Stuart Collie
Thursday 9th October 2008 1:05am [Edited]
New Forest
30 posts
I'm a fan of Royale Family & Early Doors but I thought this was poor.
OK, so it wasn't a comedy, but almost all the funny moments were either very old jokes or signposted way ahead. And the scene in the toilet was just a childish and very lazy, cheap laugh.
As for drama, was there any? Everything that happened was blindingly obvious. So much so in fact, that I can't help thinking that if this hadn't been written by Cash & Mealey it wouldn't have got anywhere near production. (And I'm not even a writer, so no jealousy jibes).
Like a few others I also thought Cash looked ill but what wasn't a surprise was that he plays the same character for the umpteenth time. He may be a good writer and director, but as an actor he's just incredibly limited. As is Mealey.
And what imaginative casting...aside from Cash & Mealey we had 4 other Early Doors regulars. Jobs for your mates!
Coogan seemed to goon his way through the first three quarters of the show as if he was suffering from on camera tourettes.
And some of the production values were very ropey. Coogan's wig in the first few scenes we see him in was shocking. Surely they can afford better than that?
Some of the dubbing left a lot to be desired too.
Lisa Millett's (Bernadette) was easily the best performance.
I was really looking forward to this but only sheer bloody-mindedness stopped me switching off before the end.