Singing superstar and Eurovision winner Lulu took over the role of Pauline for the second series. It does sound like a bizarre bit of casting but the Scottish songstress had already shone on screen in movies including To Sir, with Love - a film to which she also sung the main title theme. It is mentioned that Adrian's middle name, Albert, is after his paternal grandfather. However, in The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole, it is stated that his name was Arnold, and as Arthur in Weapons of Mass Destruction. However, he is simply called Grandad Mole. Adrian's maternal grandparents, the Sugdens, have never had their names revealed, although Pauline has two brothers, Dennis and Pete. Dennis married a woman called Marcia, and they had a son called Maurice, and Pete married a woman called Yvonne, who had died. Grandma Sugden had died twenty years previously, as of The Lost Diaries. Adrian's aunt, Susan Mole, appears in most – if not all – of the books. Susan is a lesbian and prison warden at Holloway Prison. In earlier books, she is dating a woman called Gloria, but later is married to another woman called Amanda. This is the story of two sisters: Jessica Tate and Mary Campbell. Jessica is married to Chester and Mary is married to Burt….

Faster than a speeding bullet! More powerful than a locomotive! Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Look, up in the sky! Is it a bird?! Is it a plane?! It’s Superman! Yes, it’s Superman, strange visitor from another planet who came to earth with powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. The series was mainly filmed on location in the Braunstone and South Wigston areas of Leicester. The Moles' house and street were actually filmed in Ludlow Close, South Harrow and Adrian's school scenes at 'Neil Armstrong Comprehensive' were all filmed at Hammersmith School in West London (now Phoenix High). Whilst being set in Leicester, which is in the East Midlands, some of the characters speak with a distinct West Midlands accent (e.g. Birmingham, Coventry, etc.). He played the title role in " The Hunt for Tony Blair", a one-off episode of The Comic Strip Presents..., a British television comedy, which was first shown on Channel 4 on 14 October 2011. The 60-minute film was written by Peter Richardson and Pete Richens and presented in the style of a 1950s film noir. It stars Mangan as the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who is wanted for murder and on the run as a fugitive. The film received its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Television Festival in August 2011. It first aired on Channel 4 on 14 October 2011; it received a mostly positive reaction from reviewers, and was nominated for a BAFTA award (Best Comedy Programme 2012) and the British Comedy Awards (Best Comedy Drama 2011). [19] [20]The Mole family spends New Year's Eve together, with a morose Bert in attendance. Nigel can't decide whether to be heterosexual, bisexual or gay, while an attempted reconciliation between Pauline and George doomed to failure. Ironically Adrian actually is a good writer, as the quality of his diaries attests, but he feels he must adopt a "high" or avant-garde literary style to be taken seriously. His novel Lo! The Flat Hills of My Homeland is unsurprisingly never published: the few passages included in the diaries are painful to read (though Adrian himself regards them as "magnificent"), and the first few drafts were even written without vowels. Over several books he develops a script for a white van serial killer comedy programme which the BBC is reluctant to produce. Another of his works The Restless Tadpole: an Opus is described by one potential agent as "effete crap". Adrian Albert Mole is the fictional protagonist in a series of books by English author Sue Townsend. The character first appeared (as "Nigel") as part of a comic diary featured in a short-lived arts magazine (called simply magazine) published in Leicester in 1980, and shortly afterward in a BBC Radio 4 play in 1982. The books are written in the form of a diary, with some additional content such as correspondence. The first two books appealed to many readers as a realistic and humorous treatment of the inner life of an adolescent boy. They also captured something of the zeitgeist of the UK during the Thatcher period. Gary Milksop is the extremely sensitive, effeminate and over-the-top member of the LRWG. He is the author of an epic (unfinished) experimental novel that he has been working on for fifteen years: his first experience of eating a Hobnob. The other members of the group are kinder to him, as Gary cries if he gets criticism. Guest host line-up for BBC One's Pointless revealed". BBC. 27 May 2022 . Retrieved 1 November 2022.

