Michael Palin to star in BBC2 drama

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Michael Palin is returning to TV drama to star in the story of how British soldiers in the trenches of the First World War published their own satirical newspaper.

Private Eye editor Ian Hislop has teamed up with scriptwriter Nick Newman to write The Wipers Times - the name of the paper produced by the troops and named after the battlefield pronunciation of Ypres.

Joining Michael in the cast of the BBC2 show are Ben Chaplin, Julian Rhind-Tutt and Emilia Fox.

BBC2 controller Janice Hadlow said: "Just like the original Wipers Times, this new history drama will be filled with jokes, spoofs and amazing examples of courage behind the laughs. I am delighted to be bringing such a brilliant drama and cast to BBC2."

The Wipers Times, which combined black humour and satirical swipes at allies and enemies alike, was set up after troops discovered an abandoned printing press on the battlefield and used it to produce the paper.

 

Patrick McLennan
Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.