The idea of making shows set during the pandemic, and even more so ones set entirely in people’s homes and filmed over zoom, is one that many different creatives have already attempted and put out into the world. However, in most cases these have been quite poorly put together and received even worse by a general public that is still living through the nightmare and does not want to constantly re-live it through entertainment.
Despite this, the one success story of last year in this sense was the filmed-on Zoom comedy Staged (2020), featuring David Tennant and Michael Sheen (or Michael Sheen and David Tennant) as exaggerated versions of themselves, two narcissistic actors who were due to work on a play and are now stuck at home trying to figure out what to do next. The series was an absolute delight; packed full of humour, heart, and amazing celebrity cameos. The BBC quickly realised they had a hit on their hands and commissioned and filmed a second series.
In Staged 2 (2021), Tennant and Sheen return but this time the show is much more meta and self-referential than before, with this season’s plot being that the characters of Tennant and Sheen starred in a lockdown series called ‘Staged’ for the BBC, and that is now being made into an American reboot, just without Tennant and Sheen due to them not being well known enough in the States. This sets the scene for the large amounts of conflicts, hilarity, and remarkable number of celebrity cameos that follow.
This season is just as good as the previous one, keeping all the familiar things that made us love season one but also not resting on their laurels and freshening up the status quo to add more layers to what is happening. We can see further into the characters of David and Michael, as well as getting to see more of the really impressive Georgia and Anna. The celebrity cameos feel very organic to the show but also remain a real source of delight for the audience, and while I wont spoil most of the cameos, the scene with David and Phoebe Waller-Bridge is one of the funniest things I have seen on TV in quite a while.
Overall, this show continues to be a real triumph in these dark times, and even though I hope we are out of this pandemic as soon as possible, I also hope that this show can continue in some format. There is a true heart to it and you can really feel the genuine friendship between Tennant and Sheen, and it’s quite simply one of the funniest shows on TV right now.
Rating = 4/5
Howe's World of Film and TV 