STOCKPORT PLAZA Andy Murray May 30, 2022 Steve Delaney’s comic creation Count Arthur Strong is so unique, so distinctive and so perfectly-formed that it must be a constant head-scratcher thinking up new things to actually do with him. At heart, Arthur is is a...

Count Arthur Strong: And This Is Me! Review of the old duffer's latest tour Review date: 8 Mar 2022 Reviewed by: Steve Bennett Reviewed at: Leicester Square Theatre Count Arthur Strong is leaving behind his ‘meticulously researched’ lectures of old. No more talks on...

Count Arthur Strong, Theatre Royal Brighton, review: cosy, chaotic, and so sexy my friend wanted to snog him. 4/5  By Julie Burchill As the master of malapropisms himself might say, it’s enough to make a cat cry. Count Arthur Strong, a legend in his own lunchbox,...

Count Arthur Strong review – fuzzy logic and cosmic nonsense Leicester Square theatre, London At every turn, the confused ‘astronomer-in-chief’ gives us something to marvel at – from crap ventriloquism to the films of ‘Dustbin Hoffman’ Brian Logan Mon 4 Nov 2019 At...

Review date: 4 Nov 2019 Reviewed by: Steve Bennett Reviewed at: Leicester Square Theatre Science has given us great communicators like Carl Sagan, able to convey the complex, awesome mysteries of the universe with wonder and perfect clarity. Count Arthur Strong is not...

PAVILION THEATRE GLASGOE Slick and honed silliness from a character comic to treasure by JOHN GIBSON 29 October 2019 For those not au fait with the character of Count Arthur Strong here is a quick summary: an old-school vaudevillian-style performer and occasional...

Count Arthur Strong, Leeds City Varieties review - stargazing and mangled syntax by Veronica LeeFriday 20 September 2019 Count Arthur Strong, the character created by Steve Delaney, started life in the late 1990s and became a cult figure at the Edinburgh Fringe over...

'75% of the audience get it!' How Count Arthur Strong conquered comedy. As the dyspeptic old-school entertainer embarks on a tour, his creator Steve Delaney reflects on dedicating his life to one character Interview with Brian Logan Mon 16 Sep 2019 Comedy has its...

Article: Demise of Count Arthur Strong signals the end of the family sitcom August 14, 2017 by Alec Charles So, the BBC has decided to cancel its sitcom Count Arthur Strong after three series – presumably in favour of spending its dwindling budget on something more...

July 6, 2017 by Lucy Sweet I've been trying to stop myself from writing about Count Arthur Strong. You see, it's funny (or not, depending on your point of view) in a way that's hard to describe without people looking at you with blank pity.  It uses traditional sitcom...

Who are you calling dummy? CRAIG BROWN on why we are living through a golden age of ventriloquism 08/06/17 When I was growing up in the Sixties, ventriloquism seemed a spent force. On television, Ray Alan ruled the very small ventriloquist's roost, primarily with Lord...

Count Arthur Strong -blissfully, brilliantly bewildered by Brian Logan at the London Palladium 28/05/17 Not the least of the achievements of Steve Delaney’s extraordinary character Count Arthur Strong is that he’s made mincemeat of the distinction between mainstream...

May 20, 2017 by Tim Dowling I’ll confess that the first time I encountered Count Arthur Strong (BBC1), I didn’t get it. I caught the second half of an episode of his Radio 4 show while driving, and thought I was listening to a live broadcast going genuinely wrong. It...

May 17, 2017 by Bruce Dessau It's been a while since the last Count Arthur Strong series but the third run does not mark a significant change. Which is a Good Thing. Our befuddled hero (Steve Delaney) is still as hapless as ever, putting his foot in it at every...

May 11, 2017 by Sean O'Grady Like me, you may have mixed feelings about the arrival of the third TV series of Count Arthur Strong to what he would call “the BBBC”. On the one hand, any Count Arthur is better than no Count Arthur. On the other hand, there is something...

