Main content
Sorry, this episode is not currently available

The Government Inspector

Adapted by Adrian Mitchell, Gogol's satire on corruption and sleaze in which a penniless clerk is mistaken for an important official. Starring Lenny Henry and Roger Allam.

Adapted by Adrian Mitchell from Nikolai Gogol's classic satire, the drama concerns the corrupt officials of a small Russian town, headed by the Governor (Roger Allam), who react with terror to the news that an incognito inspector will soon be arriving in their town to investigate them. When Khlestakov (Lenny Henry), a penniless nobody from Moscow, is mistaken for this government inspector, a tangled web of misunderstandings ensues. Gogol portrays officialdom as self-satisfied philistines occupying positions for which they are ill-suited.

Widely held to have led the realist revolution in Russian drama, Nikolai Gogol (1809 - 1852) liberated comedy from a tradition of sentimentality. The Government Inspector (1835), regarded as Gogol's masterpiece, caused such a furore when first performed that he was driven into exile.

A Catherine Bailey Production.

1 hour, 59 minutes

Last on

Sun 31 Mar 2019 19:30

Credits

Role Contributor
Adaptor Adrian Mitchell
Author Nikolai Gogol
Director Jeremy Herrin
Producer Catherine Bailey
Khlestakov Lenny Henry
The Governor Roger Allam
Anna, his wife Monica Dolan
Marya, his daughter Erin Doherty
Judge Don Warrington
Charity Commissioner Peter Wight
Dr Gibner Paul Jesson
Bobchinsky James Fleet
Dobchinsky Adrian Scarborough
Postmaster Ivanno Jeremiah
Osip Geoffrey Palmer
Schools Superintendent Stephen Critchlow
Locksmith's Wife Jessica Gunning

Broadcasts

  • Sun 5 Feb 2017 21:00
  • Sun 31 Mar 2019 19:30

Featured in...