Mr Stink#TV adaptation
{{Short description|Book by David Walliams}}
{{For|the BBC TV film adaptation|Mr Stink (film)}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Mr Stink
| title_orig =
| translator =
| image = Mr Stink.jpg
|
| author = David Walliams
| illustrator = Quentin Blake
| cover_artist =
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| series =
| genre = Children's fiction (8-12)
| publisher = HarperCollins
| pub_date = 29 October 2009
| english_pub_date =
| media_type = Print
| pages = 272 pp
| isbn = 978-0007279050
| congress= PZ7.W1593357 Mr 2010
| oclc= 535490682
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
Mr Stink is a children's book written by David Walliams and illustrated by Quentin Blake, first published in the United Kingdom in 2009 by HarperCollins. It was adapted into a 2011 stage musical and a 2012 television film broadcast by the BBC.
Plot
Chloe is a lonely 12-year-old girl who is bullied at school. Her mother, Caroline, prefers Chloe's academically successful and extra-curricularly ambitious younger sister, Annabelle, and is highly ambitious and running for parliament. Her father has lost his job but is afraid to tell his wife. Chloe meets a smelly tramp known as Mr Stink, befriends him and hides him and his filthy dog Duchess in the garden shed. When he is discovered, Caroline, who advocates clearing homeless people off the streets, falsely claims to have invited him to stay with the family. She and Mr Stink appear together on the TV show Question Time, where Mr Stink is a great success with the audience and embarrasses Caroline by revealing the truth about who gave him shelter. The TV appearance leads to an audience with the Prime Minister, who makes Mr Stink an offer to which Chloe says, "[S]tick it up your fat bum!". It is later revealed Mr Stink is a Lord who became a tramp after the death of his wife. Mr Stink declines to change his ways and resumes his travels.{{cite news |author=Virginia Blackburn |url=https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/books/138441/Mr-Stink-David-Walliams |title=Mr Stink: David Walliams |newspaper=Daily Express|date=6 November 2009 }}{{cite news |author=Henry IX |url=https://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2014/sep/05/review-mr-stink-david-walliams |title=Children's books: Mr Stink by David Walliams – review |newspaper=The Guardian |date=5 September 2014 }}
Publication and reception
Mr Stink was first published by HarperCollins in October 2009 in hardcover format. A list of notable formats is as follows:
| class="wikitable"
! Release Date ! Publisher ! format ! pages ! ISBN | ||||
| 29 October 2009 | HarperCollins | hardcover | 272pp | {{ISBNT|978-0007279050}} |
| 27 May 2010 | HarperCollins Children's Books | paperback | 224pp | {{ISBNT|978-0007279067}} |
| 27 May 2010 | HarperCollins | audio book | CD | {{ISBNT|978-0007333394}} |
| 14 October 2010 | RazorBill | paperback | 265pp | {{ISBNT|978-1595143327}} |
Mr Stink was Walliams' second children's book, after The Boy in the Dress, also illustrated by Quentin Blake.{{cite news |author=Richard Jinman |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/comedy/from-little-britain-to-mr-stink-david-walliams-is-a-man-of-many-talents-20171127-gzts0g.html |title=From Little Britain to Mr. Stink, why David Walliams is still breaking boundaries |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=29 November 2017 }} It was a best-seller and generally well received; the reviewer in The Daily Express called it "a gentle book with plenty of jokes about bottoms ... and a message about the put upon coming out on top", and in The Guardian a review of the stage musical called the book "a deliciously improbable romp"{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2011/jun/02/mr-stink-review |author=Lyn Gardner|title=Mr Stink – review |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2 June 2011 }} while a children's book reviewer called it "a really, really hilarious book, probably one of the best I have read in my life". However, the reviewer for Kirkus Reviews deemed most of the book "trite" and apparently a vehicle for the illustrations and for "a set of typecast characters".{{cite web |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/david-walliams/mr-stink/ |title=MR. STINK by David Walliams & illustrated by Quentin Blake |website=Kirkus Reviews |date=30 September 2010 }}
Adaptations
A musical adaptation of Mr Stink toured the UK in 2011.{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8757107/David-Walliams-busiest-man-in-showbusiness.html |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |title=David Walliams: busiest man in showbusiness |date=12 September 2011 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240320160553/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8757107/David-Walliams-busiest-man-in-showbusiness.html |archive-date=20 March 2024 |author=Martin Chilton}}
A 60-minute film of Mr Stink scripted by Walliams aired on 23 December 2012 on BBC One.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/comedy/2012/02/david-walliams-mr-stink.shtml|title=David Walliams' Mr Stink Comes to BBC One |author=Candice Lo |publisher=BBC |type=Comedy blog |date=21 February 2012}}{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/xmas12/bbc-one.html#section-13 |title=Media Centre – BBC One Programme Information |publisher=BBC |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121130041808/http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/mediapacks/xmas12/bbc-one.html |archive-date=2012-11-30}}{{cite news |author=David Walliams |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9760502/David-Walliams-How-I-created-a-Christmas-stink.html |title=David Walliams: How I created a Christmas stink |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |date=21 December 2012 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121224013312/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9760502/David-Walliams-How-I-created-a-Christmas-stink.html |archive-date=24 December 2012 }} It was also broadcast in 3D, the BBC's first narrative program to be filmed in 3D.[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01ppm6v Mr Stink 3D], BBC.
References
{{Reflist}}
{{David Walliams}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:British children's novels
Category:British novels adapted into films