Count Arthur Strong - Pavilion Theatre, Glasgow Delightfully cack-handed, stumbling and foolish shenanigans from Steve Delaney's wholly inhabited Count by Jay Richardson 10/05/17 More than 30 years after Steve Delaney first created the doddery and delusional variety...

Count Arthur Strong - Ipswich Corn Exchange, Ipswich by James Hayward 30/04/2017 They don’t make them like that any more, do they? Comedy greats like Morecambe and Wise and Tommy Cooper, who began their careers on Britain’s variety stages – except, they do, because...

Count Arthur Strong - Tivoli Theatre, Wimborne by Alan Jones 28/04/17 I first saw Count Arthur Strong (aka Steve Delaney) live at the Edinburgh Festival over ten years ago, having previously heard and enjoyed his Radio 4 programme. If you didn’t already know, ‘Count...

Q&A with Count Arthur Strong aka Leeds-born Steve Delaney by Chris Stratford 05/04/17 LEEDS-BORN Steve Delaney brings his comic alter ego Count Arthur Strong to the Grand Theatre in his hometown on Sunday, April 9 as he tours the country with A Sound of Mucus....

Count Arthur Strong - Richmond Theatre, London by Mark Wareham 02/04/17 No matter how often you’ve heard Count Arthur Strong’s mangled dulcets on Radio 4, nothing quite compares with the sight of the bumbling old fool in the flesh.  Not that he appears on stage at all...

Count Arthur Strong 2017 tour interview 25/03/17 Count Arthur Strong is touring the country with his latest show, The Sound Of Mucus. It's possible there may have been a printing error on that name. Let's find out more from the entertainer himself... Hi Count Arthur....

Count Arthur Strong - Alban Arena, St Albans by Dominic Maxwell 21/03/17 There are more sublimely ridiculous moments in this latest show by Steve Delaney’s dilapidated old variety veteran than in any other comedy show I’ve seen this year. Granted, those highlights are...

Count Arthur Strong: The Sound of Mucus Gig review by Steve Bennett at The Palace Theatre, Southend 17/03/17 At his best, Count Arthur Strong can safely be mentioned in the same breath as Tommy Cooper. He’s cut from the same cloth, one foot in the camp of...

Count  Arthur Strong: The Sound of Mucus Tour – The Lowry, Salford by Jim Gillespie 05/03/17 Steve Delaney matures with age. Like fine wine or the “Scottish Lucozade” with which Count Arthur Strong lubricates his evening at Salford’s Lyric Theatre. After two decades...

by Bruce Dessau 28/02/17 It is hard to believe that the smiling, casually-dressed man in front of me with an extravagant greying quiff is also Count Arthur Strong, the deluded trilby-hatted variety performer from Doncaster. Yet Steve Delaney has been playing Strong...

'My wife thinks I'm turning into Arthur' by Brian Donaldson 20/02/17 Count Arthur Strong has been a big part of Steve Delaney's life since the 1980s. While at drama college in his 20s, Delaney was far removed in years from the curmudgeonly, pencil-moustached...

Count Arthur Strong: Steve Delaney talks pantomimes, pensioners and The Sound of Mucus by Andy Murray 20/02/17 In this age of The X Factor, The Voice and Britain’s Got Talent, it’s entirely possible to become famous overnight. It’s a fleeting sort of celebrity,...

Steve Delaney: "I stopped trying to act and just focused on Count Arthur Strong" by Roger Foss 17/02/17 When Count Arthur Strong first toddled on stage to give his portrayal of Cinderella’s dad in the London Palladium pantomime last Christmas, it was as if Steve...

Count Arthur Strong and the comforts of traditional sitcom. by Louisa Mellor 26 Sep 2016 There’s a period a little while after a family death, after the days spent in a traffic jam of errands, decisions and phone calls, when you have to merge back into the regular...

The deluded Doncastrian just gets funnier 4/5 stars Hexagon, Reading by Brian Logan Monday 20 April 2015 14.54 BST “I didn’t get wherever I am by not knowing where I am,” says Count Arthur Strong. In fact, the Count’s confusion has propelled him – somewhat...

