British Comedy Guide
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Julia Raeside
Julia Raeside

Julia Raeside

  • Journalist and author

Press clippings Page 15

The boys arrive home to find Dad still naked from the belt upwards. But that's the least of their worries when they spy him behaving very oddly through the window. Paul Ritter, as dad Goodman, continues to be a comic revelation. How is this his first leading role in a sitcom? Writer Robert Popper's now-established comic rhythm is pacy and fresh in a way you wouldn't expect of a family sitcom. And this episode concludes with a last line that wraps it up so perfectly, you'll want to wind back and watch it again.

Julia Raeside, The Guardian, 4th March 2011

Surprisingly traditional family sitcom from Look Around You's estimable Robert Popper. Green Wing's Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird from The Inbetweeners and Brass Eye's Mark Heap star as the Goodman family and their odd neighbour respectively. It will draw comparisons with Grandma's House in that it's about a Jewish family, but the trad exterior slowly begins to yield Popper's distinctive comic voice as this first episode warms up. Superb stuff.

Julia Raeside, The Guardian, 25th February 2011

Have You Been Watching... Not Going Out?

Lee Mack's sitcom is a crowd-pleaser with integrity - and this series is even more joyously silly than the previous three.

Julia Raeside, The Guardian, 3rd February 2011

A repeat of Wood's most glorious festive special from Christmas Day 2000. Because that's where she belongs, on Christmas Day. This wondrous show includes a timely finale featuring a singing/dancing Ann Widdecombe. How things change. Many standout moments, but the ER spoof set in a WI meeting, Julie Walters repeatedly falling into a grandfather clock in A Christmas Carol and a heavenly Brief Encounter spoof are stand-outs. Plus the "backstage" antics of some hapless BBC executives prove all too prescient. Worship Wood.

Julia Raeside, The Guardian, 20th December 2010

Vic and Bob are as winning, and deranged, as they've always been, their unique humour a mixture of the obscure (references to Dutch prog-rock group Focus; a suicidal mouse) and the general ("Ulrika Jonsson: 50 Christmases spent in bed!"). Guests include Ronnie Wood, Ricky Tomlinson and Thandie Newton, a trio of festively good sports among the madness. "So Ron," says Vic, "what's the latest you've stayed up?"

Julia Raeside, The Guardian, 20th December 2010

"Fly on the wall" possibly isn't the most hygienic way to describe a hospital comedy, but this second series for Jo Brand's ward-based series has been all about the slightly grubby details. Successful as a nurse? Then you're likely to be a failure as a human being. Good with people? You'll never prosper. It's a potentially pretty bleak prospect, it's true, but, directed with lightness by Peter Capaldi, the show creates a real empathy for and between its characters. Tonight, Dr Pippa receives some disappointing news and Beattie's stay in London comes to an end.

Julia Raeside, The Guardian, 30th November 2010

It's not a widely held sentiment but, occasionally, you could feel slightly sorry for Frankie Boyle, someone who's now more famous for being controversial than for actually being funny. Still, anyone who describes Jonathan Ross as "a £500 haircut on top of a pile of melting ice cream" can't be entirely bad, a fact you hope is borne out by this mix of sketches and live material.

Julia Raeside, The Guardian, 30th November 2010

Morgana Robinsons deranged creations in The Morgana Show should delight anyone with a thirst for League Of Gentlemen-style weirdness.

Julia Raeside, The Telegraph, 30th November 2010

Hallelujah for Rev

Thank the Lord, the BBC looks set to give the go-ahead for a second series of the superb ecclesiastical comedy.

Julia Raeside, The Guardian, 16th September 2010

David Walliams narrates a history of disability on TV. It's a slightly directionless tour around the archives from the Spastics Society appeal of the 1960s via Joey Deacon's appearance on Blue Peter to Roy's hysterical abuse of a disabled toilet in The IT Crowd. There are even segments on Heather Mills and Big Brother, although the one about Mills mercifully shows no actual footage of her. Interviewees trying not to say the wrong thing include Mat Fraser, Stephen Merchant, Dom Joly, Ash Atalla and Francesca Martinez.

Julia Raeside, The Guardian, 25th June 2010

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