History Creator / BenElton

* ''Inconceivable'' (1999) - Later adapted into the film ''Maybe Baby'', also written by Elton

Ben Elton (born 3 May 1959) is an English writer, director and comedian who co-wrote ''Series/BlackAdder'' (from its second season onward) with Richard Curtis. He also co-wrote ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' with Creator/RikMayall and Lise Meyer, and was solo writer on ''Filthy, Rich and Catflap'' and the now largely-forgotten sketch show ''Series/{{Alfresco}}''.

* BrainlessBeauty: Several, often used to deliver an {{Aesop}} about shallowness or vanity. A more sympathetic example is Kelly in ''Dead Famous'', but the character type probably explains why she [[spoiler: was the murder victim]]. Christine Copperfield in ''Past Mortem'' is similarly somewhat sympathetic [[spoiler: and likewise ends up murdered.]]

%%* BritishAccents

Ben Elton is an English writer, director and comedian who co-wrote ''Series/BlackAdder'' (from its second season onward) with Richard Curtis. He also co-wrote ''Series/TheYoungOnes'' with Creator/RikMayall and Lise Meyer, and was solo writer on ''Filthy, Rich and Catflap'' and the now largely-forgotten sketch show ''{{Series/Alfresco}}''.

Ben Elton is an English writer, director and comedian who co-wrote ''Series/BlackAdder'' (from its second season onward) with Richard Curtis. He also co-wrote ''TheYoungOnes'' with Creator/RikMayall and Lise Meyer, and was solo writer on ''Filthy, Rich and Catflap'' and the now largely-forgotten sketch show ''{{Series/Alfresco}}''.

* RealitySubtext: ''Two Brothers'', based around two boys in a German Jewish family who end up on opposing sides during WWII, was based on similar circumstances in Elton's own family, which he claimed he had been waiting for a chance to turn into a story.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: The plot of ''Past Mortem'' heavily revolves around the social media site Friends Reunited, which was once the most popular social networking site in Britain, but which later became one of the many such sites that Facebook left behind in the dust. Ironically, Facebook first went online the year the novel was published.

* WriteWhoYouKnow: A lot of characters in ''Dead Famous'' are based on real-life contestants from ''BigBrother'' or people involved in its production, with [[MeaningfulName Meaningful Names]] to show it. Also, Tommy Hanson in ''High Society'' appears to be inspired by Robbie Williams.

* AnimalWrongsGroup - Woggle in ''Dead Famous'' is a one-man example.
* AssholeVictim - Many of the murder victims in ''Past Mortem'' [[spoiler:though Christine, while an AlphaBitch as a teen and a [[BrainlessBeauty shallow ditz]] as an adult is sympathetic and her murder comes across as a MoralEventHorizon for the killer.]]
* BedlamHouse - Subverted in ''Dead Famous'' when a contestant on a reality TV show pretends to have been abused in a mental institution, in order to boost her appeal with the public. The producer knows this is a lie because both of her own parents were institutionalized, and decides not to broadcast the footage.
* BettyAndVeronica - In ''Past Mortem'', where Newson had relationships with Helen (Betty - albeit a rather [[BreakTheCutie warped]] version) and Christine (Veronica), who later reappear in his life as an adult in the run-up to a school reunion. [[spoiler:Over the events of the book Christine is murdered by the serial killer, Newson discovers that Helen is chronically depressed and mentally ill, and the story ends with him asking out the ThirdOptionLoveInterest: Natasha, the woman he believes he loved all along.]]
* BitchInSheepsClothing - [[spoiler:Sandra Dee]] in ''Blind Faith''.

