I was a lightning rod for hate

The Blackadder creator looks back at the triumphs and torments in his long and varied career

- > Writer and comedian Ben Elton Jonathan Buckmaster

IT’S clear from his searingly honest memoir that for every work of genius the comedian and writer Ben Elton has created during his 45-year career, there’s been someone waiting in the wings to put him down.

What Have I Done?, the title of the book, could be interpreted as an introduction to all his achievements, and there are many, from creating ‘The Young Ones starring Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson, to Blackadder, We Will Rock You, 16 novels, collaborations with Richard Curtis and Andrew Lloyd Webber and, most recently, the Shakespearean comedy Upstart Crow starring David Mitchell.

But the book title could also mean “what have I done to deserve the endless media slatings I received about my work and the personal attacks from columnists and celebrities?” as he recalls the bad reviews and general Ben-bashing over the years. One excerpt is headlined “Why does everybody hate you?”

“I had to think really hard about whether I talked about all the crap I’ve copped over the years because I know that nobody noticed it like I noticed it,” says the 66-year-old award-winning novelist, playwright, TV writer and lyricist, who is still a motormouth but not the shouty comic in the shiny suit viewers saw on Saturday Live in the 1980s.

“It’s like when you get a bad review, most people haven’t read it, although some of my slaggings were famous enough to make the news - We Will Rock You was one and The Wright Way (a sitcom which flopped) was another.

“It was a major factor that for about 35 years, from the moment I became famous, and famous as a writer, I seemed to be a lightning rod for people wishing I'd shut up. And because I didn’t shut up, in fact I got louder and did more, that irritated a lot of people. Maybe I was very irritating or maybe the British arts media have a problem with enthusiasm and success.”

Today, he agrees that to some extent he has mellowed.