Benevolent returns from the dead (again) during a seance, and Pip Bin is in peril once more. Framed for murder by a half-man, half-pigeon incarnation of his evil ex-guardian, Pip Bin faces total ruin at the hands of his mortal enemy.
2"A Now Grim Life Yet More Grimified"5 November 2009 (2009-11-05)
Pip Bin faces his most gruelling fate yet at the hands of his evil undead ex-guardian and an enormous quantity of cheese. But can the spirits of Harvest Festival past, present and future show him a way to redemption?
3"A Sort of Fine Life De-niced Completely"12 November 2009 (2009-11-12)
Pip Bin strives to improve working conditions in his Bin factory, and to end poverty once and for all using Harry Biscuit's anti-poverty cannon. But will his quest distract him from a dastardly plan to steal London and sell it to the French?
4"A Horrible Life Un-ruined and then Re-ruinated a Lot"19 November 2009 (2009-11-19)
Pip, Harry, Pippa and Ripely are reduced to abject poverty on the banks of the Thames. Will Pip and Harry be able to find work, or will they have to end their days eating mud and listening to the gloating of Mr Benevolent?
5"An Evil Life Sort of Explained"26 November 2009 (2009-11-26)
Pip Bin, Harry Biscuit and Gently Benevolent find themselves trapped in the vast emptiness of space. As their doom looks increasingly inevitable, Mr Benevolent finally explains just why it is that he is so very, very evil – it is thanks to thwarted love, his stepfathers' cruelty and a family ancestry reaching back to Judas' accountant, in a parody of Great Expectations.
6"Lives Lost, Ruined, Wrecked and Redeemed"3 December 2009 (2009-12-03)
Pip and Ripely find themselves facing a vast and evil undead army. England has only one hope – that Miss Sweetly Delightful can melt Mr Benevolent's cruel, undead heart.

Series 4

#TitleOriginal transmission date
1"A Tolerable Life De-Happified"11 November 2010 (2010-11-11)
Pip must enlist the help of his former nemesis to fight a new evil spreading terror and cake-crumbs through the streets of London.
2"A Now-Spoiled Life Smashed Some More"18 November 2010 (2010-11-18)
Pip and Harry journey to the Underworld to rescue Ripely, only to find the evil Mister Benevolent has got there first.
3"A Wretched Life Made Much, Much Sadder"25 November 2010 (2010-11-25)
After an embarrassing disaster involving a bridge and a train full of puppies and orphans, Pip and Harry travel to America on the SS Massive Britain, where Pip begins a reading tour. But all is not as it seems and Mister Benevolent lures our hero into a gunfight at the "All Right I Suppose Corral".
4"A Painful Life Further Re-Miserabled"2 December 2010 (2010-12-02)
Pip and Harry put to sea with Captain Beehab in a bid to thwart a sea-going Mister Benevolent and rescue Ripely. But fate has other plans and they are shipwrecked. Pip soon finds himself on a desert island that holds many surprising secrets.
5"A Now Tricky Life Woefully Miseried Up"9 December 2010 (2010-12-09)
Pip and Harry have escaped the exploding desert island, but Harry has been transformed into a dinosaur. Now they must catch Mister Benevolent and prevent him taking over the world, but the trail has led them to France. Here they must face unimaginable horrors including a bacon-free breakfast and a deadly confrontation in a cheese mine. But there is a glimmer of hope in the form of The Scarlet Pimple.
6"A Life Destroyed Then Repaired and Rehappied"16 December 2010 (2010-12-16)
Pip, Pippa, the Reverend Fecund and Harry Biscuit (now just a brain in a jar) have tracked Mister Benevolent to the heart of the vast Russian Empire. But when they find him he is at the head of a mighty army. Who will triumph in the final battle between good and evil? Will Harry get a new body? Will Mister Benevolent detonate his infamous cheese bomb? And what is the correct way to spell 'Tsar'? As fate decides these crucial questions it seems there are a few surprises in store for Pip.

Series 5

#TitleOriginal transmission date
1"A Pleasant Yet Dull Life Re-Evilled"20 November 2012 (2012-11-20)
Pip Bin is beginning to miss the conflict with his absent evil nemesis Mr Gently Benevolent when he receives an intriguing invitation to a house party with Britain's poshest man, the Baron-Viscount-Marqu-earl-et the Lord-Dukey Clampvulture of Too-Many Titles. But one of the other guests may not be all he seems. [9]
2"A Re-Excited Life Made Distinctly Dangerous"27 November 2012 (2012-11-27)
Pip and his friends travel to India in their quest to thwart the evil machinations of smooth but sinister genius Mr Gently Benevolent. [10]
3"An Alrightish Life Savagely Frozen to Bits"4 December 2012 (2012-12-04)
Pip races to Antarctica to thwart another fiendish plot by his evil ex-guardian, Mr Gently Benevolent. [11]
4"A Writerly Life Made Dreadfully Different"11 December 2012 (2012-12-11)
Pip and Charles Dickens engage in a novel-writing showdown to find out who is the greatest writer in Britain. [12]
5"A Terrifying Life Made Even Scarier a Bit Some More"18 December 2012 (2012-12-18)
Harry Biscuit becomes evilly possessed after using the Possessed Pen of Penrith, which turns his heart to inky black. Pip and Gently Benevolent join forces to take on this new, cruel and cake-obsessed nemesis and his army of robot swans. They also turn out to share a love of antiquing in the Cotswolds. [13]
6"A Loved-Up Life Potentially Totally Annihilated"25 December 2012 (2012-12-25)
Mister Gently Benevolent unveils an advent calendar of evil that will culminate on Christmas Day with the total destruction of the universe. Only one man can prevent the end of everything for all time. But at a terrible terrible cost. Is this the end for our hero Pip? Or is it curtains for the whole of creation? And does that mean Harry needn't get Pippa a Christmas present? [14]

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