Pete Richens

Writing

Pete Richens

Born 1952-08-18

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Peter "Pete" Richens (born August 18, 1952) Richens is perhaps best known as the writing partner of Peter Richardson, writer/director/star of the long-running TV series The Comic Strip Presents. In his own words, Richardson is "the boss" of the script, with Richens acting as a "mechanic" who is "paid to make these ideas work." His talent for shaping a script was honed in the early days of The Comic Strip stage performances, where he would transcribe the best of the performer's improvisations and create a coherent narrative from them. He has also acted as associate director on Comic Strip productions, and enjoys the occasional cameo role, notably as a cheerful depressive in Gregory: Diary of a Nutcase. He has also contributed material to stand-up comic Jenny Eclair. Pete Richens has enjoyed a long career in film and is still an active member of the comedic community. Description above from the Wikipedia article Pete Richens, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia

Acting credits

Eat the Rich poster
6.2

Alex is a disgruntled waiter at a snobby exclusive restaurant who falls on hard times. Forced to deal with the contempt and disgust of the upper class, Alex & cohorts attempt to go on a rampage. Meanwhile, General Karprov and Spider plot to involve the inept anarchists into their plans to derail the prime-minister-to-be's campaign.

Eat the Rich

1987

The Strike poster
7.0

Paul, a former miner, writes a hard-hitting screenplay about his own experiences of the 1984 miners' strike. However, the Hollywood production company that gets hold of his script turns it into a ludicrously sensationalist and anachronistic action film, starring Al Pacino as Arthur Scargill, and Meryl Streep as his wife.

The Strike

1988

The Comic Strip - A Retrospective poster
7.5

A look back at the comedy series The Comic Strip Presents

The Comic Strip - A Retrospective

2005

South Atlantic Raiders:  Part 2 Argie Bargie! poster
NR

In the conclusion of this special two-part story, Stan has somehow managed to make it to the Falklands, which have indeed been taken over by the Argentinians after all. He is tied to a stake alongside Frances who he has finally met and been captured with. The pair are sentenced to death by dictator, General Galtieri. Stan, in a desperate attempt to stall for time, recounts how he and his fellow 'South Atlantic Raiders' managed to make it to the Falklands. After just escaping from prison and making their getaway in an ice cream van.

South Atlantic Raiders: Part 2 Argie Bargie!

1990

Les Dogs poster
NR

Les Dogs are the band playing in a large marquee to celebrate the wedding of Geoffrey and Angela. During the reception, the fathers of the groom and bride exchange insults and a gun battle ensues in which many guests - and Les Dogs - are casualties though the happy couple escape. Victor, who has wandered in on the scene, is asked to take wedding photographs and has a series of dreamlike fantasies all based around his infatuation with Angela.

Les Dogs

1990

30 Years of Comic Strip poster
5.0

The cast and crew of The Comic Strip share anecdotes about the making of the show, recounting experiences marked by a playful disregard for health and safety.

30 Years of Comic Strip

2012

Oxford poster
NR

When American comic actor Steve 'Zoo Zoo Zoo Off Come My Pants' Wild arrives in Oxford to make a comedy film, his girlfriend Caroline goes behind his back to enroll in a poetry course. Meanwhile, Hannah Van Hosenstratt comes from New Orleans for the course and is tricked into believing she has a place by the dean, but the professor has other ideas.

Oxford

1990

Gregory: Diary of a Nutcase poster
NR

Governor Wilkins brings rookie cop Lucille Bromley to see the imprisoned cannibal Dr Genghis in order to gain information about a serial killer. At the same time the extremely boring Gregory Dawson,who is interested in serial killers,is building his own torture chamber and making a very mundane video diary about his life. However the two worlds are shortly about to collide.

Gregory: Diary of a Nutcase

1993

GLC: The Carnage Continues poster
NR

The Greater London Council fight to save the capital against the wicked Ice Maiden.

GLC: The Carnage Continues

1990

Queen of the Wild Frontier poster
NR

Convicts Mick and Gary are being escorted to the dentist when their prison van has an accident and they wind up at a remote farmhouse occupied by Fiona and Susie, two sex-starved sisters who have been waiting to have babies with the right men, whilst these two may not be the right ones, they are certainly available.

Queen of the Wild Frontier

1993

Behind the camera

Red Top poster
5.3

Comic fantasy telling the story of Rebekah, an innocent and beguiling Northern girl who accidentally becomes Chief Executive of News International and gets caught up in a seventies Watergate-style scandal.

