Ian Hislop and Nick Newman's The Wipers Times tells the true and extraordinary story of a satirical newspaper created in the mud and mayhem of the Somme.

The Wipers Times opened at the Watermill Theatre Newbury in 2016 and went on to have two successful runs in London’s West End, touring venues across the UK between 2016 and 2018.

In a bombed out building during the First World War in the Belgian town of Ypres (mis-pronounced Wipers by British soldiers), two officers discover a printing press and create a newspaper for the troops. Far from being a sombre journal about life in the trenches, they produced a resolutely cheerful, subversive and very funny newspaper designed to lift the spirits of the men on the front line.

Defying enemy bombardment, gas attacks and the disapproval of many of the top Brass, The Wipers Times rolled off the press for two years and was an extraordinary tribute to the resilience of the human spirit in the face of overwhelming adversity.

“A hundred years after World War I, the black humour of The Wipers Times trench newspaper is still remarkably fresh, funny and poignant.”

–Ian Hislop & Nick Newman