REVIEW: Count Arthur Strong, Bristol Hippodrome, 5/5 by Mike Norton The Bristol Post: April 20, 2015 Let me, as Arthur might put it, lay all my playing cards facing up on the dining room table. I used to be a big fan of Count Arthur Strong. By which I mean Radio-Show...

By Tara Pardo: April 17, 2015 Count Arthur Strong has been referred to as comedy Marmite, but personally I've never understood how anyone could dislike Marmite, and I feel the same about Steve Delaney's deliciously pompous, yet befuddled comic creation. Not since...

First published Monday 30 March 2015 by Barrie Jerram Count Arthur, alter ego of comedian Steve Delaney, is an acquired taste and one, luckily, that I acquired recently via his successful television series. The Count, a one-time music hall artist attempting a...

You Can Count On Arthur First published Friday 27 March 2015 This year saw Count Arthur Strong move firmly into the mainstream as his second television series made its BBC One debut. Ahead of two shows in Sussex the Count’s creator and alter ego Steve Delaney tells...

Count Arthur Strong: Liverpool Playhouse Review published Mar 17, 2015 10/10 There are two Count Arthurs Strong currently available for your viewing and listening pleasure. One appears in a sitcom alongside Rory Kinnear where they have surreal adventures. You may have...

By Rob Stocks Friday 20 March 2015 Count Arthur Strong’s Somebody Up There Licks Me is quite possibly the worst variety show you’ll ever see – and that’s a good thing. The Count, Stephen Delaney’s bumbling semi-retired entertainer, doyen of light entertainment and...

Tuesday 10 March 2015 by Lorraine Wilson Steve Delaney's journey to commercial success with his titfer-topped creation has been almost as lengthy as the Count's showbusiness career itself. This is the first tour following the much-improved second TV series, Count...

The baffling buffoonery of BBC1 star Count Arthur Strong By Mid Devon Gazette Posted: March 03, 2015 It was a packed house at TCAT to see the sitcom buffoon Count Arthur Strong on his current national tour. It was the biggest stage show preparation Comedy Hall has...

February 26, 2015 By Chris Hallam Count Arthur Strong: Somebody Up There Licks Me Corn Exchange, Exeter Muddled, unrehearsed, confused and with a pompous elderly star frequently losing his temper with his audience, everything’s as it should be in this latest show from...

Hilarious Count Arthur deserves another series COUNT ARTHUR STRONG ***** (Five Stars) Pat Stacey – 18 February 2015 AFTER last night’s sparkling episode of Count Arthur Strong, the final one in the current run, the matter of the BBC commissioning a third series should...

Why Count Arthur is still going Strong Brian Logan: Wednesday 11 February 2015 Who knew 10 years ago that Steve Delaney’s tragicomic portrait of a delusional old man would be vying with Miranda for primetime TV celebrity? He may have morphed into a lovable old duffer,...

Review: Count Arthur Strong @ The Lowry 15 February 2015 by AndyCronshaw Andy Cronshaw was at The Lowry to watch the befuddled and deluded Count Arthur Strong Count Arthur Strong I found myself at the Lowry Quays theatre night thanks to an oversight which would have...

Count Arthur Strong: Leicester Comedy Festival review By Ciaran Fagan  February 14, 2015 This show is billed ‘Somebody Up There Licks Me’. A mistake at the printers apparently. Obviously, it couldn’t have been Count Arthur’s fault. He never mixes his words up. Oh no....

Gig review from Dave's Leicester Comedy Festival Review by Steve Bennett 14th February 2015 More people than ever are aware of Count Arthur Strong now he's on BBC One, but there is nothing quite like seeing the shambolic old cove live and unadulterated... a word his...

Count Arthur Strong, Tivoli Theatre First published Friday 13 February 2015 in Reviews by Will Frampton Fresh from his successful television debut, veteran thesp, director, writer, crooner and national treasure Count Arthur Strong brought a touch of Broadway class to...

