For those of you who think CLiNT was the first British comic to think of employing comedians to write comic strips, think again. Quite apart from the numerous works of famous British raconteurs such as Bob Monkhouse to various comics down the years, even Marvel UK once took the celebrity route…
The Comic Strip Presents Marvel UK… a near-forgotten project of Marvel UK that resulted in one just Special based on their creation for the BBC, Glam Metal Detectives, which I initiated as an editor, although the original plan was for a regular comic and it was David Leach who commissioned most of the work on the project after I left the company.
Back in my teens, I had written scripts for a variety of popular comedians of the day. Sitting in my office at Marvel one day I thought it might be an interesting idea to get some professional comedians to write for us. Viz was big and still funny at that point.
I made contact with Peter Richardson, the guy behind Channel 4’s Comic Strip Presents series. It turned out my timing was bang on as he was putting the finishing touches to a brand new comedy series titled The Glam Metal Detectives. We met at his office, a stone’s throw from Marvel UK’s then headquarters, Arundel House, in London.
He loved the idea of Marvel doing the official comic based on the series. He gave me videos of the yet unseen series to watch. It was like nothing he had done before. Indeed, it was very suited to adapting into comic form … A variety of oddball characters, each having their own slot in the half hour show, written by its stars: Peter, Phil Cornwell, Doon Mackichan, Gary Beadle and Vivienne Westwood’s top model, Sara Stockbridge.
It was arranged that they would write the comic strip tales too. I sat in on a few of the first writing meetings. They started very well, with strong ideas and became hysterically funny towards the end of each night as peculiar brands of roll-ups filled the room with types of smoke banned in many states of the US. Strangely, the scripts never looked quite as funny the following morning.
Peter Richardson was very keen to use the Marvel connection to push the BBC into promoting the series. They had lured him from Channel 4 but he was finding them to be lacking in putting any money behind promoting the series. He took me with him to a meeting with BBC execs at TV Centre. Driving to White City, he fumed as he saw huge billboards advertising a new series starring Robbie Coltrane. “Why aren’t the f****** doing that for me?” he griped.
The BBC execs had laid on tea and cakes on their best bone china. After civil introductions, the meeting went downhill fast. “Nobody knows the series is starting next week,” cried Peter. ‘You f****** are doing nothing for me!’ With this he slammed his fist down on the table and all the china, cakes and tea leapt in the air to come down in a soggy, shattering mess. He ranted for a full five minutes as the BBC just stared in horror, cake crumbs and scalding tea.
I don’t think I’ve heard the word “f***’, ‘f*****’ or ‘f******’ used to such good effect before or since. It was truly a highlight of my whole career.
Not waiting for a reply, Peter turned on his heel and stormed out, leaving me behind. Everybody was either white or red in the face. Nobody dared talk because I was still there. Making my excuses, I thanked the BBC for the tea and cakes and left to find poor Peter out in the car.
Anyhow, Peter’s explosion had no effect and the show came and went and nobody has ever heard about it the world over.
It was round this time that I imploded myself and left Marvel, but not before getting some fab artwork together for the mag, including the pencil rough above, of Sara and Doon. David Leach took over the magazine, which became a one-shot, published to coincide with the launch of the show. It mirrored the channel hopping style of the show by featuring various magazine formats and comic book styles.
I remember Peter put on a good launch party for the series at London’s Soho-based Groucho Club with guests Kate Bush, Alan Rickman and Stephen Fry, but the show itself sank without trace with just seven episodes made. Although the first three episodes were released on VHS, it’s never been released on DVD and has never been repeated by the BBC.
Under David’s command he hired Art Wetherell, who drew “Betty’s Mad Dash” for the published comic, while Lew Stringer drew “Colin Corleone” and the lead “Glam Metal Detectives” strip was drawn by Mathew Taylor. David also drew items for the title. The rest of the magazine was co-written by the cast and crew, including Peter Richardson and Robert Popper.
