Dead Famous

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Ben Elton

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Pages: 279 (Hardcover)

ISBN: 0593048040

Pub: Bantam Press

Pub date: 2001-11-05

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 282331

Editorial Review:

Ben Elton's Dead Famous brings together his talents in comedy and crime writing to produce a hilarious and devastating novel on the gruesome world of reality TV. Peeping Tom productions invent the perfect TV programme: House Arrest. Its slogan is: "One house. Ten contestants. Thirty cameras. Forty microphones. One survivor." This is all a clever parody of the massive TV hit Big Brother, with its vain, ambitious contestants with their:
tattoos and their nipple rings, their mutual interest in star signs, their endless hugging and touching, and above all their complete lack of genuine intellectual curiosity about one single thing on this planet that was not directly connected with themselves.
However, Elton adds a clever twist to this very funny send-up. On Day 27 of the programme, one of the housemates is killed live on TV. Everyone in the country has a theory about the killer, "indeed the only person who seemed to have absolutely no idea whatsoever of the killer's identity was Inspector Stanley Spencer Coleridge, the police officer in charge of the investigation". Coleridge is an old fogey from the 1950s, who has to learn quickly about lesbians, piercings, blow jobs and the seductions of TV fame before he can crack the case. Elton's wicked parody of the housemates is brilliant, the murder fiendish in its ingenuity, and the ending wonderfully over the top. Dead Famous is great fun, and even has some social comment thrown in for good measure. --Jerry Brotton

Reader Reviews:

This will happen one day (0/0 people found this helpful)

This is yet another great book by Ben Elton.But there have been so many reviews that everything has been said.so, i'm just gonna agree with the good ones.Highly recommended.

Bigged Up. We Like That. But Not Perfect. (2/2 people found this helpful)

I actually read this book after having read "Past Mortem" and I have to say that while it is a great page-turner, it is not quite as "maturely" written as I would have liked.

A classic whodunnit style with a few twists and plenty of Eltonesque comedy. Not very taxing on the brain (and fairly predictable) which is fine, but it only just hits the mark as far as the intended "social commentary" is concerned.

Either way, I'm glad I read it, and I would recommend it as an entertaining read.

Not that good really (2/4 people found this helpful)

I read this book and never quite got to the end - it just wasn't worth the effort. The work-reward ratio didn't make it worth finishing.
It is predictable, and nowhere near as clever as Ben thinks it is.
Characters were very two dimensional and the whole plot just plods along, and I think it was generally a poor effort.
I think there was too much emphasis put on Ben's 'clever message' to the world and not the story and characters.
By the way - I'm a big ben elton fan - but just not of this book.

Comedy meets social critique (1/1 people found this helpful)

I'm one of those people who think you can't go far wrong with Ben Elton - his sarcasm and biting wit never fail to hit the spot.

This time, he takes on the Big Brother / reality TV phenomenon and really rips into it, creating not only an excellent social commentary but a brilliant murder mystery as well.

A page turner and a very funny read

Dead Brilliant (1/1 people found this helpful)

This is a wonderful satire looking at the world of reality television. The characters in the "Peeping Tom" house are annoying, arrogant, self-obsessed idiots, Colebridge is a cleverly constructed traditionalist, whilst Hooper and Patricia provide the necessary link.

Elton looks on the housemates as absolute idiots, who are incapable of intelligent conversation or use of sophisticated language. Examples incluse the cheese conversation and the desire of the production team for the inmates to have sex, which show just how pathetic the "Big Brother" phenomenon is.

The producer and her team are also magical characters, and her desire for wealth is portrayed magnificantly by Ben Elton.

This is a classic whodunnit, with a lot of satiric content, a lot of comedy and is an enthralling read. Be warned though about the strong language and adult content. If this doesn't offend you, I'd urge you to buy this book!

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