ElvenQuest: a new adventure begins
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Comedy Blog: For the uninitiated: what is ElvenQuest?
Anil Gupta: ElvenQuest is a sitcom about a misanthropic writer of fantasy novels who finds himself whisked away into a parallel universe by an elf, a dwarf and a warrior princess, where he must undertake to find the Sword of Asnagar in order to save Lower Earth from the evil Lord Darkness before he can get home.
Comedy Blog: What inspired it?
Anil Gupta: Lots of things really. There have been a few comic takes on the sci fi genre (Red Dwarf, Hyperdrive, the film ) and the recent run of films in the fantasy area (Lord of the Rings, the Narnia stories) meant that it felt like a good time to tackle it.
Comedy Blog: You've a track record of producing some very well known TV comedies. Why the return to radio?
Anil Gupta: Radio is always great fun to do. There is a freedom and immediacy about it that nearly makes up for the tiny amounts of money. Also, they commissioned a series based on a five line synopsis, so we felt we had to repay their trust.
Comedy Blog: Are you particular fans of Tolkienesque fantasy?
Anil Gupta: I wouldn't say we were 'fans', and certainly proper fans would consider us to be complete amateurs. But I do enjoy some fantasy fiction - Terry Pratchett for example, and the William Goldman film, . As for Tolkein, like many people I loved The Hobbit but struggled with The Lord of the Rings which I daresay makes me a fantasy lightweight.
Comedy Blog: Was your plan to do a fairly straight spoof of Lord of the Rings, or create your own fantasy universe?
Anil Gupta: The plan was never to simply spoof LOTR. Mainly because its been done (Hoard of the Things?) but also because we wanted to create a show which would exist in it's own right. In the best sitcoms the comedy should come from the characters and their inter-relationships, which means they can't simply be two dimensional parodies.
Comedy Blog: Which of your cast was best at silly voices? We hear Alistair McGowan doesn't want to do impressions anymore, but on radio no-one would know it was him as Ian McKellen, Christopher Lee etc...
Anil Gupta: Kevin [Eldon] was brilliant playing two parts (Dean and Kreech) although interestingly, and after much experimentation, the voice he chose for Kreech was relatively straight. But Darren [Boyd] also showed amazing versatility and of course Alistair gave the narrator a touch of the Anthony Hopkins. A lot of the smaller parts are played by Chris Pavlo, so he had to come up with a whole range of different voices, most of them fairly silly.
Also listen out for Stephen Mangan's "Fairy king" in episode 3 - utterly shameless.
Comedy Blog: Finally, who would you be: Warrior, Wizard, Valkyrie or Elf? (Please remember not to shoot the food)
Anil Gupta: Wizard. Obviously.
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