“I was left to take over once Tim had gone,” David recalls of the project. “The magazine was my baby and I was very proud of it, seeing it as a chance to craft a comic the way I wanted to. I worked with the cast, Richardson and Robert Popper on the comic and even ended up colouring it to save money and illustrating it too.
“It was supposed to be a series but the TV show just didn’t fly, beaten as it was in the same week by a new show called The Fast Show, which changed everything!”
Further Reading, Listening – and Viewing
The Show…
The Glam Metal Detectives comedy show was produced by the BBC in 1995. Shown on BBC2 on Thursday nights at 9pm, it combined sketch and sitcom elements. As with other shows launched in this timeslot, The Glam Metal Detectives attempted to innovate and combine genres. The show consists of a single series of just seven episodes.
• Glam Metal Detectives on YouTube (Link added in 2025)
• Glam Metal Detectives – Wikipedia Entry
• Glam Metal Detectives – Nostalgia Central
The Comic and its Creators…
• Comic Vine: Glam Metal Detectives
• David Leach
Today, David is Senior Creative Editor at Titan Comics and is best known as the creator of Psycho Gran
• Lew Stringer
Draws “Daft Dimension” for Doctor Who Magazine and is the creator of “Combat Colin”, “Tom Thug” and more
The Music and the Band Members
• The Glam Metal Detectives band were Gary Beadle, Phil Cornwell, Mark Caven, Doon Mackichan, Sara Stockbridge and George Antoni aka George Yiasoumi.
• Glam Metal Detectives – Expanded Album (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)
• Starlogged – Glam Metal Detectives – Album Sleeve Notes
• Gary Beadle is an actor and writer, known for his work in TV and film, including roles in Silent Witness (1996), In the Heart of the Sea (2015) and The Interceptor (2015). He played Eastenders’ Paul Newman for a number of years, and appeared in The Sarah Jane Adventures as Paul Langer in Mark of the Berserker in 2014.
• Phil Cornwell would later work with Peter Richardson on the successful BBC Stella Street fake-docusoap-sitcom.
• Doon Mackichan is more famous for her roles in The Day Today, Brass Eye and the various Alan Partridge shows.
• Sara Stockbridge is synonymous with the neo-punk face of the 1980s, and as Vivienne Westwood’s muse.
Born in 1965, Sara was scouted at 19 and two years later began a lifelong association with fashion designer, Vivienne Westwood. Sara epitomised Westwood’s obsession with Royal style, often seen out in a tweed. Stockbridge’s naughty take on Marilyn Monroe, smudged red lipstick, hair worn up in pin-curls, tight sweaters and heels was one of the iconic ‘looks’ of the late 80s. Check out her modelling credits here.
Sara is an actress (Interview With A Vampire, Bridget Jones’ Diary), author (Victorian thriller) and singer (Fronting the band Rooster). The quintessential mix of style with attitude, Sara is the original elegant-eccentric and an icon of our time..
In the 1980s, she featured on the cover of i-D magazine and Blitz magazine, among others, and modelled as Tank Girl for a series of promotional photos to help her gain the part of Tank Girl in the movie of the same name.
Although she was unsuccessful, the photos themselves became well known and for a time they were seen on the covers of magazines such as Elle, Vogue and The Face. She’s still active in the modelling and acting world.
Her first novel, Hammer, was published in 2009, and her second, Cross My Palm, in 2011 by Chatto & Windus.
Check out her other novels here on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
• George Antoni aka George Yiasoumi is known for Elizabeth (1998), The Glam Metal Detectives (1995) and Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994).
This item was last updated on Friday 3rd January 2025
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Tim Quinn was born in Liverpool in 1953, the very same year Beryl the Peril first appeared in The Topper. Coincidence? We think not! His mother named him after her favourite childhood comic book character, Tiger Tim. Educated by Irish Christian Brothers whose prospectus boasted, “We will instill a fear of God into your child”, it was little wonder Tim chose a life in comedy. And there’s nothing more comical than working in or for the comics industry at times, for companies that include Marvel UK, where he was Head of Special Projects…
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