FROM THE ARCHIVES: A Tale of Two Fasbenders (10/2/09)

Welcome once again to From The Archives, as we continue our trawl through the comedy series I wrote while studying at Warwick. Today we welcome back a familiar face from the first series: the cantankerous House of Lords cross-bencher Sir Anthony Gerald Fasbender III.
Having impressed Tom and myself with his contribution to the previous episode, we were looking for other opportunities to bring Seb on board. Sir Anthony was such an enjoyable character to play, and since he had already been briefly resurrected for the Christmas special, it was a fairly simple decision to give him another episode. Having Seb as his politically wayward son was quite fitting since it resembles the political dynamic between their real-life inspirations: Tony Benn is an ardent socialist, while his son Hilary was strongly identified with New Labour.
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn
Aside from the fun of being able to reprise the character, there are several cracking lines in this episode that make me chuckle. Much like Alex, Seb is very good at counterbalancing my often ridiculous delivery with funny deadpan, and Tom somehow manages to keep it all together. I like the fact that Sir Anthony manages to take the moral high ground, if only because Sir Anthony Gerald Fasbender IV is so disreputable. While it is a very talky episode, with a lot of long sentences, I'm really quite proud of it.
For Alex's contribution, it's a case of actor and production working in harmony. The construction on the Olympic stadium coincided with part of the Warwick Arts Centre being redeveloped - the Butterworth Hall being the place where all of us would graduate that summer. Alex's incompetent Cockney accent always makes me laugh, and Tom did a great job on mixing both the echo and the dripping water.

So sit back and listen to the tale of two Fasbenders, and see whether father or son will come out on top...
Daniel

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