At Home With The Snails

Prior to penning At Home With The Snails, Gerard Foster's career had been based largely around his sketch and joke writing for radio shows such as Cheese Shop Presents and Week Ending. There was little in his C.V. to suggest that he was capable of creating and writing a successful sitcom and yet that is exactly what he did with the aforementioned mollusc-based comedy. The programme's winning formula consists of a mixture of memorable characters, novel storylines and funny, if occasionally obscene, jokes.

Foster's experience as a comedy performer was also limited but in spite of this he was cast in the key role of Alex, the boy who has developed a snail fixation due to his unusual upbringing. His portrayal effortlessly captured both the character's madness and the poignancy of his circumstances with Angela Thorne and Miranda Hart providing solid support as the female members of the family. Geoffrey Palmer's presence as half-crazed father George proved to be the icing on the cake with him giving a typically superb performance.

The first series, consisting of four episodes, was broadcast in June 2001 and was warmly received. The plots revolve around Alex gradually becoming more and more interested in snails, and his father George's attempts to write a book on the subject. The programme proved popular enough for another batch of shows to be commissioned and these were subsequently made the following year.

By the second series several developments have occurred within the story. George has published his book about Alex's snail obsession to rave reviews and Alex has subsequently moved into his own flat in Brixton. He has found a new job, a girlfriend, and his mollusc fixation has abated somewhat. However, reports of George and Beverley's deaths in an avalanche complicate things.

The plots for these shows centre around George's attempts to pen a new book. With Rose's and Beverley's assistance, he has placed microphones in Alex's flat and is following his reaction to his parents' apparent deaths. Alex is haunted by their memory and continues to believe that they are present in some way. He is also unable to break away from his fascination with snails.

The original cast were all retained with Debra Stephenson hired to play Alex's Swedish girlfriend Hosanna. Her recruitment came after she and Gerard Foster had worked together on BBC One sketch series TV To Go.

The standard of both the writing and the acting remained of the highest quality but At Home With The Snails concluded at this point. The final episode was broadcast in August 2002 and although it featured an open ending, the show did not continue. In recent years, the programme has deservedly been regularly repeated on BBC Radio 7 meaning that listeners have had another chance to catch this highly underrated comedy.