Editing Peter Cook (section)

===''Consequences'' album===
Cook played multiple roles on the 1977 [[concept album]] ''[[Consequences (Godley & Creme album)|Consequences]]'', written and produced by former [[10cc]] members [[Kevin Godley]] and [[Lol Creme]]. A mixture of spoken comedy and [[progressive rock]] with an environmental subtext, ''Consequences'' started as a single that Godley and Creme planned to make to demonstrate their invention, an electric guitar effect called [[the Gizmo]], which they developed in 10cc. The project grew into a three-[[LP record|LP]] box set. The comedy sections were originally intended to be performed by a cast including [[Spike Milligan]] and [[Peter Ustinov]], but Godley and Creme eventually settled on Cook once they realised he could perform most parts himself.

The storyline centres on the impending [[divorce]] of ineffectual Englishman Walter Stapleton (Cook) and his French wife Lulu ([[Judy Huxtable]]). While meeting their lawyers – the bibulous Mr. Haig and overbearing Mr. Pepperman (both played by Cook) – the encroaching global catastrophe interrupts proceedings with bizarre and mysterious happenings, which seem to centre on Mr. Blint (Cook), a musician and composer living in the flat below Haig's office, to which it is connected by a large hole in the floor.

Although it has since developed a [[cult following]], ''Consequences'' was released as punk was sweeping the UK and proved a resounding [[commercial failure]], savaged by critics who found the music self-indulgent. The script and story have evident connections to Cook's own life – his then-wife Judy Huxtable plays Walter's wife. Cook's struggles with alcohol are mirrored in Haig's drinking, and there is a parallel between the fictional divorce of Walter and Lulu and Cook's own divorce from his first wife. The voice and accent Cook used for the character of Stapleton are similar to those of Cook's ''Beyond the Fringe'' colleague, Alan Bennett, and a book on Cook's comedy, ''How Very Interesting: Peter Cook's Universe and All That Surrounds It'', speculates that the characters Cook plays in ''Consequences'' are his verbal caricatures of the four ''Beyond the Fringe'' cast members – the alcoholic Haig represents Cook himself, the tremulous Stapleton is Bennett, the parodically Jewish Pepperman is Miller, and the pianist Blint represents Moore.<ref>Peter Gordon, Dan Kieran Paul Hamilton (eds) – ''How Very Interesting: Peter Cook's Universe and All That Surrounds It'' (Matrix Media Services, 2006)</ref>