Red Top

2016

Gino: Full Story and Pics poster
NR

A hoodlum is turned into a celebrity when he steals a cab and subsequent events are blown out of proportion by the media.

Gino: Full Story and Pics

1984

The Supergrass poster
6.1

While taking a holiday in the country with his mother, Dennis hits on a scheme to impress a girl so that she'll go away on a trip with him as his girlfriend. Although he fails to gain any interest from the girl, the police take a great interest in his story. From this point on, Dennis digs a deeper hole for himself at every turn

The Supergrass

1985

Eat the Rich poster
6.2

Alex is a disgruntled waiter at a snobby exclusive restaurant who falls on hard times. Forced to deal with the contempt and disgust of the upper class, Alex & cohorts attempt to go on a rampage. Meanwhile, General Karprov and Spider plot to involve the inept anarchists into their plans to derail the prime-minister-to-be's campaign.

Eat the Rich

1987

Space Virgins from Planet Sex poster
NR

A craft full of Space Rats,glamorous extra-terrestrials from the planet Sex,arrive on Earth desperate to find men with whom they can procreate in order to ensure the continuity of their race and whom they imprison in their sex factory. Fortunately for the world the secret agent James Blond,a decidedly non-feminist secret agent,sets out to rescue the men and see off the Space Rats in his own inimitable way.

Space Virgins from Planet Sex

1993

The Strike poster
7.0

Paul, a former miner, writes a hard-hitting screenplay about his own experiences of the 1984 miners' strike. However, the Hollywood production company that gets hold of his script turns it into a ludicrously sensationalist and anachronistic action film, starring Al Pacino as Arthur Scargill, and Meryl Streep as his wife.

The Strike

1988

The Pope Must Die poster
5.0

A less-than-qualified and far-from-perfect priest is mistakenly named the new pope. As the pontiff, he must deal with Vatican corruption, the Mob and the reappearance of his old lover.

The Pope Must Die

1991

Spaghetti Hoops poster
NR

In a monochrome city that is shamelessly London although everybody acts as if it is Rome, banker Aldo Vini is on the run from Mafia boss Corelli, from whom he has embezzled two million. Corelli hires Mig and Mog, two inept hitmen to go after Vini, killing any witnesses as they go, but when they finally catch up with him, they have no idea what to do with him and confuse Corelli's instructions with their shopping list.

Spaghetti Hoops

1990

Churchill: The Hollywood Years poster
5.3

A group of American executives making a film about World War II decide that since their lead is rather unglamorous, they will draft in an American G.I. to play the part of Winston Churchill. Their take on the war depicts a handsome Churchill falling in love with Princess Elizabeth, who is herself involved in the war as an undercover agent.

Churchill: The Hollywood Years

2004

Four Men in a Car poster
NR

Four salesmen Alan, Ian, Steve and Tim are on their way to a conference where only one of them is guaranteed promotion. There is much bickering, Steve is perpetually sick and gets put in the boot, the C.D. player jams and they have a run-in with a Range Rover driver. When the car breaks down in a snowstorm they wind up in a deserted cottage with a shotgun-wielding, diabetic woman.

Four Men in a Car

1998

Sex Actually poster
6.5

Colombian Luccio and his girlfriend Angie move into a respectable part of Berkshire, learning that Ron and Helen, the previous owners of their house, died mysteriously. Angie discovers that their neighbours, estate agent Roy and his wife Jane, high court judge Charles and his bickering wife Carol and Bilbo, a conceptual artist and his partner were all members of a wife-swapping circle who usually met at Ron and Helen's house. Luccio reveals himself to be a policeman and is curious as to how Ron and Helen died, lining up all the suspects.

Sex Actually

2005

South Atlantic Raiders:  Part 2 Argie Bargie! poster
NR

In the conclusion of this special two-part story, Stan has somehow managed to make it to the Falklands, which have indeed been taken over by the Argentinians after all. He is tied to a stake alongside Frances who he has finally met and been captured with. The pair are sentenced to death by dictator, General Galtieri. Stan, in a desperate attempt to stall for time, recounts how he and his fellow 'South Atlantic Raiders' managed to make it to the Falklands. After just escaping from prison and making their getaway in an ice cream van.

South Atlantic Raiders: Part 2 Argie Bargie!

