Ben Elton, multi-award winning comedian, novelist, playwright, film maker and classic sitcom creator of the likes of The Young Ones, Blackadder, The Thin Blue Line and Upstart Crow, delivers the inaugural The Ronnie Barker Comedy Lecture on BBC One.
Recorded at the BBC’s Radio Theatre in London, in front of a star-studded audience from the world of comedy, Ben Elton delivers his lecture in which he discusses the craft, legacy and importance of the studio sitcom. Sir David Jason introduces the talk with a personal forward about Ronnie Barker and Ben Elton.
The lecture is named in honour of the late, much loved comedy writer and performer Ronnie Barker OBE, star of The Two Ronnies, Porridge and Open All Hours. Ben discusses not only his love for the studio sitcom, its heritage and its importance but also his own first meeting with Ronnie and how the two became friends.
The Ronnie Barker Comedy Lecture was commissioned by Shane Allen, Controller, Comedy Commissioning and Charlotte Moore, Director, Content and is a BBC Studios production. The executive producers are Tara Duffy and Gareth Edwards, director Julia Knowles and production executive Sarah Hitchcock.
