The Casebook of Max and Ivan Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lewis Macleod

Malcolm is wild, unpredictable and occasionally violent and has a habit of turning up at the least opportune moments to demand his rent money. Despite generally being something of a liability to the duo's business, he does frequently, and entirely inadvertently, help them solve their cases.

The eponymous duo are played by Max Olesker and Ivan Gonzales who have been performing together since they met at university in 2008. As well as playing versions of themselves in 'The Casebook of Max and Ivan', they have appeared on the BBC television sitcom 'W1A', appeared at the Edinburgh Festival and founded a London school of improvisational comedy.

Answer: June Whitfield

The duo's very first case begins when a pushy parent comes to ask them for help in uncovering corruption in a child beauty pageant in which her daughter has participated repeatedly without winning. The 'Deeply Inappropriate Child Beauty Pageant for ages six to ten' is organised by the extremely elderly alcoholic Dame Celia Deeply-Inappropriate. Max and Ivan must go undercover to infiltrate the cut-throat world of child beauty pageants to find out whether corruption is afoot and, if so, who is behind it.

June Whitfield has had a long and successful comedy career, beginning in the 1950s when she joined the cast of the popular radio show 'Take It From Here'. Since then she has appeared in numerous television and radio series but is perhaps best known for her work with Tony Hancock, her recurring role as Edina's mother in 'Absolutely Fabulous' and her frequent collaborations with Roy Hudd. When June Whitfield recorded this episode of 'The Casebook of Max and Ivan' in 2015 she was already ninety years old and was just as funny and charismatic as ever.

Answer: Matt Lucas

In this second episode of the first series, Max and Ivan are excited to be approached by a big-shot movie director who wants their help to solve the mystery of the disappearance of his leading man, Liam. Unfortunately, the duo misheard Bernie, thinking he had claimed to be a Hollywood director, and were therefore considerably disappointed when they found themselves in Hull. It turns out that Bernie specialises in making extremely low-budget horror movies, using the same actors in every film, so the disappearance of his only leading man could spell doom for his current work in progress 'Zombie Fisherman and Cheerleaders'. It is up to Max and Ivan to go undercover, cunningly disguised as a promising young Northern actor called Luke Weatherby-Miningtown and an inexplicably resurrected Marlon Brando respectively, to investigate whether Bernie's greatest rival has anything to do with Liam's vanishing act.

Matt Lucas is perhaps best known for his work on the smash-hit television and radio sketch show 'Little Britain', in which he appears with frequent comedy partner David Walliams.

Answer: Jessica Hynes

Jessica Hynes plays the ruthlessly efficient PE teacher of a fancy private school whose, somewhat extreme, sports training methods come under scrutiny when the star athletes from the nearby comprehensive school begin to suffer unusual, and suspiciously posh, accidents in the run-up to an inter-school sporting competition. It is up to Max and Ivan to go undercover again, this time cunningly disguised as German exchange students, to find out if any foul play is involved, and, if so, who is behind it.

Jessica Hynes has appeared in numerous films and television and radio shows, but is perhaps best known for being one of the creators and stars of the popular sitcom 'Spaced'.

Answer: Reece Shearsmith

Eliot, an extremely creepy individual, brilliantly played by Shearsmith, comes to Max and Ivan to help solve the mystery of the potentially ghostly occurrences in his book shop. Added to Carl's problems are the threatened demolition of his shop by an over-zealous council worker and his inability to express his love for regular customer Luna. This is the only episode where Max and Ivan do not have to don disguises in order to go undercover though they do briefly plan to disguise themselves as ghosts, but they still have their hands full trying to solve the mystery of the hauntings, prevent the shop from being destroyed and help Eliot sort out his love life.

Reece Shearsmith is one of the most prolific and acclaimed comedy writers and performers of the last twenty years. He rose to fame as part of the comedy group 'The League of Gentlemen' and has worked on a number of television and radio shows across a range of genres. He frequently works with fellow 'League of Gentlemen' alumnus Steve Pemperton, the duo are particularly known for the critically lauded shows 'Psychoville' and 'Inside Number 9', both of which they both wrote and starred in.

