Ian Dury and performed the theme song "Profoundly in Love with Pandora" for the television series "The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾" (1985), based on the book of the same name by Sue Townsend, as well as its follow-up, "The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole" (1987). Dury turned down an offer from Andrew Lloyd Webber to write the libretto for "Cats" (from which Richard Stilgoe reportedly earned millions). The reason, said Dury, "I can't stand his music." When AIDS first came to prominence in the mid-1980s, Dury was among celebrities who appeared on UK television to promote safe sex, demonstrating
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ (musical) Cavendish in "The Telegraph" wrote that "this all-singing, all-dancing Mole comes up trumps; in fact, it's so good it could burrow its way to the West End... the evening does that rare thing: it makes you laugh, tugs at your heart-strings and honours the spirit of the original while being playfully inventive... this fresh, funny, stirring spin on a Thatcher-era classic may be around for a long time to come." Dominic Maxwell in "The Times" wrote 'it's no small achievement to make this first musical version such a lively, evocative pleasure... amusing and affecting enough to leave you glowing... a