Podcasto Catflappo

Ben Elton, the writer of Filthy Rich & Catflap, sat down for a chat before his recent Perth show in support of What Have I Done?, an autobiography rich with Catflappian detail.

Between Ben's new autobiography and this chat, a bunch of big questions are answered. He's dropped tons of new context around the creation of the show that should keep Filthy Rich scholars (??) updating texts and speculating for years. It's enorm!

Fans of The Young Ones, Happy Families, Upstart Crow, The Thin Blue Line and Ben's many novs & musicals will have a field day with the book, getting handy new details.

Tuck in Loobies, this is a holy grail ep!

Thanks again to Ben, the Regal Theatre, and the stage door manager dude downstairs at The Maj.

Nigel Planer's new autobiography 'Young Once' is hitting the shelves and he joins us to chat about its creation. So tune in for tres bona tales from an amazing life! Nigel recalls working with Polari-speakers in his early theatre days and working on the creation of the Filthy Ralph character with Ben Elton - and a ton of killer non-Catflap anecdotes. Much like 'Dinner with Richie', this chat covers all the vital topics: poetry ... fine arts ... golf. (well, not golf!)

Thanks again to Nigel and to Alice at John Murray Press. Cheers.

The team from Talking Bottom (Mat Brooks, Angela Pearson and Paul Tanter) chat about the writing of their upcoming book 'Talking Bottom: A Guide to the Cult Sitcom'.

Years in the making, the book releases on 3 July 2025 and is available for preorder ... and their podcast will be coming back for a fresh season of eps!

And if you're quick, you can catch the Talking Bottom crew at the Rik Mayall Comedy Festival (maybe a few tickets still available) and at their book launch in July - so tune in for details. Enjoy!

A chat with Polly Highton, known to fans of Filthy Rich & Catflap as 'the Checkout Girl' in episode three's amazing supermarket scene.

Polly shares her memories of the role, plus her earlier appearance on Happy Families with Ade and Jennifer Saunders.

We also chat about her career in the biz, starting from her 1970s uni days to her recent work in The Responder with Martin Freeman.

Enjoy!

Part 2 of the 'A to Z of Filthy Rich & Catflap' covers the letters I to Q. Listen in to discover why L is for Lavatory, and P is for Priz! Here's the full list:

• I is for Ivor Whopper
• J is for the Judge ... John Wells
• K is for Ketchup
• L is for Lavatory
• M is for Milkmen
• N is for the Noles!
• O is for Ooer Sounds a Bit Rude
• P is for Priz
• Q is for Queer

A chat with the meme-master from All Things Rik And Ade, Tim Reading. His posts are a hit with fans of Rik Mayall & Ade Edmondson worldwide, but what are Tim's personal favourite moments from his comedy heroes? Jeffers decided to find out, and asked him the hard questions (and don't say oo-er).

A deep dive into ep 3 of Filthy Rich & Catflap (aka Dinner Party) with tons of new info! Cut scenes, missing sub-plots, heaps of triv, and answers to long-standing questions, like:

• How much meat was in Eddie's trousers?
• Who were those mysterious people in that hole in the wall after the oven exploded?
• Who threw the cabbage at Richie's head in the peepshow?

Take a seat at Richie's table and tuck in, looby!

Terence Blacker, the editor of 'Bachelor Boys: The Young Ones Book' and co-author of 'Neil's Book of the Dead' shares the story of how those books were created, plus his own experiences as an author and latterly a singer-songwriter!

Here's a link to Terence on X (Twitter) and a link to his website.

It's a good old natter about how it was working with Nigel Planer and writing in Neil's voice, plus getting reams of wild stuff from a prolific Ben Elton (and advice on how to handle it from Rik and Lise).

Oh, and have a link to Terence's YouTube channel!

A bootleg Alexei Sayle gig tape recorded in 1991 at the Regal Theatre, Perth. Recorded by a then-17-year-old Jeffers and now released as a Podcasto Catflappo episode in November 2024. Be warned, it has industrial-strength swearing ;) Enjoy!

Michael Redfern (1943-2022) worked with our beloved Catflap favourites on many shows including Dangerous Brothers, The Young Ones, Bottom, and 4 of 6 episodes of Filthy Rich & Catflap.

In this pod ep, author Mark Searby shares the audio of his chat with Mr Redfern, recorded while researching his book 'Rik Mayall: Comedy Genius'.

Mark also chats with Jeffers about plenty of Rik stuff, the process of writing the book, and it all becomes suitably Catflappian!

Follow Mark on X @Mark_Searby