Count on Arthur to be in fine form by MARION SAUVEBOIS This Is Wiltshire: Thursday 12th February 2015 “I CAN’T do anything else these days and, if I did, it would sound like Arthur.” Fifteen years ago, Steve Delaney fashioned Arthur Strong, a Quixotic and highly...

Count Arthur Strong, Norwich Playhouse He’s an “old-fashioned comic” is how some describe Count Arthur Strong. Well he might be an  old-fashioned in terms of the nature of his act. Steve Delaney’s character creation is an ageing variety star who is as suited to the...

Why Count Arthur is still going Strong 11th February 2015 by Brian Logan Who knew 10 years ago that Steve Delaney’s tragicomic portrait of a delusional old man would be vying with Miranda for primetime TV celebrity? He may have morphed into a lovable old duffer, but...

The man behind Count Arthur Strong talks about how the character has changed, his live show, writing autobiographies and comedy legend Graham Linehan By Eugenie Johnson on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2015 Count Arthur Strong is fast becoming one of the most beloved figures...

Time for you to stand up and be Counted Pat Stacey – 14 January 2015 12:50 PM Count Arthur Strong ***** (five stars) Steve Delaney’s superb comic creation, a befuddled, deluded, malapropism-spouting old thespian and former music hall star, has been a favourite on BBC...

January 7, 2015 by Suzanne Camfield When making a second series of a television comedy show, there is always a chance of having ‘difficult second album’ issues. With Count Arthur Strong, which is due to return to our screens in January, I am pleased to say that...

Graham Linehan: Why Count Arthur Strong isn't Marmite By Morgan Jeffery Tuesday, Jan 6 2015 Count Arthur Strong is back, with Steve Delaney's comic creation having earned not just a second series but a promotion to BBC One. The first series - broadcast back in 2013 -...

Count Arthur Strong’s favourite TV The semi-retired music hall entertainer on why you should bring back Juliet Bravo and how he finds Duck Dynasty a turn-off 5th Jan 3015 Unmissable show? Well modesty forbids me to give you my first choice, Count Arthur Strong. So my...

Cult comedy hits BBC One big time By Hull Daily Mail  Posted: January 05, 2015 From radio to TV, cult comedy Count Arthur Strong has maintained an enthusiastic fan base, but can the comedy thrive now it's on primetime? When it comes to comedy, nobody does it quite...

Herald Scotland Damien Love reveals his pick of the week's TV Published on 4 January 2015 Excellently, despite only about 14 people watching the first one, they've made a second series of Steve Delaney and Graham Linehan's quietly tremendous sitcom. If you're not up...

Writing duo make Strong combination By Gerard Gilbert 03 January 2015 Father Ted may be long dead, but the comedy writing partnership of Graham Linehan and Arthur Matthews, which spawned Craggy Island's most famous son, is still thriving, albeit in different...

CD review by Steve Bennett Fans of Count Arthur Strong should want for nothing from this comprehensive 26-CD collection featuring almost every 'ermm' of the muddled-minded thespian's radio work. That's all seven series of the Radio 4 show, which ran from 2005 to 2012,...

by Paul Howard Irish Times: Tue, Feb 4, 2014, 15:36 Count Arthur Strong, variety performer and bit-part actor turned cranky and grandiloquent old codger, is a character who has largely evaded the radar of an Irish audience. Which is a pity. The comedian Steve...

By Kyle J. Steenblik The history of terrific situation comedy broadcast in the United Kingdom reads like a list of television programs.  If you look closer, the print is larger, but if you read between the lines, you will see you are probably not as familiar with...

by Kyle J. Steenblik On Monday 1/27 I had the undeniable pleasure of speaking with Graham Linehan and Steve Delaney co-creators of Count Arthur Strong.  We laughed, I cried, they wondered why they were talking to some guy from Utah, and I pretended to understand those...

"Condiments of the seasoning to you all" Andrew Burns Dec 21, 2013 Steve Delaney's comic creation Count Arthur Strong drops a Christmas bombshell about Santa What does Christmas mean to you? Well, Christmas isn't just about getting me presents and all that. Although...