Answer: Mark Heap

In this terrific episode Max and Ivan have decided to take a holiday and have gone to stay with Ivan's uncle, spectacularly unsuccessful anthropologist, Dr. Cornelius, on the remote island of Sudley. Their holiday gets off to a promising start as Max is pleasantly surprised to find that Cornelius lives in some style, but his plans for a relaxing and mystery-free break are scuppered when a mysterious stranger appears warning them to "beware the grand hand of sand", before promptly being hit over the head with a sand bag by an unseen assailant. The boys investigate and soon find themselves with the most dangerous case of their careers as they go undercover to attempt to infiltrate a sinister cult which sacrifices humans to a terrifying beast. However, being in mortal peril does not scupper Ivan's determination to find a Halloween costume party to attend, take the perfect selfie and buy some Sudley souvenirs.

Mark Heap is a distinguished comedy actor whose numerous roles include appearances in 'Big Train', 'Brass Eye' and 'Jam'.

Answer: Joanna Lumley

In this episode our heroes are investigating a spate of mysterious thefts from a community centre which hosts a range of adult education classes. They go undercover as students of one of Lavinia Moncrief's numerous, if poorly attended, acting master classes to try and get to the bottom of who is responsible for the disappearances.

Joanna Lumley has a long and distinguished acting career but is, perhaps, best known for her roles in 'The New Avengers' and 'Absolutely Fabulous'.

Answer: Jason Watkins

Scarlet Melange is the pen name which excruciatingly boring electronic goods manual writer Robert R. Roberts uses when writing his highly successful erotic crime novels. Unfortunately, someone has been imitating the crimes from each of Scarlet's novels, so he approaches Max and Ivan to help track down the criminal before they imitate the plot of his latest gardening-themed novel and commit a murder. The duo must go undercover as a gardener and his giant turnip in order to infiltrate a gardening show and unmask this mysterious criminal before they can commit the ultimate crime.

Jason Watkins is a BAFTA-winning actor who appeared in the 'Nativity' film series as well as television shows such as 'Being Human'.

Answer: Bridget Christie

Brenda is the ringmaster of one of Britain's least-successful circuses, the Cirque Du Solihull. The circus has been beset by bad luck ever since their former magician accidentally sawed himself in half some years earlier. However, the circus has now reached breaking point as the cannon used in their only successful act, the human cannonball, has mysteriously disappeared. Brenda calls on Max and Ivan to help locate the cannon and save the circus, so the duo go undercover as Macedonian gymnasts to infiltrate the circus and learn its secrets. Meanwhile, tired of being a 'single pringle', Ivan sets out to find love, but will he ever find anyone who lives up to the standards of his ultimate crush, Hugh Jackman?

Bridget Christie is an extremely funny and insightful comedian whose live shows, radio shows and books explore issues around feminism and gender portrayals in popular culture with blistering honesty and sparkling wit. Her radio work includes the shows 'Bridget Christie Minds the Gap', 'Kerry's List', 'Bridget Christie's Christmas List' and 'Bridget Christie's Utopia'. She won the Edinburgh festival Comedy Award for best show for her stand-up show 'A Bic for Her', which is also the title of her book.

Answer: Richard Wilson

Our heroes are facing eviction from their office due to their inability to pay the rent. However, when all seems lost, a wealthy client appears offering to pay them handsomely if they can take on his case immediately. Unfortunately, it is that this moment that Max discovers a note from his childhood hero, his great uncle Bernard, seemingly in danger and begging for their help. Max decides that helping family is more important than saving the business so they rush off to Bernard's care home to try and save him. However, when they get there everything seems fine at first, though as they go undercover they discover that all is not as it seems and that there may be something sinister afoot.

Richard Wilson is probably best known for his role as Victor Meldrew in the popular sitcom 'One Foot in the Grave', though he has appeared as versions of himself in an extremely funny episode of 'Father Ted' and in the excellent Radio 4 comedy 'Believe It'.