Withnail & I creator says stage version off limits

Paul McGann and Richard E. Grant in Withnail & I.

Generations of students have been inspired to quote such memorable lines as "I demand to have some booze" and "officer, I've only had a few ales" as they try to match the characters' prolific alcohol intake drink for drink.

But if the film's creator has its way, Withnail & I will never appear on the West End stage.

Bruce Robinson, the writer and director of the classic 1987 movie starring Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann as two "resting" actors in 1969 London who take an alcohol-fuelled trip to the country, has described plans for a stage version, potentially starring Jude Law, as "scandalous".

He insists that Hand Made Films, the production company that made Withnail & I, needs his permission to go ahead with a theatrical production, which he refuses to grant. Hand Made Films, created by George Harrison in the 1970s, maintains it owns the necessary rights to turn the film into a play. Robinson says he has still not received his full director's fee nearly 20 years after the film was made.

"The film of Withnail & I I wrote and directed is what I wanted to say. Anything ancillary to that seems to be an attempt to wring it out like an old teabag for more money."

A spokeswoman for Hand Made Films said: "Hand Made own the copyright and the rights to Withnail & I. Bruce Robinson, who was one of the writers, does not own the rights or the copyright.

"However, it is normal to seek creative approval from one of the writers, and that process is under way.

"Everything is on track."

Robinson said at a meeting with his agent and lawyer in Los Angeles last week, Hand Made's chairman Patrick Meehan accepted a stage production could not go ahead without the writer's agreement.

"He does not have the contractual rights to put on Withnail & I in the West End or the Outer Hebrides.

"He would have the right to put on the play in the West End providing he had my agreement, in the same way as I could put it on if I had his agreement."

Hand Made said nothing was settled at the meeting, adding "lawyers and agents are working on it".

Robinson denied saying that Jude Law would not be able to do justice to the part of Withnail.

"Whatever my feelings are about Jude Law are completely hypothetical, because this isn't going to happen. This chap Patrick Meehan can't put Withnail & I on the stage, period, without my permission, and my permission is not available."

In contrast, Grant, who will always be remembered as the film's louche hero Withnail, who with his friend Peter Marwood, played by McGann, visits his lascivious Uncle Monty's country cottage with hilarious results, believes a stage production is a good idea.

He said: "Good luck to them. I think the idea would transfer to the stage well, and of course Bruce's original had such a brilliant script that I'm sure the part would be a success for anybody who tries it."

- INDEPENDENT