Most people know W.S. Gilbert as the writer of comic operas such as 'The Mikado' and 'H.M.S.Pinafore' with Arthur Sullivan. But there was far more to his life and work than that. He was a prolific playwright,. a writer of humorous verse including the 'Bab Ballads', a gifted artist and a theatre director who helped to revolutionise the way plays were produced onstage.

In this series of programmes to mark the centenary of his death, the writer and poet Ruth Padel explores five aspects of Gilbert's work and evaluates his significance and his legacy. Key contributors include the director Mike Leigh whose movie 'Topsy-Turvy' depicts the relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan, as well as biographers, academics and performers such as Alistair McGowan who has performed and directed Gilbert and Sullivan operas and the singer Richard Suart who recently performed in 'The Mikado' at English National Opera.

Programme 3 explores Gilbert as a dramatist and satirist. We hear how he developed and parodied Victorian genres of burlesque and pantomime to create new comic effects and to mock institutions such as the House of Lords in 'Iolanthe'. But he also wrote several little-known 'problem' plays, depicting the double standards of the society in which he lived. Ruth Padel investigates how effective his satire was.

Producer: Emma Kingsley. Show less