If you see God, Tell Him was a black comedy starring Richard Briers and Adrian Edmondson shown by the BBC in 1993. It was written by Andrew Marshall and David Renwick. Black comedy, also known as black humor, is a subgenre of comedy and satire where topics and events normally treated seriously – death, mass murder, sickness, madness, terror, drug abuse, et cetera – are treated in a humorous or satirical manner. ... Richard Briers (born January 14, 1934) is a British actor, chiefly associated with sitcom. ... Adrian Edmondson (sometimes credited as Ade Edmondson, born 24 January 1957 in Bradford, Yorkshire, Britain) is a British actor, comedian, director, and writer who gained fame as Vyvyan in The Young Ones in the early 1980s. ... The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was formed in 1927 by means of a royal charter. ... 1993 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ... Andrew Marshall is a British comedy writer, most noted for the domestic sitcom 2point4 children. ... David Renwick (born September 4, 1951 in Luton, Bedfordshire, UK) is a British television writer, best known for creation of the sitcom One Foot in the Grave and the mystery series Jonathan Creek He initially worked in a team with writing partner Andrew Marshall, the pair of them providing material...

The show followed the character of Godfrey Spry, played by Richard Briers. While on holiday in Spain some scaffolding collapsed, killing his wife and leaving him paralysed and with a greatly reduced attention span. As a result of the disability, he spends most of his time watching television commercials and believes every claim made by the advertisements. This causes some rather eccentric behaviour which is dutifully dealt with by his son, Gordon (Edmonson), and daughter-in-law, Muriel (Imelda Staunton). Imelda Staunton as Vera Drake Imelda Staunton (born January 9, 1956 in London) is a British actress of Irish descent. ...

The series was comprised of four episodes, each 45 minutes long, and only broadcast once. Every episode was punctuated by deadpan parody adverts for non-existant products, such as the recurring Sanshibosh Remote Controlled Microwave (which could be activated by telephone), endorsed by a non-existant female celebrity of trans-Atlantic origin ("Hi, I'm Tandy Da Silva. Living the life I lead, I don't have much time for cooking ...")

In the last episode, Godfrey hires an assistant to help with a knitting industry Godfrey has set up in his shed (after seeing an advert suggesting that a knitting machine could prove a financial boon). The assistant falls dead of a heart attack. Godfrey attempts to revive her by performing open-heart surgery, which he believes himself to be an expert in after purchasing a partwork on surgical procedures. A myocardial infarction occurs when an atherosclerotic plaque slowly builds up in the inner lining of a coronary artery and then suddenly ruptures, totally occluding the artery and preventing blood flow downstream. ... A partwork is a written publication released as a series of pre-planned magazine-like issues over a period of time. ...

He is then framed for murder by police. The final time we see Godfrey, he is languishing in a cell, happy under the illusion that he is attending a dinner party at which fancy chocolates are being served.

Apparently the BBC's refusal to rebroadcast or release the series on DVD is due to the series final episode implying racism in the Police. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) was formed in 1927 by means of a royal charter. ... DVD is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for storing data, including movies with high video and sound quality. ...

External links

• If You See God, Tell Him BBC page
• If You See God, Tell Him TV Comedy Resources page
• If You See God, Tell Him at the Internet Movie Database