1 9 9 8 (UK)
6 x 30 minute episodes
This six-part BBC series was filmed largely on location as Alexei Sayle – bedecked in a series of brightly-coloured suits – delivered his comic monologues on social issues and life according to Alexei direct to camera.
He also appeared in parodies of adverts and TV shows (such as The Ayatollah of Dibley) and featured as “top warm-up man and comedian” Bobby Chariot who was separated from his wife, sleeping in his Jag and on pills for his nerves.
A recurring segment featured the “real” Alexei Sayle, chatting to the camera from his underground new age home and relating stories of his adopted whale called ‘Minky’, his alien abduction and his plans for a machine that would harmonise the rotation of the planets and allow the human race to communicate with insects.
The discordant theme tune was truly the stuff of nightmares.
Guests included Denise Coffey (as Bobby Chariot’s chain-smoking agent, Edna), David Walliams, Reece Shearsmith, Noel Fielding, Omid Djalili and Stephen Lewis.