It concerns the story of a curmudgeonly middle-aged writer described in the show's publicity material as an "author, pipesmoker, consummate fare-dodger and master of the abusive email".
The names of two central characters, Ed Reardon (played by Christopher Douglas) and Jaz Milvane (played by Philip Jackson), are references to the characters Edwin Reardon and Jasper Milvain, who appear in George Gissing's 1891 novel New Grub Street,[1] which is set in the hack-literary London of the late 19th century, although Edward was revealed to be Ed's given name in the second episode of the third series and Milvain is referred to as Jaz Milvane.
He makes a small income from running a creative writing course at the local night school, where his lessons frequently mention the single episode of Tenko that he wrote.
Speaking on Pick of the Week [2] Christopher Douglas explained where Ed's character came from: "Simon Gray's published diaries were mainly about how badly treated he'd been by producers, actors, critics and electronic machinery.
His only novel, Who Would Fardels Bear?, was published in the 1970s, and was adapted into a film (Sister Mom) by Ed's friend, Jaz Milvane (played by Philip Jackson).
During his early career, Ed also wrote various stage plays, all of which seem to have been both unfortunately timed and titled, bearing striking (yet apparently accidental) resemblances to works by Willy Russell and Mike Leigh.
An early amateur film made with Jaz Milvane, "The 4th Sausage" (an allusion to European New Year staple, Dinner for One), is the focus of Episode 6, Series 11.
Appearing just as bad-tempered and impatient as Ed, Sidney demonstrated more understanding of popular culture by being familiar with the children's television programme Dick and Dom in da Bungalow.
Ed has lived in a one-bedroom flat with his cat Elgar in Berkhamsted, in the borough of Dacorum, Hertfordshire, ever since he sold his London home after a messy divorce.
5), a blossoming romance with a young woman of similar temperament was cruelly dashed by her allergy to cats, dander from which could be found in Ed's beard.
Much humour comes from Ed's rants and inability to stop himself from getting carried away in his angry tirades, often triggered by learning that somebody younger than him is proving more successful (such as the author of Eats, Shoots and Leaves, Lynne Truss; one tirade follows Ed receiving several copies of the book as gifts for his birthday and working out how much in royalties Truss will have received because of the book sales).