The Fast Show Book

How does The Fast Show translate to print?

The Fast Show is easily in the top one of best British sketch shows, and this isn’t just my personal opinion. Blessed with an amazing team of both performers and writers, it was a sketch show with a remarkably successful hits to misses ratio. A rather lazy opinion, which I’ve heard proffered on many occasions, is that it’s dated terribly. However, given that the majority of the sketches are based around the minutiae of personality rather than topical subjects, I find this a baffling accusation.

Moving on from my defence of the series’ legacy, which I believe even a QC would be proud of, it’s time to take a look at The Fast Show Book. Written by Charlie Higson, Paul Whitehouse and David Cummings (with contributions from the rest of the cast), The Fast Show Book was published by Boxtree - an imprint of MacMillan Publishers who were famed for their comedy tie-ins during the 1990s - in 1996 and cost a cool £7.99 for 95 pages crammed full of content

The problem with many TV-tie in books is that they often fall into that age old trough of being little more than a money spinner. Packed full of filler and coming across much like a black market knock-off of the programme its accompanying, they can be disappointing affairs. Thankfully, The Fast Show Book fails to be anything but a runaway success and taps into the spirit of the series with razor sharp precision.

With Higson and Whitehouse in the driving seat, it should come as no surprise that The Fast Show Book hits all the right notes and tickles your funny bone mercilessly. The filler is virtually non-existent and, of course, all your favourites are here and on top form.

Unlucky Alf is transformed into a comic strip, a move which allows his misfortune to be more imaginative than ever. Billy Bleach provides his indispensable guide to pubs - avoid riverside pubs as they’re packed full of Volvo driving middle class types. Janine Carr is on hand to pen a letter to Noel Gallagher and declare her admiration for his “love-caterpillars”. The Chanel 9 listings are available, complete with a topless photo for Bonko! Rumpo! Crumpet! at 6.40pm and, well, I could go on but I don’t want to spoil it for you.

Long out of print, The Fast Show Book can easily be picked up on Ebay for a couple of quid and, due to the quality contained within its pages, it’s well worth a purchase. Luckily, I got mine for the bargain price of zero pence as I picked it up at one of those trendy ‘free village library’ things. Sadly, when I got home, I realised that one of the pages had come loose. Oh bugger.