Never Better

Never Better Keith is a recovering alcoholic whose life is in a mess. He is self-centred but has a family and a job. He has started going to Alcoholics’ Anonymous to help him on the way to sobriety. Sounds like the most depressing kitchen sink drama but is instead the situation in BBC 2’s Thursday night comedy, Never Better, starring Stephen Mangan of Green Wing, Jane Hall and Adrian Mole: The Cappuccino Years.

Mangan seems to enjoy playing dysfunctional losers but this time his character is seemingly more unpleasant than even Dr Guy Secretan from the Green Wing. Keith mocks everything and cannot take the AA meetings seriously, often ridiculing to the point that they descend into farce. The twelve steps that they use to recovery are a particular focus for his ire.

This week he is on step three which is about Faith, whereupon he ridicules religion and claims that it cannot apply to him, as he does not believe in God. Another member of the group, Marianne, is very religious and is very offended by his attitude. It does not help that she is quite attractive and Keith cannot keep his eyes of her bust. She is also a cat lover and takes solace in her cat, Chairman Miaow, thus receiving more ridicule from Keith.

Keith is encouraged to show faith in humanity instead and help others in order to help instead. When Chairman Miaow needs to go to the vet’s he needs to be taken aside to help Marianne take him there. Her obsession with telling him a religious poem means that they miss the appointment and prompts Marianne to go off the rails in a fit of swearing in a drink binge as she is convinced the cat is dying. Keith notices Chairman Miaow coughing and out pops a furball. Marianne falls asleep in a stupor and believes that Chairman Miaow has been cured by her faith. Keith keeps quiet showing a good side to him that he keeps under wraps.

The programme is a nicely acted black comedy with a superb lead in Stephen Mangan who can switch between nastiness, farce and pathos with ease. Not for everybody but Never Better brings the subject to the fore without making fun of it. Keith is the fall-guy not the AA and it works well.

Harry Hill’s Tv Burp

Harry Hill is one of those comics that you either latch on to immediately, grow to enjoy his sense of humour or spend time in blissful ignorance wondering why something was funny. His live show is something to behold, where he sets up a lot of jokes, leaves you in bewilderment and then rattles off all of the punch lines one by one. His humour is formulaic in nature with in-jokes and references and it is easy to see why he and fellow comedian/writer, Al Murray got on so well.

Harry Hill’s TV Burp is the perfect show for Harry to demonstrate his humour as he looks back on a week in television and makes funny observations. The soaps, such as Coronation Street and Emmerdale are favourite candidates for him to rib, as the characters have a gift for stating the obvious or over-acting. Harry normally presents a clip and then provides his own observations in an off-camera way. There is usually a mock fight on the show such as that between a goose and a turkey in deciding which is best for Christmas. The show also has some sort of “TV highlight of the week” which is normally a highlight that has never taken place before and will not be repeated, such as, “TV High Voice of the week” . Harry himself is of fond of dressing up too.

The show is not for the feint hearted or easily offended – for example, the programme featured a Tiny Mother Theresa and the double act of Shane McGowan performing “Fairytale of New York” with a whale (which was in poor taste).
Harry Hill’s TV Burp has just started its 7th series and is well worth watching if you are a tv fan.

Al Murray’s Happy Hour

If you are a fan of Harry Hill’s style of comedy, then you will love Al Murray. In Al Murray’s Happy Hour, he appears as the chauvinistic and proud Brit, The Pub Landlord. He believes that Brits are superior to others with his catch phrases such as “”Where would we be if we did not have rules? France. Where would we be if we had too many rules? Germany.”

The programme follows a chat show format with guests and a guest band covering a Queen song (as the Landlord is a big fan). This week the guests were James Blunt (who was teased relentlessly for being “posh”), jungle lovebirds, Cerys Matthews and Marc Bannerman and landlady of the Queen Vic, Barbara Windsor.

James Blunt was a surprising guest as he demonstrated that he has a self deprecating style and has a deadpan sense of humour. He can also do a pretty mean impression of Carry On star, Kenneth Williams.

