Inside Little Britain

By Boyd Hilton. Random House Australia, 2006.
Manly call number: 791.45/LIT

The talents behind the ground-breaking BBC comedy show Little Britain, David Walliams and Matt Lucas let writer Boyd Hilton spend nearly a year in their company as they prepared to take a stage version of the programme on tour around the UK. The writer describes in detail the stresses on the pair as the tour progresses. It turns out to be a huge year for Lucas and Walliams – they win numerous awards, the tour and Live DVD of the tour are enormous successes, and, while Matt proposes marriage to his partner Kevin, David goes out and swims the English Channel in a ridiculously fast time. Hilton takes us the reader through all these highs, and records the low points as well – newspaper criticism of the third series of Little Britain, and Walliams’ disappointment in love.

Hilton’s book shows signs of being speedily published, and could really have done with being edited down: almost 400 pages is too long. However, he does succeed in making the reader feel a part of the inner circle getting the show on the road, and he captures plenty of funny remarks for posterity. The stars come across as a genuinely likeable and generous pair. The occasional grossness is only to be expected by fans of this high-gross comedy.

- John