The radio version was broadcast on BBC Radio 4, 4 March 1998 – 28 January 1999, comprising two series, each of four episodes of 15 minutes (series 1) and 30 minutes (series 2).[1]
The TV version ran on BBC Two, 24 June – 29 July 2001, for one series of six 30-minute episodes.[2][3]
Plot
Each episode is set in an unsuccessful pub in London's East End. At the end of each episode, a disaster, visit from royalty, angry mob etc. destroys the pub. The pub is run by brothers, the nervous Barry and the idiotic Garry. The only regulars of the pub are Bob and Dodgy Phil. Every episode revolves around one of Dodgy Phil's plans to improve the pub, a plan which Barry always has doubts about. One of the running jokes in the series is that, as the pub is next to a zoo, unusual animals are often found inside it.
The plot often follows the same formula: the pub is destroyed or needs rebuilding, and Dodgy Phil produces a scheme to re-launch the pub, which Barry disputes. Dodgy Phil telephones a friend, such as 'Mock Tudor Mick' or 'Logistical Nightmare Len', who arrives immediately to rebuild the pub, together with a set of characters represented by sound effects, and often Edith Piaf. The work is then finished in a short sound effect (often to the sound of the song "Je ne regrette rien"). The plan is flawed, and the pub is destroyed or closed down at the end of each episode.
Nancy Banks-Smith wrote in The Guardian: "World Of Pub (BBC2) was radio in its first incarnation and is still, perhaps, too talkative. Until the end when the Queen bursts into flames. There, I thought that would grab you. It is about an East End pub for East End people, and is not unlike The League Of Gentlemen though not in the same league. I'm not fussy. I liked it."[4]
In the Radio Times Guide to TV Comedy, Mark Lewisohn wrote: "The three protagonists made the art of comedy seem effortless, especially Kevin Eldon whose idiosyncratic style was well suited to the bizarre Dodgy Phil. They were assisted by numerous comedy guests and by Tony Roche's imaginative scripts, a writer with seemingly endless ideas of spoofing yer cheery cockney."[5]
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