“An obviously talented young man” is what The Scotsman had to say about Ben Elton when he appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe back in 1979 and he’s been proving us right ever since with a 45 years’ worth of stand up comedy, hit TV shows, novels, plays and a musical. “Review wise It was all downhill from there!” wisecracks the creator of Blackadder, The Young Ones, The Thin Blue Line and Upstart Crow, who won a BAFTA last year for Channel 4's one-off return of Friday Night Live [1986-8] and Saturday Live (1985-8), the live comedy cabaret show that made him famous. Advertisement Sign up to our Arts and Culture newsletter, get the latest news and reviews from our specialist arts writers Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more.
He’s had success with hit West End musicals (The Beautiful Game (2000), We Will Rock You (2002) the Queen biopic he wrote with members of the band, and in which he also took to the stage, Tonight's the Night (2003), and Love Never Dies [2010] , and has written three plays including the multi-award-winning Popcorn, and a jukebox musical about his friend Twiggy which played in London last year. His 16 novels include the bestselling Stark, Inconceivable, Dead Famous and High Society and he won the Crime Writers' Association Gold Dagger Award for Popcorn. He might b.