This starts tonight at 10pm on BBC2 for an eight week run. With additional material on the red button afterwards.
It's the TV version of the often very funny Radio 4 phone-in spoof, 'Down The Line'.
So it should be good, right?
Bellamy's People
I'm hopeful, but you never can tell with these transfers to TV. That said, the cast are supremely talented and we need them on our TV screens.
Particularly looking forward to the Whitehouse and Simon Day characters. He's very under-used on TV is Simon Day.
Quote: john lucas 101 @ January 21 2010, 9:59 AM GMTParticulalry looking forward to the Whitehouse and Simon Day characters. He's very under-used on TV is Simon Day.
You sound like Andrew Collins on Michael Ball's Radio 2 Sunday Show... not that I, er, listen to Michael Ball's Radio 2 Sunday Show.
Quote: chipolata @ January 21 2010, 10:01 AM GMTYou sound like Andrew Collins on Michael Ball's Radio 2 Sunday Show... not that I, er, listen to Michael Ball's Radio 2 Sunday Show.
Ha ha! *points*
Bit disappointing. Some good bits, especially the two old sisters and Simon Day's criminal, but it all felt a bit rudderless. The radio show felt tighter and more focussed. And Bellamy seemed a far richer character in that. Stil, early days.
I liked this - it was a like a sequel to "Human Remains" even though it wasn't made by Rob Brydon and Julia Davis. Great, beautifully acted observational comedy.
Loved the two sisters.
They should get their own spin off.
Shame Charlie Higson always sounds like Charlie Higson.
Just listening to the radio programme on Radio 7. Very funny.
I enjoyed what I managed to hear behind my daughter babbling on about physics exams.
Iliked the "community leader" Mr Khan and the sisters.
Thumbs up from me.
While I was distracted during a lot of it, what I did watch was very funny, I enjoyed it. A very funny night of comedy overall on BBC2.
Yes - I've always wondered about "Community Leaders".
I liked it, but I thought they could have concentrated on less characters per episode, it was shooting all over the place!
I thought it wasn't a big LOL opening episode but obviously well put together and some excellent performances, especially from Higson and Whitehouse (obviously). Glad to be seeing more of the brilliant Lucy Montgomery, and the rest of the cast I thought were great too.
Overall though it felt to me like Little Britain's more intelligent but not-quite-as-funny brother. Straight away I feel guilty for saying that. But that's the way this first episode came over to me. A few more unashamed big laughs wouldn't have gone amiss.
As others have said, I thought the two posh sisters were great but Charlie Higson as the bewildered old duffer left me a bit cold - certainly not because of the performance which was undoubtedly excellent...I just didn't find the character particularly funny. Maybe later on in the series we'll discover what he's all about - for now though, all I saw was a doddery - if pleasant old fool with not a lot of funny things to say.
IMHO Bellamy's People is definitely one worth sticking with though I think, it's the type of show it'd be unwise to write off on the basis of watching the first episode, given the fact that with so many characters involved, they need to be given chance to evolve and grow. Really looking forward to seeing how they develop over the course of the series.
This is just an actor's wank fantasy. They clearly enjoy copying other people they know or have met or think they have met but at the end of the day what is it other than a bravura display of their mimicking abilities. It's about nothing and it has no soul at all.
Not for the first time I've found Paul Whitehouse very patronising. The sketch with the fat guy and his mum wasn't very nice. No doubt they think they know these people with their clichés and their solecisms, but I don't think they do. Contrast Whitehouse with Mark Wooton's recent turns under rubber. (Can't remember the name of the programme but Aaron will know) They were clever and moving and didn't feel patronising.
I'd feel better if Bellamy was likely to encounter a 40+ impressionist trying to put a show together from a load of character vignettes in the course of his travels across Britain but I don't think he will. It will be hilariously unaware working class people and middle class nutters - ie not anyone remotely like Whitehouse and Higson.
Also Rhys Thomas is not credible a radio presenter. His voice isn't bright enough.
This is a showreel masquerading as a programme.