Red Monarch is a 1983 British television film starring Colin Blakely as Joseph Stalin. It is directed by Jack Gold and features David Suchet as Lavrentiy Beria and David Threlfall as Stalin's son Vasily.

Red Monarch is a comedy based on 'The Red Monarch: Scenes from the Life of Stalin', a collection of short critical essays by the Russian dissident and former KGB agent Yuri Krotkov. The film depicts Soviet politics and the interplay between Stalin and his lieutenants, particularly Beria, during the last years of Stalin's rule. The reading of Yevgeny "a scabrous satire of state socialism. Drawing on KGB defector Yuri Krotkov's novel, Red Monarch takes the bold step of making an historical monster monstrously funny.   Yevtushenko's "The Heirs of Stalin" in the final scene supposedly warns that the threat of totalitarianism is constantly present.

"A scabrous satire of state socialism. Drawing on KGB defector Yuri Krotkov's novel, Red Monarch takes the bold step of making an historical monster monstrously funny. " Nothing Is Writen Film (Dec 2013)

"I have learned over years of experience that you cannot consciously come up with a witty idea. It is a subconscious process. You have to rely on your brain to work for you. The answer often comes from something accidental. A good example is the poster I did with Howard Brown for the Jack Gold film Red Monarch, a black comedy about Stalin. As we were chatting after the private screening in Soho, Howard suggested it might be quite interesting to put a red nose on Stalin. I liked that, because the guy was a clown. But he was a tyrant as well, so I knew a red nose wasn’t enough." John Gorham on the making of the poster.