Plus One - The Series

Thanks to hotzappa11 for reminding me...

The full series (5 episodes) of Plus One starts tomorrow night (Friday 9th January 2008) at 10:00pm on Channel 4.

https://www.comedy.co.uk/tv/plus_one/

Some of you may remember its pilot in Channel 4's 2007 Comedy Showcase series.

What do you do when your girlfriend leaves you to marry Duncan from boyband Blue? You decide to outshine them on their wedding day, that's what!

Plus One follows the best efforts of Rob Black as he tries to secure a beautiful woman as his date to the wedding in an attempt to get his own back on his ex-girlfriend.

Struggling to restore his self-esteem after his girlfriend Linsey left him and a freak sewage pipe explosion wrecked his flat, Rob can't help comparing Duncan's life to his own miserable existence. Even his family and friends think that Duncan is better than him.

But when he receives an invitation to Duncan and Linsey's wedding, Rob sees an opportunity to get his own back: "I'm single, homeless, sleeping on my sister's couch and everything I own smells of shit, but the invitation says 'plus one'. So, while I'm never going to be as impressive as Duncan from Blue, I'll take a date along who is. I'll be fighting fire with fire. Sexy fire."

Ludicrous as this sounds, Rob strikes gold when his colleague Laura suggests he has a date with her gorgeous flatmate Nicky. Rob takes a purely platonic approach in his mission to secure a beautiful date for the big day, but Nicky's interest in him makes Rob deviate from his original plan: maybe there could be something more there... A disastrous second date nearly ruins everything but Rob reckons that with a bit of top-rank grovelling he could still walk into Linsey's wedding with the most beautiful girl in the world. Unless of course he screws up badly...

Over the five new episodes, with the wedding date fast approaching, Rob becomes increasingly desperate to attract a date that will restore his pride.

Yeah, I was reading an interview with Duncan James in todays Metro about it. Not my cup of tea.

I thought the pilot was okay. I've seen Daniel Mays in a couple of Mike Leigh films, so it would be interesting to see how he is as a comic actor. And Miranda Raison is always...nice....mmm....raisons....

A series now comprises of only FIVE episodes? Cost-cutting or lack of faith?

Plot sounds interesting though, maybe that's why they could only come up with 5 episodes - if it's a ratings success what do they do for a second series - turn him into a stalker after his ex gets married?

They did the same with Beehive. Quite interesting that whilst the BBC are upping the average number of episodes per series (up to 7 or 8 at least, much of the time now), Channel 4 are going down!

Quite enjoyed that. The explaining of the premise, if you hadn't seen the pilot, was a bit garbled and quick though, and it was a bit reliant on saying rude things; but it built to a nice and funny last third.

Just come direct from watching the first episode and I found it -

- a bit of a damp squib.

There's nothing wrong with the central premise or any of the plot points along the way - except at each exchange the main character needed a handful of good gag lines ala the quicksilver Lee Mack style to have given it a chance. As it stands there simply aren't enough gags per exchange.

Hoping for an improvement for Ep2 next week.

I enjoyed it but some of the fantasy sequences fell flat, and I liked how they kept referring to Duncan as "from Blue." I also liked the way it was shot.

But I agree with Matt it was slightly reliant on saying some rude things to get a laugh.

Daniel Mays is as always very likeable. Nigel Harman had some good lines. Julia Deakin popping up was nice to.

I really enjoyed it. I hadn't seen the pilot but picked it up ok. Thought there was some good dialogue and I liked the style. The actors/characters were quite endearing and likeable. Even 'Fromblue'. Nigel Harman was ace!

Quote: hotzappa11 @ January 9 2009, 10:49 PM GMT

I enjoyed it but some of the fantasy sequences fell flat, and I liked how they kept referring to Duncan as "from Blue." I also liked the way it was shot.

But I agree with Matt it was slightly reliant on saying some rude things to get a laugh.

Daniel Mays is as always very likeable. Nigel Harman had some good lines. Julia Deakin popping up was nice to.

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Note to self: Try not to say the exact same thing as hotzappa after it's posted...!

By the way, when Rob flashed back to his school days, did his voice remind anyone of Kevin The Teenager?

Quote: hotzappa11 @ January 9 2009, 10:55 PM GMT

By the way, when Rob flashed back to his school days, did his voice remind anyone of Kevin The Teenager?

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Yes; I took it as a deliberate parody of Kevin rather than his voice sounding accidentally similar in that sequence.

Thought it was alright. Too cringe-y, but reasonably funny. The main character is too much of a dick to sympathise with. Not sure if we're really meant to?

Great ending line from him though.

Quote: Aaron @ January 9 2009, 11:04 PM GMT

Thought it was alright. Too cringe-y, but reasonably funny. The main character is too much of a dick to sympathise with. Not sure if we're really meant to?

Great ending line from him though.

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Which is why I think a few self-deprecating quick-witted Lee Mack type one-liners would help the viewer empathise with him a little more.

I liked the line from his ex, (to her bridegroom), at the imagined wedding, when she remarks on seeing him with a beauty on his arms:

I can't marry you now, I just don't compare. Obviously, I'm just a f**king old boiler.

I really enjoyed it, particularly the fantasy sequences. I wouldn't have said I was a fan of 'Duncan From Blue' in the past, but he does admirably send himself up in this... and can do a rather good Dr Evil impression!

I haven't seen the first episode of the series yet, but I enjoyed the pilot and am quite hopeful after what I've read that the series will be decent.