Black book

Black Book or Blackbook may refer to:

Business

Film

History

Black Books

Black Books is a British sitcom created by Dylan Moran and Graham Linehan that was broadcast on Channel 4 from 2000 to 2004. Starring Moran, Bill Bailey and Tamsin Greig, the series is set in the eponymous London bookshop and follows the lives of its owner Bernard Black (Moran), his assistant Manny Bianco (Bailey) and their friend Fran Katzenjammer (Greig). The series was produced by Big Talk Productions, in association with Channel 4.

Black Books was produced in a multiple-camera setup, and was primarily filmed at Teddington Studios in Teddington, London, with exterior scenes filmed on location on Leigh Street and the surrounding areas in Bloomsbury. The debut episode premiered on 29 September 2000 and three seasons followed, with the final episode airing on 15 April 2004.

Black Books was a critical success, winning a number of awards, including two BAFTA awards for Best Situation Comedy in 2001 and 2005 and a Bronze Rose at the Festival Rose d'Or.

Synopsis

Bernard Black is the proprietor of Black Books, a small bookshop. The series revolves around the lives of Bernard, Manny and Fran. A central theme is Bernard's odd position as a moody and spiteful shopkeeper who has a loathing of the outside world and all the people who inhabit it, except his oldest friend, Fran, who initially ran a trendy bric-a-brac shop, Nifty Gifty, next-door to the shop.

Black

Black is the darkest color, the result of the absence of or complete absorption of light. It is the opposite of white (the combined spectrum of color or light). It is an achromatic color, literally a color without color or hue. It is one of the four primary colors in the CMYK color model, along with cyan, yellow, and magenta, used in color printing to produce all the other colors.

Black was one of the first colors used by artists in neolithic cave paintings. In the 14th century, it began to be worn by royalty, the clergy, judges and government officials in much of Europe. It became the color worn by English romantic poets, businessmen and statesmen in the 19th century, and a high fashion color in the 20th century.

In the Roman Empire, it became the color of mourning, and over the centuries it was frequently associated with death, evil, witches and magic. According to surveys in Europe and North America, it is the color most commonly associated with mourning, the end, secrets, magic, force, violence, evil, and elegance.

List of Black Books characters

Black Books is a BAFTA Award winning sitcom first broadcast on Channel 4 from 2000 to 2004. It revolves around the lives of three main characters: Bernard Black, played by Dylan Moran; Manny Bianco, played by Bill Bailey; and Fran Katzenjammer, played by Tamsin Greig. Bernard is the belligerent owner of the book shop Black Books, while Manny is his assistant, and Fran is their friend and neighbour. All three characters appeared in all 18 episodes of the show. Supporting characters appeared infrequently to support each episode's storyline, a number of whom were guest stars, as well as lesser known actors who went on to have major roles in British comedy series. Co-writer Graham Linehan also appeared in Ep. 1.2 as the "I Love Books" customer and Ep 1.5 as a fast food customer.

Main characters

Bernard Black

Bernard Ludwig Black, played by comedian Dylan Moran, is a bookseller and owner of the 'Black Books' bookshop, wherein much of the series takes place. Many episodes of the series focus on Black along with his quirky personality and issues. His distinctive physical traits are his wild, messy hair, and black clothing. He is portrayed as being a heavy smoker, so heavy, in fact, that he might have no sense of taste (in the episode "The Grapes Of Wrath" he eats a coaster thinking its "some sort of delicious biscuit", not being able to taste the difference).

Dylan Moran

Dylan Moran (/ˈmɔərən/; born 3 November 1971) is an Irish comedian, writer, actor and filmmaker. He is best known for his sardonic observational comedy, the UK television sitcom Black Books (in which he co-wrote and starred) and his work with Simon Pegg in Shaun of the Dead and Run Fatboy Run. He appeared as one of the two lead characters in the Irish black comedy titled A Film with Me in It in 2008.

Moran's most recent film is Calvary, an Irish black comedy drama film written and directed by John Michael McDonagh. He is a regular performer at national and international comedy festivals including the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Just for Laughs Montreal Comedy Festival, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Kilkenny Comedy Festival. In 2007 he was voted the 17th greatest stand-up comic on Channel 4's 100 Greatest Stand-Ups and again in the updated 2010 list as the 14th greatest stand-up comic. He lives in Edinburgh with his wife, Elaine, and two children.

Biography