The Pub Landlord was a big fan of Barbara Windsor and had childhood fantasies of her bra flying off during the film, Carry on Camping. He decided that he and his guests would have their very own Carry On film, in which James Blunt said “Oooh I say” and Barbara bent down to pick up a dropped sausage. We were also treated to a great performance Cerys singing “Don’t Stop Me Now”, a song not quite in her vocal range, but she sang well and was joined by the Landlord.

The Pub Landlord’s style is to tease his guests rather than insult them and he did this when asking Cerys and Marc whether their romance was genuine or not. He also teased the audience (it is not advised to sit in the front row). Al Murray’s Happy Hour lives up to its name.

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates

Patricia Routledge is perhaps better known as the snobbish and insufferable Hyacinth Bucket from “Keeping Up Appearances”. In Hetty Wainthropp Investigates , she stars as Hetty, a retired Lancastrian housewife, who with assistant Geoffrey (played by a young Dominic Monaghan) has a detective agency. The series was made between 1996 and 1998 and has been repeated on the BBC over the Christmas period.

In this episode, Hetty is called upon to investigate various happenings on a housing estate. The neighbours seem to be terrorised by a gang but the identity is being kept quiet. Hetty pretends to be the sister-in-law of one of the residents and joins the quilting circle in order to hear the latest gossip. She adopts a not very convincing Irish accent and can not sew very well. She uncovers the fact that the culprits drive a white van but always get away with their crimes.

Geoffrey attempts to put up a shed for his “aunty” with a local boy (played by Coronation Street’s Tyrone – Alan Halsall). The boy has seen the gang setting fire to various properties but has been scared to come forward. Geoffrey tries to get friendly with the girl in the chipshop but is taken off in the white van and beaten up. Eventually the culprit is caught, but the programme keeps you guessing as to how Hetty manages to upstage the Police.

Hetty Wainthropp Investigates can be described as a comedy crime thriller and ran for 4 series.

Comedy Showcase: Free Agents

The Comedy Showcase series on Channel 4 is a series of 6 one-off comedies showing the best of British talent. This week the programme was called “Free Agents” and starred Stephen Mangan (of Greenwing and Adrian Mole fame) as Alex and Tony Head (“The Prime Minister” in Little Britain and of Buffy fame) as his boss, Stephen.

Alex has been going through a divorce. He has left his wife and kids and finds that he has nowhere to live, so spends his nights on the office floor. He has a one night stand with his workmate Helen who are both left a little awkward after a night of “casual sex”. Helen has images of her dead fiancé everywhere and talks of him incessantly, as it is approaching the one-year anniversary of his death. She definitely sees the event as a “one-off” although Alex is not so sure.

Alex is offered a room at his boss’s home but would much prefer to stay with Helen (on the settee) or on the office floor. His boss is a sex-crazed pervert and provides way too much information on his sexual preferences. Alex spends one night at his house and is shocked to find that he has a milky hot drink, watches a porn film and pleasures himself before going to bed – this is Stephen’s nightly routine.

The comedy is full of sexual innuendo and has a “will they, won’t they?” element to the relationship between Alex and Helen, as Alex tries to persuade her to let him stay on the settee. Helen says that she will let him stay as long as he represents her mother’s new toy boy boyfriend (he is an agent). The boyfriend turns out to be a mime artist who also impersonates a rabbit, but he is largely talent-less.

The Peter Serafinowicz Show

Peter Serafinowicz as Michael-6 The Peter Serafinowicz Show is one of the “Thursday Night is Comedy Night” shows on BBC2 and is written by Peter and his brother James. The show is a series of comedy sketches from the talented Liverpudlian, who does a great impersonation of Terry Wogan (as demonstrated on the Jonathan Ross show) and provided the voice for Darth Maul. He has also had varied acting roles, in Spaced and Murder Most Horrid, amongst others.

The programme is the first series for Peter Serafinowicz. Comedy sketch shows are largely absent from our TV screens and it takes a little getting used to, as Peter dons various wigs and guises and goes into character. The show parodies various TV programmes and adverts. The first show in the series had a parody advert of a household cleaning product (Cillit Bang), that got dishes sparkling clean but broke them (as if a bullet had been fired at them). His regular characters include an actor giving a master class (this week it was Marlon Brando as a cross between a huge slug and Jabba the Hut); the TV newsreader who reads out regular captions to the news and a bell rings when he gets the right story and Michael-6, a robotic man who regularly goes into overdrive on a Jeremy Kyle-type of show.

