Merry Christmas friends! Join Andy and Una, plus authors Louie Stowell and Robert Shearman, for a post-solstice celebration of Asterix and the Roman Agent (1972) by René Goscinny (words) and Albert Uderzo (pictures), first published in France in 1970 as La Zizanie, and freely translated into English by Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge. Christmas was a festival unknown to the residents of the little Gaulish village, whose adventures took place circa 50 BC. Few childhood Christmases of the 1970s and 80s were complete, however, without one or more Asterix adventures under the tree, so we do our best to mention every single one in this episode. We hear an archive interview with Goscinny and Uderzo themselves, and delve into the history behind the history of one the most successful comic strips in history. In addition, this is probably the most visual episode of Backlisted to date, so it's just as well we filmed it - the video is available here on YouTube. May we take this opportunity to thank you for your support in 2025, by Toutatis, and wish you all a magic potion-fuelled Christmas and New Year.

Books mentioned
René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo - Asterix and the Roman Agent; La Zizanie; Asterix and Cleopatra; Asterix in Britain; Asterix and the Magic Carpet; Asterix and the Big Fight; Asterix and the Cauldron; The Mansions of the Gods; Asterix The Gaul; Asterix The Legionary
Fabcaro - Asterix in Lusitania; Asterix and the White Iris
Jean-Yves Ferri - Asterix and the Missing Scroll
Louie Stowell - Loki: A Bad God's Guide to Causing Chaos
Robert Shearman - We All Hear Stories in the Dark; Jubilee