Recent years has seen an renaissance of ‘prestige’ comedy in Britain where the likes of ‘Fleabag’ and ‘Derry Girls’ manage your perfectly mix important subject matters with genuine humour, resulting in some incredibly nuanced and enjoyable TV.
However, this rise has also coincided with the fall in the ‘farce’ and ‘laugh a minute’ comedies that were once so popular, and Lee Mack and the BBC have decided to try and bring that back.
In this 6 part sitcom, the BBC have established an all star cast of comedic talent and put them together in a supporting cast behind Lee Mack, and just let them all play off each other, and it works. They are all just so talented that they can shine with just a few lines, and the like deliveries are always spot on.
Mack is solid in the lead role and allows everyone to bounce off his successfully, and some of my favourites from a strong comedic cast here are: Neil Fitzmaurice, Sarah Hoare, and Ellie White.
Each episode plays out in the classic farce manner of the protagonist just stumbling from chaos to even more chaos and making stupid mistakes along the way.
There is also a lot of physical humour on show here, some of which works and some of which really doesn’t land well.
It’s far from the perfect comedy and due to its premise it doesn’t have the most nuanced or particularly strong script. But what it lacks in those departments, the cast really makes up for and that’s why in general it is good fun.
Rating = 3.5/5
Howe's World of Film and TV 