Other names Tollers Running time 30 minutes Language(s) English | Genre Historical sitcom Country United Kingdom Home station BBC Radio 4 | |
Revolting People is a BBC Radio 4 situation comedy set in colonial Baltimore, Maryland, just before the American Revolutionary War. The series is written by the Briton Andy Hamilton and the American Jay Tarses, with Tarses playing a sour shopkeeper named Samuel Oliphant and Hamilton playing a cheerfully corrupt, one-legged, one-eyed, one-armed, one-eared one-nostrilled British soldier, Sergeant Roy McGurk, billeted on him.
Contents
Samuel's children are Mary, in love with McGurk's commanding officer Captain Brimshaw while at the same time operating as a notorious anti-British pamphleteer under the pseudonym Spartacus; Cora, in an unconsummated marriage with the pompous pro-British official Ezekiel but nevertheless a mother; and the dimwitted Joshua, whose favourite recreation is wrestling bears.
Repeats on the series now play on BBC Radio 4 Extra (formerly BBC Radio 7).
Cast
Additional roles played by Philip Pope, Michael Fenton Stevens, Rebecca Front and the cast. Series 1 had guest appearances by William Hootkins as Samuel's brother Dan, and Timothy West as General Venables. Produced by Paul Mayhew-Archer
Series 1 (2000)
Originally ran in 2000. Revolved around the imposition of martial law in Baltimore and the springing up of a torrid, though also chaste, love affair between Oliphant's daughter Mary and an officer of the local British garrison, Captain Brimshaw. The show starts on 5 March 1770, the day of the Boston Massacre.
- 18 January – Storm Clouds
- 25 January – More Storm Clouds
- 1 February – Even More Storm Clouds
- 8 February – Tons of Storm Clouds
- 15 February – A Helluva Lot of Storm Clouds
- 22 February – An Incredible Amount of Storm Clouds
This series was released on CD on 3 September 2007.
Series 2 (2001)
Originally ran in 2001. Less continuous than series 1 but developed the same theme with the added introduction of Oliphant's long-departed wife reappearing as a lesbian (to McGurk's lecherous satisfaction).
- 24 April – Trying Times
- 1 May – Even More Trying Times
- 8 May – Some More Trying Times
- 15 May – And Yet Even More Trying Times
- 22 May – A Bunch More Trying Times
- 29 May – Still in Trying Times
This series was released on CD on 7 January 2008.
Series 3 (2004)
The third series originally ran in 2004 and consisted of stand-alone episodes parodying various classic films with a final episode that turned the series on its head.
- 27 May – Young Love
- 3 June – A Kiss is Just a Kiss (parodying Casablanca)
- 10 June – The God-Given Talent
- 17 June – Over the Rainbow (parodying The Wizard of Oz)
- 24 June – Them Thar Hills (parodying gold rush westerns)
- 1 July – Secrets And Lies
Series 4 (2006)
First broadcast in 2006, and repeated from 31 March 2007.
- 2 May – Ezekiel is Kidnapped – Samuel's pompous son-in-law, Ezekiel, is kidnapped by a rebel militia
- 9 May – McGurk Runs the Shop – Samuel goes in search of his cousin
- 16 May – George Washington – Samuel realises he's in the middle of a war when half his shop is burnt down by colonists and the other half by the British.
- 23 May – Pirates – Samuel, McGurk and the others flee to England
- 30 May – Reunion – Samuel, McGurk and the others arrive in London
- 6 June – The King – Samuel, McGurk and the others finally meet King George III.