* BrainlessBeauty - several, often used to deliver an {{Aesop}} about shallowness or vanity. A more sympathetic example is Kelly in ''Dead Famous'', but the character type probably explains why she [[spoiler: was the murder victim]]. Christine Copperfield in ''Past Mortem'' is similarly somewhat sympathetic [[spoiler: and likewise ends up murdered.]]
* BritishAccents
* BrokenBird - Helen in ''Past Mortem'', Jessie in ''High Society'', to some extent Sally in ''Dead Famous''.
* ButchLesbian - Subverted in ''Dead Famous'': Sally, although outwardly the textbook example of this trope, is one of the most sympathetic characters in the book. Also subverted with Trish, who is in the closet and resents people assuming she is heterosexual simply because she's not butch.
* ButtMonkey - Robbo in ''Meltdown''. After he [[spoiler: is killed while drink driving]], the protagonist Jimmy reflects on how the joke doesn't seem so funny any more ...
* CampingACrapper - The whole plot of [[spoiler: ''Dead Famous'']] turns out to be based around this. [[spoiler: Geraldine realised that at least one of the girls would have to go to the bathroom and planned for the murder to take place there.]]
* CoitusEnsues - In several books, to the point where ''The First Casualty'' earned Elton a nomination for the Bad Sex Awards (an annual prize given to the author of the worst sex scene in fiction that year.)
* CrapsackWorld - ''Blind Faith'' and ''This Other Eden'' are set in this.
* DepravedKidsShowHost - Chloe in ''High Society''. Tommy mentions that almost every children's TV presenter he has met was a drug user, because, he imagines, it is too much stress for them to constantly act perky and cheerful for their audience.
* DuringTheWar - ''The First Casualty'' is set during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.
* {{Expy}} - ''Blind Faith'' didn't do as well as Elton's other books, partly because of criticism that its plot was too heavily borrowed from ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''.
** Scout and Wayne in ''Popcorn'' are obvious Expies of Mickey and Mallory in ''NaturalBornKillers'', the entire book being a satire of the MoralPanic over media violence.
* FieryRedhead - Jessie in ''High Society''
* FunetikAksent - ''High Society'', ad nauseam.
* GranolaGirl - Layla in ''Dead Famous''. Polly from ''Blast From the Past'' was one as a teenager.
* HisNameIs - Happens in ''PastMortem''. Christine Copperfield left a message on Newson's answerphone just before her death, but was interrupted by the arrival of her killer at the door, and hung up so she could talk to them. Her message indicates that the killer is someone she knows; she just never got to say ''who''.
* HoldingTheFloor - In ''Dead Famous'', Inspector Coleridge talks on television for five and a half minutes to delay the end of the show so his colleagues can arrive with [[spoiler: faked]] evidence to prompt a confession from the murderer.
* {{Ladette}} - Kelly and Moon in ''Dead Famous'' fit the trope, with Geraldine referring to Kelly as "the little ladette slapper."
* LawyerFriendlyCameo - Prince Charles is a major character in ''Chart Throb'', but is never named.
* LittleMissBadass - Anna Leman in ''High Society''
* LoveMakesYouCrazy
* LoveMakesYouEvil - Peter in ''Blast From the Past''
* ManipulativeEditing - performed by characters in ''Dead Famous'' and ''Chart Throb'', both of which satirize reality TV
* MeaningfulName
* NewEden - the basic plot of ''This Other Eden''
* OnlyOneName - In ''Dead Famous'', we never find out Trish's surname, or Sergeant Hooper's first name.
* RealitySubtext - ''Two Brothers'', based around two boys in a German Jewish family who end up on opposing sides during WWII, was based on similar circumstances in Elton's own family, which he claimed he had been waiting for a chance to turn into a story.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney - most of the cast of ''Meltdown'' begin like this, until [[ForegoneConclusion the recession hits and they are left with nothing.]]
* StalkerWithACrush - Peter in ''Blast From the Past'', Carlisle in ''Dead Famous''

* WarIsHell - pretty much ''First Casualty'' and ''Two Brothers'' in a nutshell.
* WriteWhoYouKnow - a lot of characters in ''Dead Famous'' are based on real-life contestants from ''BigBrother'' or people involved in its production, with [[MeaningfulName Meaningful Names]] to show it. Also, Tommy Hanson in ''High Society'' appears to be inspired by Robbie Williams.
* YourCheatingHeart - For much of ''Blind Faith'' Trafford has an affair with Sandra Dee while his wife, Chantorria, is also having an affair with Confessor Bailey. They inhabit a [[CrapsackWorld dystopian future]] where marriage is not considered a permanent fixture and most marriages last only two to three years at most.

* DuringTheWar - ''The First Casualty'' is set during UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne.

!!As well as his clever use of tropes in the TV series ''Series/BlackAdder'' and ''TheThinBlueLine'', they can also be found in his novels:

Ben Elton is an English writer, director and comedian who co-wrote ''BlackAdder'' (from its second season onward) with Richard Curtis. He also co-wrote ''TheYoungOnes'' with Creator/RikMayall and Lise Meyer, and was solo writer on ''Filthy, Rich and Catflap'' and the now largely-forgotten sketch show ''{{Series/Alfresco}}''.

!!As well as his clever use of tropes in the TV series ''BlackAdder'' and ''TheThinBlueLine'', they can also be found in his novels:

He also had a short-lived comedy show in 1998 on TheBBC. The [[http://www.meldrum.co.uk/mhp/identzone/bbc1/benelton.html opening]] of each show spoofed BBC 1's hot air balloon ident of the time.

* DuringTheWar - ''The First Casualty'' is set during WorldWarOne.

In America, he's probably best known for one line from his 2009 novel ''Meltdown.'' "'No!' Jimmy protested." The reason the quote became [[MemeticMutation so popular]] is because Music/OneDirection's Louis Tomlinson read it out of a book on one of the band's web diaries, and it has become a popular joke with Directioners ever since.

* ''Meltdown'' (2009)

He has also written three West End plays, several "jukebox" musicals including ''WeWillRockYou'', and 11 novels.

Ben Elton is an English writer, director and comedian who co-wrote ''BlackAdder'' (from its second season onward) with Richard Curtis. He also co-wrote ''TheYoungOnes'' with Creator/RikMayall and Lise Meyer, and was solo writer on ''Filthy, Rich and Catflap'' and the now largely-forgotten sketch show ''Alfresco''.

Ben Elton is an English writer, director and comedian who co-wrote ''BlackAdder'' (from its second season onward) with Richard Curtis. He also co-wrote ''TheYoungOnes'' with RikMayall and Lise Meyer, and was solo writer on ''Filthy, Rich and Catflap'' and the now largely-forgotten sketch show ''Alfresco''.

* RealitySubtext - ''Two Brothers'', based around two boys in a German Jewish family who end up on opposing sides during WWII, was based on similar circumstances in Elton's own family.

* WarIsHell - pretty much ''First Casualty'' in a nutshell.