Quote: Alfred J Kipper @ September 7 2010, 9:59 AM BSTI'm wondering if duration is the main reason for your sitcom listing?
We list it as a sitcom because that's how the BBC have produced/publicised/categorised it.
Roger & Val Have Just Got In - Series 1 Page 11
Interestingly one of the writers, Beth Kilcoyne, says on the BBC Comedy Blog "What has emerged is a show that is all of itself; it isn't really a sitcom. It is a narrative comedy drama and, when it unfolds, it is about the biggest thing in life."
Quote: Dolly Dagger @ September 8 2010, 2:00 PM BSTwhen it unfolds, it is about the biggest thing in life.
Soul crushing boredom?
I say well done to them - mainly for this reason. Whether you get it or not, they have attempted a big message from a comedy - that's a rare thing. I think you need to watch these episodes like you watch a movie - if you miss even a minute of it, or don't concentrate, it can lose focus. But if you do give it the attention it deserves, you see instantly what they're doing here. There will be many people who are watching this show for whom mainstream comedy probably isn't funny. People whose stories are ignored and not told. This show seems to say - this is how you can get through in life. I applaud it for that - not everybody will understand what its doing. But it will reach people in a way most comedy can't. And it still enables you to have a laugh. If you "get it". I clearly do.
Great episode to end the series. This gets my vote for the best new show of 2010. Really hoping for a second series, as I'm loving these characters and want to see much more of them. A really brave TV person would give the first series a re-run on BBC One, where I have a feeling it would pick up some more fans.
Oh, and some gongs for Dawn and Alfred's performances in this wouldn't go amiss either, as they were nuanced and pitch perfect.
I did enjoy it to the end but might have changed my mind about it being sitcom. The first three episodes were proper sitcom, but the last three were all about the drama with not nearly as many laughs. Thus I declare it a bizarre sort of comedy drama, with half the series sitcom and half of it drama!
It's certainly not traditional sitcom, as we don't 'reset' for next week; the previous week has an impact on this week and the characters learn.
Still, liked it very much and would like it to continue. As Tim said, Dawn and Alfred got the performances spot-on and I dare say it might not have worked as well with less accomplished actors and they really show how good acting can bring so much to a script.
Dan
I stopped watching this after one and a half episodes, but the rave reviews it's got here and other places might make me try the DVD (when it's reduced, of course).
I'm glad there was a darker storyline underneath that came out gradually. That bit worked, without that it would have been pretty simplistic.
I love Dawn being on our screens, and I do enjoy slow dramas, and comedies which make you smile rather than belly laugh. There were good elements, but after watching the whole series I think it's just not for me.
They laboured each point a bit too much for me. Explaining the fact that he'd sent the email to everyone by mistake felt like it took a good couple of hours - they were just dragging it out for the sake of it, and that didn't work for me. Felt unnatural, even within the world and style they'd created.
They advertised the DVDs at the end. That was quick, do they always make them as quick as that? Will they sell well? Dunno myself, but I think there'll be a demand for a second series at least. To me this is one watch TV, partly because it's real time and partly because it doesn't have many scene changes. Would you buy a DVD of a reality show, eg BB? I doubt it, but would you want to tune in to see what's happening in the house, yes.
Buried in an interview with Dawn French in The Times (Saturday Review section), was the revelation that this show has been recommissioned for a 2nd series. Anyone else heard anything to corroborate this? I'm very happy if it's true. 
Sounds pretty authoritative, if not a little surprising.
Series 1 Spoiler Alert...
To me it felt forced that she left him after all these years. It seemed to me like they were really the opposite. As if they needed each other to survive. Having said that, I really liked both characters and the quiet approach to the show. Would like to see another series.
How the hell did this get a second series? The first was terrible.
I guess you're not in a decision making role at the channel or something.
It was suitably 'different' enough to excite the decision makers.