The Bed Sitting Room Review

Bed Sitting Room
Survivors in post-apocalyptic Britain keep a stiff upper lip in the face of disruption to their daily lives and the constant threat of extreme mutation.

by Owen Williams |
Published on
Release Date:

26 May 1970

Running Time:

90 minutes

Certificate:

PG

Original Title:

Bed Sitting Room

Richard Lester’s adaptation of the play by Spike Milligan and John Antrobus is a truly bonkers curio. Set in a blasted post-apocalypse Britain where roughly 20 people have survived (all of whom steadfastly avoid discussing what has happened), the film features an impressive pantheon of 1960s British talent – Milligan, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Ralph Richardson, Arthur Lowe, Michael Hordern, Marty Feldman, Harry Secombe – attempting to carry on as normal with bicycle-powered public transport and the ever-present threat of mutation.

Lowe turns into a parrot, Moore turns into a sheepdog, and Richardson wearily endures his inexorable transformation into the titular rented accommodation. As much Godot as Goon Show, it’s bleak, dark, surreal, silly, and truly unique.

Exactly as dark and surreal as you would imagine a post-apocalyptic black comedy by Spike Milligan would be.
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