Rob Grant – författare

Bad is the new good.

In the not too distant future the European Union enacts its most far reaching human rights legislation ever. The incompetent have been persecuted for too long. After all it''s not their fault they can''t do it right, is it? So it is made illegal to sack or otherwise discriminate against anyone for being incompetent.

And now a murder has been committed and our possibly incompetent detective must find out who the murderer is. As long as he can find directions to get him through the mean streets.

Rob Grant''s new novel is a revelation. After INCOMPETENCE we would all have expected a killingly funny satire. And in its satire of our obsession with body image, of how the media makes us what we are FAT is certainly that.But in its depiction of Grenville, a fat man at his wits end with the need to be thin; of Hayleigh, a teenage girl obsessed with her terror of being fat and of Jeremy, the self-absorbed, self-adoring ''conceptualist'' employed to promote the government''s new ''Fat Farms'' Rob Grant has given us, yes a very, very funny book, but also an immensely moving and personal novel about how we all feel about our bodies.As Grenville deals with the humilation and daily indignity of being fat, as Hayleigh struggles to deal with her anorexia and as Jeremy comes to terms with the dangerous lies at the centre of the government''s new health regime FAT takes us on a hilarious and thought-provoking journey through our all-consuming obession with fat.This is a hilariously moving, movingly hilarious novel and marks a massive step-change in Rob Grant''s growth as a writer. Here is a hugely commerical new voice in mainstream, high concept, high in poly-saturates, commercial fiction. It''s also safe to say that with this new novel, he''s writing about what he knows ...

Before the beginning...

The mining ship Red Dwarf is in orbit around Saturnian moon Titan, and the bulk of the crew is heading down for their shore leave plans: A strangely reluctant hen party; a relaxing cheaty golfing break; a terminally-boring cultural Odessey; a marathon drinking and fighting binge; a stomach-challenging culinary beanfeast and an invigoratingly violent tour of Shore Patrol . . .

Menial chicken soup machine repairmen Dave Lister and Arnold Rimmer have slightly less noble ambitions.Rimmer is in search of some illicit exam-cheating tech, to land a much-lusted-for promotion, and Lister plans to acquire a cat to smuggle back on board as part of a nefarious scheme to return to Earth. Mainly they just want to get as far away from each other as possible. However, their objectives are scuppered when they receive a cryptic message . . . from the future.

The two feuding crewmen are catapulted into a breakneck race to save not only this, but every other Reality.Along the way, they''ll find themselves united again, for the first time, with some new, but somehow old friends, as they embark on a labyrinthian quest through the seediest, most dangerous underbelly of humankind''s furthest outpost, where lurk bizarre off-worldly dangers and one mysterious hidden nemesis with an obscure, yet clearly lethal agenda.

So strap yourself into your Holly Hop Drive, and set your bazookoids to "thrill" - the Dwarfers are taking on TITAN.

''Don''t tell my mother I died with my arm up a gorilla''s bottom.'' ''But sir - it will be on the death certificate.''

ADAPTED BACKWARDS VIA THE FUTURE FROM THE RADIO 4 SERIES BEFORE IT WAS MADE A richer, deeper, more comprehensive exploration of the Quanderhorn phenomenon. With added secrets.England, 1952.A time of peace, regeneration and hope. A Golden Age.Unfortunately, it''s been 1952 for the past 65 years.Meet Professor Quanderhorn: a brilliant, maverick scientific genius with absolutely no moral compass. Assisted by a rag-tag crew - his part-insect "son" (reputedly ''a major breakthrough in Artificial Stupidity''), a recovering amnesiac, a brilliant scientist with a half-clockwork brain, and a captured Martian hostage - he''ll save the world.Even if he has to destroy it in the process.With his Dangerous Giant Space Laser, Utterly Untested Matter Transfuser Booth and Fleets of Monkey-driven Lorries, he''s not afraid to push the boundaries of science to their very limit.And far, far beyond ...