There is also a sketch based on a popular shopping channel programme which has had one of the hosts as a vampire. He also stars as a blonde and perma-tanned presenter Kennedy St. King, of O! News (clearly a mickey-take of Hollywood gossip programme E! News). Peter also does a great impersonation of Simon Cowell giving contestants his opinion on X-factor.

The programme is a bit of a grower but should do well – if only you could pronounce Peter’s surname!

Have I Got News For You

Have I Got News For You is a satirical panel show , where two teams chaired by Private Eye Editor Ian Hislop and comedian Paul Merton are quizzed on the week’s news. Since the departure of regular host Angus Deayton five years ago, the programme has had a guest presenter. It is hard to believe that this is now the 34th series, but Have I Got News For You has been running since 1990. Over the years, the guest presenters have included Boris Johnson, Bruce Forsyth, Charles Kennedy, Alexander Armstrong and William Hague.

The show has a regular format with footage of the week’s news, odd one out, spin the wheel, caption competition and guessing the remaining words in a headline (which usually includes a lesser known periodical such as “Goat World”).

This week’s guest presenter was comedienne Jo Brand and the team captains were joined by journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer on Ian’s team, and comedy writer Andy Hamilton on Paul’s.

This week’s guest presenter was Jo Brand and there was no shortage of news stories about King Abdullah’s state visit to the UK (controversial because of Saudi Arabia’s history on human rights issues); the changing number of immigrants and a member of the Royal family being blackmailed (they clearly knew who that was). There was the regular amount of sarcasm and hilarity and Andy Hamilton quipped that he could not get used to these metric MPs such as David Miliband and preferred it when they were imperial – such as Michael Foot.

For one of the odd one out rounds, the link was “in love with a wizard” and the revelation this week that Dumbledore – fictional wizard from the Harry Potter books was gay.

Have I Got News For You is a great programme for a Friday night and works because of the knowledge (or lack of it of the teams), Ian Hislop’s political sarcasm and Paul Merton’s off-the-wall observations.

Russell Brand’s Ponderland

Russell Brand is one of those people that you either love or hate. He has his own particular look which is like a goth/ageing rocker with back-combed dark hair, heavy doses of eye liner and skin tight black trousers. In Russell Brand’s Ponderland, he does what he does best - stand up comedy, rather than presenting programmes such as Big Brother’s Big Mouth or acting.

He has a particular style of delivery which takes a little getting used to. He has a definite Essex accent but uses poetic and flowery language to deliver his observations, which prompts reminders of Eddie Izzard or romantic poets and writers such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth. Aptly, the programme tonight was about Love and Romance.

Brand has been talking about his thoughts or “ponderings” on topics such as crime, sport, childhood and science. He intersperses his thoughts with clippage from old programmes or adverts. Tonight he spoke about love and romance and featured a man who thought one way of chatting up ladies was to get them interested in his “Willy” - a puppet that he placed on his private bits. He claimed that many ladies asked to see Willy.

Brand went on to talk about chocolate and sex and that the two do not mix (some people would clearly disagree). He believes that both are good on their own but should not mix and ponders what happens to mini eggs when used - fearing that the Cadbury’s Parrot will turn up!

The programme went on to feature some couples saying how they had met “We were here and she was in that spot over there” - riveting! Ironically, Brand said that some people were extremely descriptive and poetic and highly romantic in their recollections of how they met. A woman was shown explaining how she and her partner met in great detail, whilst the man looked on, wondering why he was with her. Brand himself is known for his many romantic conquests and said the reason that he was not in a committed relationship was because there was one letter difference between Monogamy and Monotony . He clearly can not spell (nor count), but has a flamboyant way with words - a watchable series.

Frasier

Multi-award winning Frasier is a spin-off series of the popular comedy Cheers, which was based at a bar in Boston.Dr Frasier Crane was a regular visitor to the bar and was introduced to us through his girlfriend at the time Diane (who was later Sam’s girlfriend).