George leaves the family home, and Adrian and his mum face straitened circumstances. With her Giro cheque three weeks late, Pauline takes an extreme course of action... Throughout its run, the show recast major characters, such as when Julie Walters left the show after the first series as Adrian's mother Pauline Mole, to be replaced by Scottish singing star Lulu i Stephen Mangan interview: From posh buffoon to pregnant dad, the actor". Independent.co.uk. 27 May 2015. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022 . Retrieved 25 July 2016. Maud Lilian "Queenie" Baxter is Bert's second wife. When Bert and Queenie meet, they are both widowers with children; Queenie has a son called Nathan, a daughter-in-law named Maria and two grandchildren, Jodie and Jason, living in Canada. Queenie is described as "loud", and she dyes her hair to make herself look younger. The couple's unofficial engagement causes scandal at Alderman Cooper; since the death of Thomas Bell, Bert is the only male resident at the home. Queenie dies following a stroke on 7 December 1982, at her and Bert's OAP's bungalow. Many messages appeared in the following morning's newspaper.Morris, Grace (13 June 2023). "Celebrity Gogglebox 2023: release date, celebs and everything we know". what to watch .com . Retrieved 30 July 2023. In real life, the Midlands based character first came into being on 2 January 1982, as part of the BBC Radio Four Thirty-Minute Play strand.

The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ was a six-part ITV series broadcast in 1985, based on the book of the same name by Sue Townsend. It was followed by The Growing Pains Of Adrian Mole, another six-part series, based on the second book of the series. Both series dramatise the experiences and misadventures of nerdy teenager Adrian. There are later books in the series and further adaptations, but it’s the 1980s series we’re looking at today. As well as being funny and moving, it’s also a time capsule of life as a 1980s teenager. Megan Harris is Brown's secretary. She and Brown are having an affair, but Megan entraps Adrian into the role of her only confidant. Megan briefly ends the affair when Brown forgets her birthday, but Brown cycles her to house in the middle of the night and Megan starts the affair again. Megan starts seeing Bill Blane on the side, and the pair are suspended on full pay when Brown catches them in the act of photocopying their private parts. Adrian later suspects her of giving his letter of resignation to Mr. Brown.Sian and Helen are a couple who run a removal service called "Two Gals 'n' a Van". Adrian hires them to help him move into Rat Wharf. He ignores Helen's advice against taking out store cards, inadvertently contributing to his mounting debt problems. In 2020, it was announced Mangan is to write his first film, an adaptation of the children's novel Harry And The Wrinklies. [54] Other [ edit ] Adrian ends up working in an antiquarian bookshop. Having lived in relative poverty for much of his life, and for some time in London in actual squalor, he overextends himself financially, lured by the banks' promises of easy credit, and buys a converted loft apartment, at Rat Wharf. He is terrorized by swans, buys a talking fridge, and enjoys his newfound freedom as his children are "off his hands". Glenn is now in the British Army while William is living with his mother and Mole's ex-wife, Jojo, in Nigeria.

Mangan and his sister Anita have appeared together on Celebrity Gogglebox. [61] Filmography [ edit ] Film [ edit ] Year A dark grey cell indicates that the character was not in the film or that the character's presence in the film has yet to be announced. Ms Fossington-Gore (Mary Maddox) is Adrian, Pandora and Nigel's opinionated but supportive form tutor. This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. ( December 2017) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message)Author Sue Townsend's new Adrian Mole book goes on sale". Thisisleicestershire.co.uk. Archived from the original on 10 September 2010 . Retrieved 23 August 2010. The books were a smash-hit success and have spawned various adaptations - including the BBC radio serialisations and a musical - but the 1985 ITV adaptation is perhaps the best known. It featured a cast of unknowns and famous faces, but what became of them? Let’s mark 40 years of Adrian Mole and find out… Mrs. Claricoates is the school receptionist. In The Lost Diaries, she has progressed to teaching the reception class.