London, England, 1952.Meet the mercurial genius Professor Quanderhorn (James Fleet) - a maverick scientist with absolutely no moral compass. Join him and his rag-tag crew on their frontal-lobe-knotting escapades as they:· Battle insane hybrid creatures: the Gorrirrel and the Squirrilla, to the death!· Become Gods to a Stone Age tribe· Are engulfed in a Martian invasion of Earth· Escape shipwreck on the Moon in a spacecraft powered by anger· Evade multiple fiendish traps in the Alien Ziggurat of Death· Tussle with a Top Secret Parrot· Become terminally confused when they encounter their past selves in a Time accident...Will our crew of Brave Boffins survive?And what a crew they are: Q''s part insect son, Troy, reputedly a "major breakthrough in Artificial Stupidity" (Freddie Fox); eager young Test Pilot and recovering amnesiac, Brian Nylon (Ryan Sampson); brilliant scientist Dr. Gemini Janussen with her half-clockwork brain (Cassie Layton); captured Martian hostage Guuuurk (Kevin Eldon); sinister janitor Jenkins (John Sessions), and synthetic-voice-commentator-later-inserted-into-diving-suit, Dolores (Rachel Atkins).Plug in your blue and red cardboard airpods and pair your tin foil router with the Droitwich transmitter array for an adventure beyond human understanding.Get it now, in Super-Vis-O-Download-O-Sound! [patent refused]This Collexion includes both series of the BBC Radio 4 sci-fi comedy, plus ten never-before-heard deleted scenes and interviews with the cast and crew.Track listing:Series 1:1. It''s Eating My Face2. Mummy! My Donkey''s Head is Exploding3. A Little Thing Like Chocolate Gates Can''t Stop Us4. The Splattered Remains of Unidentifiable Organs Incident All Over Again5. Fear! Terror! Gut-wrenching Horror! Arg Arg. Please!6. Dah dah dah dah dah dahh Dah dah dah dah dahhh...Series 2:7. Killdiboos and Universibold Explodibangbang8. Shoveleth in More Hazlenuts!9. Wasp10. I Didn''t Say it was Well Cloaked11. Am I Actually the Other Half of Gemma Emma Emma?12. I Heregy Thind You GuilkyDeleted scenes:13. Psychopathic Wasp (Series 1, Ep 6)14. Crockery Cupboard (Series 1, Ep 6)15. Guuuurk Diary (Series 2, Ep1)16. Nut Merchant (Series 2, Ep 2)17. Bongo-playing Beatniks from Under the Sea (Series 2, Ep 4)18. Martian Training (Series 2, Ep 4)19. Martian Countdown (Series 2, Ep 5)20. Churchill Full Speech (Series 2, Ep 5)21. Quanderhorn Prison Diary (Series 2, Ep 5)22. Make your own Martian Opera Tracks (Series 2, Ep 6)Cast and crew interviews:23. Gordon interviews Rob, Andrew and sound designer Alisdair MacGregor24. Rob and Andrew interview composer Peter Brewis25. Gordon interviews Freddie Fox26. Gordon interviews John Sessions27. Gordon interviews Rachel Atkins and James Fleet28. Gordon interviews Ryan Sampson and Cassie Layton29. Gordon interviews Kevin EldonCast and credits:Professor Quanderhorn - James FleetBrian Nylon - Ryan SampsonDr Gemini Janussen - Cassie LaytonGuuuurk - Kevin EldonTroy Quanderhorn - Freddie FoxChurchill/Jenkins - John SessionsSynthetic Voice/Mrs Bessie Braddock (MP)/Virginia White/Dolores - Rachel AtkinsCreated and written by Rob Grant and Andrew MarshallDirected by Andrew MarshallMusic by Peter BrewisEngineered, Edited and Sound designed by Alisdair McGregorProduction Manager: Sarah TomblingProduced by Rob Grant and Gordon KennedyRecorded at The Soundhouse StudiosSpecial Thanks to Edward RowettAn Absolutely Production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in June 2018 (Series 1) and May 2020 (Series 2).