Through It All I've Always Laughed by Count Arthur Strong Book review by Steve Bennett It seems they give autobiographies to just about anyone these days. Ageing thespian Count Arthur Strong’s professional CV extends to little more than a walk-on part in Juliet Bravo...

Fans of Count Arthur Strong (and yes I know he’s so Marmite you could spread him on a cheese sandwich) love the failed performer because he does what we all dream of: ranting at others to cover our own mistakes. At the same time he reminds us what a fool this makes...

What’s On: Count Arthur Strong Are TV reviewers on a mission to discredit British TV comedy? I only ask because the alternative is an even more depressing scenario – some critics just can’t be bothered to do their homework. Ultimately this makes them no better than...

Why I’m going to miss Count Arthur Strong Written By Susanna Lazarus 13 August 2013 I never listened to Count Arthur Strong’s Radio 4 show. And when the industry was abuzz with his crossover into television, I paid little attention, judging it too far from my...

Count Arthur Strong may have begun as a slow burner, but it proved to be an absolute TV comedy gem 15 Aug 2013 Comedy on British television can be as divisive as choosing to support Manchester City or United, Everton or Liverpool, Arsenal and...you get the point. With...

Steve Delaney’s Count Arthur Strong was inspired comedy joy Wednesday 31 Jul 2013 6:00 am ‘Round, like a spiral in a spiral, like a wheel within a wheel, never ending or beginning, on an ever-spinning reel…’ Pat yourself on your back if you’re singing the lyrics to...

Interview with Count Arthur Strong creator Steve Delaney We meet the man behind the trilby-wearing variety entertainer and BBC Two star By Michael Hodges Tue Jul 16 2013 Raconteur, master of misunderstanding, mangler of words and trilby hat wearer, Count Arthur Strong...

Opinion: In praise of BBC Two’s Count Arthur Strong July 13, 2013 by Peter Thompson I’m a huge fan of Count Arthur Strong’s radio show. The terminally confused ex-music hall star with the addled memory gripped me from the first listen; his malapropisms and petty...

For the last eight years, faded variety star Count Arthur Strong has been confusing listeners on Radio 4 - and winning awards - with anecdotes that blur various events in his life. The show has made a transition from Radio 4 to BBC2 (starting 8th July 8.30pm) and we...

By Mark Monahan ‘Thank you thank you for that warm welcome. I really do.” If you’ve ever caught Count Arthur Strong live, or else have followed his Radio 4 show, this sort of brain-scrambling syntax will already be delightfully familiar. Long a Fringe favourite, “The...

Steve Delaney's comic creation Arthur Strong has been on the live comedy circuit since the late '90s and Radio 4 listeners have been enjoying the foolish old variety star since 2005. But thanks to a helping hand from TV comedy guru Graham Linehan (Father Ted), he...

Steve Bennett on last night's opening episode Since the ratings success of old-fashioned sitcoms such as Mrs Brown’s Boys and Miranda, the BBC has looked backwards for inspiration as it searches for its next comedy hit. But the results – Citizen Khan, The Wright Way –...

By Claudia Connell PUBLISHED: 9 July 2013 As a general rule, if you can see a joke in a comedy show coming from a mile off then, chances are, it won’t have been worth the wait. When it comes to Count Arthur Strong (BBC2), that theory goes straight out of the window. A...

by Veronica LeeTuesday, 09 July 2013 Count Arthur Strong, the creation of Steve Delaney, is a bumbling, stumbling has-been variety turn and self-described thespian whose ego is inversely proportional to his talent. The character, a Harry Worth lookalike who mangles...

Count Arthur Strong's transfer to BBC2 confirms Radio 4 as comedy pioneer Steve Delaney's creation about ageing variety performer is latest of many BBC radio comedy shows to migrate to television By Mark Lawson Sunday 7 July 2013 Prior to its transfer on to...

