
Steve Bendelack
Directing
Biography
Steve Bendelack is a British film and television director, who has worked primarily on a range of highly-acclaimed comedy programmes. Originally an assistant to Peter Fluck and Roger Law on satirical TV puppet show Spitting Image, he went on to direct the show in later years. He also directed The Mary Whitehouse Experience, The Royle Family, The League of Gentlemen, Dark Ages, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased), Cowards and the first season of Little Britain. He also directed the BBC3 pilot for The Mighty Boosh, in 2003, but was replaced by Paul King for the series proper. He also produced the opening scene for the 1990s edition of Whose Line Is It Anyway? for a short period, but stopped midway through the series. He has now directed two feature films; 2005's The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse, and the second Mr. Bean film Mr. Bean's Holiday, which was released in the UK in March 2007.
Known For

Never Mind the Buzzcocks is a comedy panel game show with a pop and rock music theme. The show is infamous for its dry, sarcastic humour and scathing, provocative attacks on the pop industry.
Never Mind the Buzzcocks

A zany comedy show with Matt Lucas and David Walliams, featuring characters from all over Little Britain.
Little Britain

A British comic fantasy containing humour and pop-culture references. Episodes often featured elaborate musical numbers in different genres, such as electro, heavy metal, funk, and rap. The show has been known for popularising a style called "crimping"; short acappella songs which are present throughout all three series.
The Mighty Boosh

Comedy Lab is a British television series which showcases pilots of experimental comedy shows. Series have been aired irregularly on Channel 4 and E4 since 1998. Several pilots first shown on Comedy Lab have gone on to spawn full series, most notably Trigger Happy TV, Fonejacker, That Peter Kay Thing, Meet the Magoons and FM. It also gave Jimmy Carr his first television appearance in Jimmy Carr's World of…Corporate Videos. The 2001 series features the episodes Knife and Wife, Orcadia, Daydream Believers: Brand New Beamer and Jimmy Carr's World of…Corporate Videos featuring Jimmy Carr. The 2008 series features the episodes Headwreckers, Mr and Mrs Fandango, Olivia Lee's Naughty Bits, Karl Pilkington: Satisfied Fool, Pappy's Fun Club, School of Comedy and Slaterwood. 2010's shows are iCandy, Happy Finish, Penelope Princess of Pets, Jack Whitehall Secret Census, Filth, Moviemash and Hung Out. The 2011 lineup includes: Anna & Katy, Totally Tom and Rick and Peter.
Comedy Lab

Mr. Bean wins a trip to Cannes where he unwittingly separates a young boy from his father and must help the two reunite. On the way he discovers France, bicycling and true love, among other things.
Mr. Bean's Holiday

Two siblings share their Friday night dinners at their parents home and, somehow, something always goes wrong.
Friday Night Dinner

The Royle Family is a British sitcom created by Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash, and produced by Granada Television for BBC Two (series 1) and BBC One (series 2 and 3). It centres on the lives of a television-fixated Manchester family, the Royles, comprising lazy patriarch Jim, his hard-working wife Barbara, their entitled daughter Denise, their put-upon son Antony, and Denise's lad fiancé–later husband–David.
The Royle Family
A modern day version of the 1969 detective series about Private Investigator Jeff Randall, who is aided in cases by the ghost of his deceased partner Marty Hopkirk.
Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased)

The Women's Guild is an organisation in the small town of Clatterford St. Mary that aims to promote truth, justice, tolerance and fellowship. Or maybe it's just an excuse for good, old-fashioned gossip. Regardless, meetings feature discussions and visiting speakers. The Guild is the center of life in Clatterford, which has a good cross-section of people, local shops and a late-night convenience store.
Jam and Jerusalem

The League of Gentlemen is a British sitcom broadcast on BBC Two over three series from 1999 to 2002. In the fictional Northern England town of Royston Vasey—based on Bacup, Lancashire—the lives are explored of dozens of bizarre citizens, much of whom are played by three of the show's four writers—Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton, and Reece Shearsmith—who, along with Jeremy Dyson, formed the titular comedy troupe in 1995. The programme was followed by a film in 2005, and a three-part revival miniseries in December 2017 to celebrate the group's 20th anniversary.
The League of Gentlemen

Comedy Showcase is a series of one-off comedy specials featuring some of Britain's fledgling comedy talent. Its format is reminiscent of the much earlier Comedy Playhouse. The format was replaced in 2012 by 4Funnies.
Comedy Showcase

Fist of Fun was a British comedy television and radio programme, written by and starring Lee and Herring. A lot of the show's comic material was adapted from Lee and Herring's radio programme Lionel Nimrod's Inexplicable World. Each episode of Fist of Fun featured several disparate sketches and situations. Fist of Fun began as a BBC Radio 1 series in 1993, before becoming commissioned as a television series on BBC Two in early 1995. It was broadcast at 9pm on Tuesday nights, and was successful, but not a major ratings-winner. The second series was aired on Friday nights, and although its ratings were relatively good, the show suffered from a lack of preparation and poor promotion. The show was not given a third series, and Lee and Herring went on to write This Morning with Richard Not Judy, for BBC Two. Many other comedians who appeared in the series went on to fame themselves, including Kevin Eldon, Peter Baynham, Ronni Ancona, Alistair McGowan, Al Murray, John Thomson, Rebecca Front, Mel Giedroyc, Sue Perkins, Ben Moor and Sally Phillips.
Fist of Fun

Simon is taking girlfriend Donna back home to the Isle of Wight for the very first time. Can he survive a long birthday weekend with his biological and extended family without losing his cool, or his girlfriend?
The Cockfields
The Saturday Night Armistice was a British satirical television comedy programme presented by Armando Iannucci with Peter Baynham and David Schneider, which ran from 1995 to 1999. The programme took an irreverent and often surreal look back at topical events, and featured studio discussions, sketches and setups. Like many 1990s British comedy series it included appearances and writing contributions by a large number of UK comedians including amongst others Arthur Mathews, Graham Linehan, Simon Pegg, Andy Riley, Kevin Cecil, Kevin Eldon, Steve Pemberton, Reece Shearsmith, Omid Djalili, Al Murray, Ben Moor, Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins.
The Saturday Night Armistice

In the year A.D. 999, a village of medieval Englanders fear the coming millennium.
Dark Ages

Comedy thriller about three friends who embark on a journey that takes them to the extremes of their friendship, crossing every boundary imaginable to save a life.
Ill Behaviour
Ted is an alien, an outcast on his own planet where he is a rare single-sex being condemned to a life in search of a mate. Alice dreams of a fiction book romance, but the reality of boyfriend Barry is a lot less appealing. Her life seems set to change when Ted, who is not only looking for love but also a place to hide his spaceship, appears on her doorstep.
Ted and Alice

Four-man sketch show packed with surprise and invention - all delivered with a unique brand of joyful deadpan absurdity.
Cowards

The fictional world of Royston Vasey is facing apocalypse and the only way to avert disaster is for our nightmarish cast of characters to find a way into the real world and confront their creators. From present day Soho to the fictional film world of 17th Century Britain, the residents must overcome countless bizarre obstacles in their bid to return Royston Vasey to safety.
The League of Gentlemen's Apocalypse

Comedy drama about the beginnings of Jimmy Perry and David Croft's writing partnership and their struggles to get Dad's Army on the screen in 1968.