Live Life Team
‘The Grumpy Old Men’ is a 2003 colloquial-style, comedy and reality television programme aired on BBC Two, a national entertainment and information channel. The set-up of the programme shows some famous middle-aged men who talk about issues occurring in modern life which they find irritating, ranging from the propagation of unnecessary road signs to excessive and overly-loud mobile phone conversations. The first two series were told by award-winning English film, stage, radio and TV actress, Alison Steadman, and the third series by Judith Holder. ‘The Grumpy Old Men’ started as a one off-Christmas special, but because of its popularity, success, and popular appeal, it has been reproduced as a regular full series, a stage show, and a book.
Some of the regular contributors to the programme include Bob Geldof, Jeremy Clarkson, A. A. Gill, Tony Hawks, Nigel Havers, Simon Hoggart, Bill Nighy, Rory McGrath, Matthew Parris, Will Self, the late John Peel, Arthur Smith, Rick Stein, Tim Rice, Tony Slattery, Lemn Sissay, Rick Wakeman, Des Lynam, and Don Warrington.
During 2005, ‘Grumpy Old Men: The Secret Diary’, a book written by Stuart Prebble, was published. This was accompanied by ‘Grumpy Old Christmas’ in 2006, also written by Stuart Prebble. The first series, together with the Christmas special, was launched on DVD. An audio book derived from the first two series, which was read by Arthur Smith, was also made available.
On June 18, 2006, the ‘Grumpy Old Holidays’ series, which was produced by the grumpy old men and women, went on the air. This series talks about the frustrations of packing, air travel, and so on.
