Rik Mayell as Alan B'Stard in New Statesman running at tha Opera House, Manchester
 
 

Ex Conservative now New Labout Rik (rick) Mayell as Alan B*Stard (bastard)his show the New Statesman is running at tha Opera House, Manchester.

Richard Michael "Rik" Mayall (born 7 March 1958) is an English actor, writer and comedian. He is known for his comedy partnership with Adrian Edmondson, his over-the-top, energetic portrayal of characters, and as a pioneer of alternative comedy in the early 1980s. Mayall, the second of four children, was born in Harlow, Essex to John and Gillian Mayall. He has an older brother, Anthony, and two younger sisters, Libby and Kate. When he was three, Mayall and his parents — who taught drama — moved to Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire, where he spent the rest of his childhood and performed in his parents' plays. After attending The King's School, Worcester, he studied drama at the University of Manchester in 1976, where he befriended his future comedy partner Adrian Edmondson. He also met Ben Elton and Lise Mayer, with whom he later wrote The Young Ones. All About George. Mayall reprised the role of Alan B'Stard in 2006 in the play The New Statesman 2006: Blair B'stard Project, written by Marks and Gran. By this time B'Stard had left the floundering Conservatives and become a Labour MP. Following a successful two-month run in London's West End at The Trafalgar Studios in 2007, a heavily re-written version toured theatres nationwide, with Marks and Gran constantly updating the script to keep it topical. However, Mayall succumbed to chronic fatigue and flu in May 2007, and withdrew from the show. Alan B'Stard was played by his understudy, Mike Sherman during his hiatus.

The main character was a selfish, greedy, dishonest, devious, lecherous, sadistic ultra-right-wing Conservative back bencher. The show was mostly set in B'Stard's antechambers in the Palace of Westminster and featured Piers Fletcher-Dervish as B'Stard's twittish upper-class sidekick.

Since 1985 Mayall has been married to former Scottish make-up artist Barbara Robbin, with whom he has three children: Rosie (born 1986), Sidney (born 1988) and Bonnie (born 18 September 1995). The couple met in 1981 while filming A Kick Up The Eighties. At the time, Mayall was in a long-term relationship with Lise Mayer. Mayall and Robbin embarked on a secret affair which lasted until 1985. Mayall and Robbin immediately eloped to Barbados. Mayer would later suffer a miscarriage.[17] Mayall maintains that, despite a longstanding feud, he and Mayer are now friends.

The New Statesman is an award-winning British sitcom of the late 1980s and early 1990s satirising the Conservative government of the time. It was written by Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran at the request of, and as a starring vehicle for, its principal actor, Rik Mayall.
The show's theme tune is an arrangement by Alan Hawkshaw of part of the Promenade from Pictures at an Exhibition by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky.
The programme was made by the ITV franchise Yorkshire Television between 1987 and 1992, although the BBC made two special episodes; one in 1988, the other in 1994.

The New Statesman cast:

Rik Mayall as Alan B'Stard
Michael Troughton as Piers Fletcher-Dervish
Marsha Fitzalan as Sarah B'Stard
Rowena Cooper as Norman/Norma Bormann (Series 1; she was credited as "R. R. Cooper" in order to keep her gender uncertain)
Charles Gray as Roland Gidleigh-Park (Series 1)
Vivien Heilbron as Beatrice Protheroe (Series 1)
Steve Nallon as Mrs Thatcher (Series 1-2)
John Nettleton as Sir Stephen Baxter (Series 1-2)
Nick Stringer as Bob Crippen (Series 1-2)
Berwick Kaler as Geoff Diquead (Series 2)
Terence Alexander as Sir Greville McDonald (Series 2-4)
Brigitte Kahn as Frau Kleist MEP, who shares Alan's office for most of Series 4.
Peter Sallis as Sidney Bliss, (played by John Normington in the special Who Shot...) a former hangman and current publican in Alan's constituency

Stage show
Episode 2006: The Blair B'Stard Project - Alan B'Stard has created New Labour after making billions on Black Wednesday, installing a failed singer as Prime Minister and secretly running the country from his bunker at number 9 Downing Street. The show sees Alan attempting to settle a divorce from his wife while playing Al-Qaeda and the Americans off each other in the hunt for weapons of mass destruction (which are being carefully hidden by Alan). Aided by his PPS Frank, the last socialist in the Labour Party and Flora, an ex-Young Conservative turned Blairite lackey, Alan arranges the fake kidnapping of Tony Blair and the ruining of Gordon Brown in order to place himself in ultimate power. The show ends with Alan being named Lord Protector with the declaration, "And Alan takes EVERYTHING".

Film role:

Johnny English Reborn (2011)
Just For the Record (2010)
Cutey and the Sofaguard (2010)
Valiant (2005)
Oh Marbella! (2003)
Chaos & Cadavers (2003)
Chilly Dogs (2001)
Kevin of the North (2001)
Jesus Christ Superstar: 2000 (2000)
Merlin: The Return (2000)
A Monkey's Tale (1999)
Guest House Paradiso (1999)
Blackadder: Back & Forth (1999)
Escape to Watership Down (1999)
Journey to Watership Down (1999)
Winter on Watership Down (1999)
Johnathan Creek: Christmas Special (1998)
The Canterville Ghost (1997)
Bring Me the Head of Mavis Davis (1997)
Carry On Columbus (1992)
Drop Dead Fred (1991)
Bottom (1991)
Blackadder Goes Forth (1989)
Mr Jolly Lives Next Door (1987)
French & Saunders: The Ingenue Years (1987)
Eat the Rich (1987)
The New Statesman (1987)
Filthy Rich & Catflap (1986)
The Black Adder (1983)
The Young Ones (1982)
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
Shock Treatment (1981)