Frasier is set in Seattle and focusses on the psychiatrist’s work on the radio station KACL (with producer Ros). Frasier lives with his father Marty in a swanky apartment and Marty’s “physical therapist”, Daphne. Frasier’s brother Niles makes an appearance as a fellow psychiatrist who is in love with Daphne. There is plenty of sibling rivalry between the brothers and it is obvious that they took after their mother, rather than more down-to-earth ex-cop father.

The programme started with Frasier in his apartment on a stormy night. He us panicking and calls Niles over fearing that he has broken the law. He recounts a story but is constantly interrupted by Niles who tries to guess the outcome.

Frasier goes over his day and fears that his advice to callers to his radio programme is becoming predictable as producer Ros is able to take over when he has a coughing fit (”you are a kleptomaniac because there is something missing in your life, you should identify what that is and seek counselling!”). He then met the person who had been using his reserved parking space and was turned down for a date with her.

Frasier goes on to change an elderly resident’s lightbulb and steals an item from her. Niles provides a diagnosis to his brother and says that Frasier is missing excitement in his life (his brother and father have recently married their partners and he feels lonely). Frasier is extremely guilty and resolves to return the item to his neighbour (he has a key), but he and Niles are disturbed by a surprise party. The neighbour, Opal is celebrating her birthday and about to have her picture taken with her bronze medal from the 1936 Olympics (the object that Frasier stole).

Frasier tries to divert the audience’s attention by telling them a not very good story whilst Niles tries to place the medal on a high bookshelf. One of the party spots Niles up the ladder to the bookcase and he feigns the fear of a spider sent him up the ladder.

This was not a classic episode of the comedy but Frasier works because of the mix of characters and slapstick and play on words (of a high-brow nature).

The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle

The Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle is the new Jennifer Saunders vehicle on BBC2, and is a beautifully played black comedy on the subject of day-time talk shows such as Trisha and, in the in no way rhyming nor scanning, Jeremy Kyle. Saunders plays the ego-driven title role in which she has a therapy show where she has people with deeply saddening stories but treats them all with contempt, insulting and belittling them. Miranda Richardson as her scraggy, cocaine-addled producer, Helena, camping it up rotten and acting like a spoilt child, accompanies her in this quest.

In the first programme Vyle has a couple on where the woman claims that her husband is not the father of her child and wants to prove it. This is the first that he has heard of it and is being wound up by a production assistant who then sends him out in a temper to shout at his wife. Vivienne uses her presence to bring him under control and then questions him. Whilst she is belittling him he gets angrier and suddenly punches her, hard. She falls off the stage and the incompetent security guard that comes to her rescue falls on top of her.

Whilst recovering in hospital we see a very fragile side to Vivienne’s character, as she wants to give up. Helena convinces her that she should come back whilst Fern Britten covers for her during convalescence. Britten’s cameo is nicely under-played as she says and does things completely against her normal TV persona. To help her back, Vyle is assigned a real psychologist, Dr Jonathan Fowler, played by Jason Watkins. He spots her problems and she takes an instant dislike to him. Helena immediately recruits him to work on the show.

When she gets out of hospital her fragility is further exposed by her desperation for a baby and her husband, Jared’s refusal. This is major strain on their relationship but Conleth Hill plays a suitable counterpoint as an aging bon viveur.

Sight gags and a little slapstick are offset by some dark moments. A beautiful scene is where Dr Jonathan is in Vivienne’s ear on the set for the show. The doctor is a novice here and Vyle the professional. He tells her what she can’t do and how she must act and she responds by talking to the camera as if on the show. He is bumbling along and she appears as the consummate professional whilst actually showing how callous that she is. As she becomes more annoyed by him she walks off set, appearing behind him in the director’s booth, completely flummoxing his perceptions.

After one episode, the Life and Times of Vivienne Vyle has the potential to be classic television. Saunders and Tanya Byron, who had the original idea, write the drama, satire and comedy excellently. All actors play their parts well including the background characters that may come to the fore in later shows. The subject may have been covered before but not in this way and Jennifer Saunders looks like she has both Thursday and Friday sewn up as French and Saunders return the following day.

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