Steve Delaney and Graham Linehan: how we brought Count Arthur Strong to TV The television version of the Radio 4 cult favourite looks set to be a mainstream smash - its creators tell RadioTimes.com how they did it Written By Jack Seale Count Arthur Strong arrives on...

Followers of radio comedy may already be familiar with Count Arthur Strong, the faded variety star with delusions of grandeur whose butterfly mind, selective hearing and constant malapropisms create chaos for himself and anyone with whom he comes into contact. Fans of...

Nor the battle to Count Arthur Strong So just who is Count Arthur Strong, whose eponymous six-part television series goes on air next week? Well, he is a former variety star now based in Doncaster, a middle-aged man with a trilby hat and toothbrush moustache. He has a...

Steve Delaney is the man behind Count Arthur Strong (pictured). Here he chats to the BCG about how he developed the character and the transition he's taken from live shows, to radio, to television... Hi Steve. How did Arthur pop into existence? As these things often...

  Bruce Dessau writes for The Times and the Guardian and is the comedy critic of the Evening Standard - I saw a Tweet recently that asked if Count Arthur Strong was the new Mrs Brown. Having seen the first episode of the new sitcom starring Steve Delaney as...

Strong stuff Count Arthur creator Steve Delaney on his new BBC Two sitcom After a seven hit radio series, and a successful cult career on the Edinburgh Fringe, Count Arthur Strong is coming to TV, with a BBC Two series due to start on Monday. Here his creator Steve...

Introducing a Man Who Needs No Introduction: Count Arthur Strong By Christine Brandel 26 June 2013 This summer, Count Arthur Strong will be coming to television as the eponymous hero of the show, Count Arthur Strong. No doubt, he will soon be seducing a whole new...

Andrew Billen Published at 12:01AM, June 20 2013 The Times A comic Count honed to the very peak of imperfection Having divided radio listeners for years with his confused alter ego, Steve Delaney is bound for TV, says Andrew Billen The 72-year-old Count Arthur Strong...

Expectations for the Count Arthur TV Show are running high... see this opinion article from beyondthejoke.co.uk Opinion: The Wright Way – A Very, Very Slight Defence Let's get one thing straight. I'm certainly not backtracking on my opinion of Ben Elton's pitiful...

Count Arthur Strong: 'Just a bonkers old bloke’ Count Arthur Strong has been attacked for being politically incorrect and unfunny. His creator Steve Delaney defends him. By Dominic Cavendish 06 Apr 2012 Steve Delaney is being cagey about his age. It’s not that he’s...

Tuesday, April 05, 2011 LIKE all the best character comedy, Count Arthur Strong invites your pity as well as your laughter. He's as delusional as John Shuttleworth, and as similarly lacking in talent and self-awareness, but the Count has more in common with Alan...

Mediocre Man holds forth Count Arthur Strong’s Command Performance, Theatre Royal, Brighton, 27 March 2011 by Anna Travis On first impressions, particularly those formed from his eponymous Radio 4 show, Count Arthur’s comedy shtick is relentless malapropisms. On...

The best character comedy lies in the chasm of delusion between blinkered self-image and harsh reality, which is why Radio 4 veteran Count Arthur Strong offers such rich potential. This aging thespian is what Alan Partridge is destined to be – a bumbling, blithering...

Those who only know the Count from his successful Radio 4 show (he has been performing live at Komedia for years) might worry that the verbal gymnastics of the tongue-tied Arthur would be lost in the clutter of a staged production. And from time to time they were...

Theatre Royal Brighton 1st February 2010 By Duncan Hall When Eric Sykes wrote his autobiography, he called it If I Don’t Write It Nobody Else Will. Steve Delaney’s comic creation Count Arthur Strong has taken a similar approach with his new show The Man Behind The...

Review: Count Arthur Strong’s Command Performance @ Mechanics, Burnley By Tim Nixon Count Arthur Strong’s Command Performance is a sort of ‘Best of Count Arthur,’ including scenes from his radio shows, some monologues, a ventriloquist routine with a miniature Egyptian...