1990

Les Dogs poster
NR

Les Dogs are the band playing in a large marquee to celebrate the wedding of Geoffrey and Angela. During the reception, the fathers of the groom and bride exchange insults and a gun battle ensues in which many guests - and Les Dogs - are casualties though the happy couple escape. Victor, who has wandered in on the scene, is asked to take wedding photographs and has a series of dreamlike fantasies all based around his infatuation with Angela.

Les Dogs

1990

Five Go to Rehab poster
NR

The Famous Five are back. Thirty years after the Comic Strip arrived on our screens with their famous Enid Blyton spoof - Five Go Mad in Dorset. These famous children's characters have again been brought back from the past to confront today's modern world. This time they are made to account for their racist and sexist views. But they seem blissfully unrepentant as they gather for a reunion on Dick's birthday in leafy Dorset - still a magical land of rolling hills, woods, ruined castles, and of course dodgy villains in big black cars.

Five Go to Rehab

2012

The Beat Generation poster
NR

In the monochrome world of 1960, pretentious Alan, violent Kix and sex-mad Eleanor are part of a colony of beat poets, living a hedonistic, unreal existence in a large villa overlooking the sea. Dumped by his girlfriend Jeremy is anxious to be part of their circle until two girls from the outside world and a wild party open his eyes to what really matters.

The Beat Generation

1983

The Hunt for Tony Blair poster
7.8

The Comic Strip team return for a special 50s-style 'fugitive' film noir spoof. The 60-minute film, penned by Peter Richardson and Pete Richens, follows Prime Minister Tony Blair (Stephen Mangan), wanted for murder and on the run. Escaping from Number 10 and leaving behind his adoring wife Cherie (Catherine Shepherd), Tony vows to clear his name no matter what the consequences.

The Hunt for Tony Blair

2011

Five Go Mad in Dorset poster
NR

In the 1950s, four children, Anne, described as a 'proper little housewife', the rather butch George who has an unhealthy relationship with her dog Timmy and their brothers Dick and Julian, whose relationship seems to be more than fraternal, go on a cycling holiday in Dorset where their flair for detection - plus their snobbery and xenophobia - gets a whole string of suspicious characters arrested.

Five Go Mad in Dorset

1982

Wild Turkey poster
NR

Jed, a New York cop, brings home the last Christmas turkey in the shop for his wife Sue. Unfortunately, they make a dramatic discovery whilst stuffing it - namely that it is not dead.

Wild Turkey

1992

Oxford poster
NR

When American comic actor Steve 'Zoo Zoo Zoo Off Come My Pants' Wild arrives in Oxford to make a comedy film, his girlfriend Caroline goes behind his back to enroll in a poetry course. Meanwhile, Hannah Van Hosenstratt comes from New Orleans for the course and is tricked into believing she has a place by the dean, but the professor has other ideas.

Oxford

1990

Five Go Mad on Mescalin poster
NR

On their way to stay with Mrs French at Hot Turkey Farm, the Famous Five hear on the radio their Uncle Quentin's escaped prison. Arriving at the farm they're appalled to meet the vulgar millionaire, Mr Budweiser, and his spoilt son, Willy. Julian and Dick are so incensed, they sleep outdoors where they spy 2 heavies being secretly villainous. The trail leads to Love Island, where they discover Uncle Quentin and his boyfriend Toby.

Five Go Mad on Mescalin

1983

Red Nose of Courage poster
8.0

A clown is not happy with his job at his father's circus so he gets into politics, and some weeks later he is the Prime Minister John Major. But after his day job, he has to attend to his real job as Coco the Clown. He falls in love with the leader of the opposition party but she falls in love with Coco the Clown without knowing that he is in fact John Major, the Prime Minister.

Red Nose of Courage

1992

Gregory: Diary of a Nutcase poster
NR

Governor Wilkins brings rookie cop Lucille Bromley to see the imprisoned cannibal Dr Genghis in order to gain information about a serial killer. At the same time the extremely boring Gregory Dawson,who is interested in serial killers,is building his own torture chamber and making a very mundane video diary about his life. However the two worlds are shortly about to collide.

Gregory: Diary of a Nutcase

1993

South Atlantic Raiders: Part 1 poster
NR

Two security van personnel plan to rob a bank in an attempt to raise enough cash to mount a rescue mission when a dictator invades the Falklands.

South Atlantic Raiders: Part 1

1990

War poster
10.0

1985:- England has been invaded by the Warsaw Pact countries and middle-class couple Hermine and Godfrey retreat to their rural hide-away but after witnessing a bunch of incompetent commandos kill each other, they get separated.

War

1983