How Not To Live Your Life: Series 1, Episode 2 - The Field Trip

TV sitcom
BBC Three
2007 - 2011
21 episodes (3 series)

Sitcom about an arrogant single twenty-something man who is struggling to navigate his way through life. He is not helped by his bad instincts. Stars Dan Clark, David Armand, Sinead Moynihan, Finlay Robertson, Leila Hoffman and more.

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Series 1, Episode 2 - The Field Trip

Don (Dan Clark) takes some kids on his version of a gruelling hike. Don Danbury (Dan Clark). Copyright: Brown Eyed Boy

Don goes on a field trip with Abby and the kids from her school. This attempt to show her he's a good, decent man goes horribly wrong when he gets the 10-year-olds drunk in a country pub.

Preview clips

Broadcast details

Date: Tuesday 19^th August 2008
Time: 10:30pm
Channel: BBC Three
Length: 30 minutes

Cast & crew

Cast
Dan Clark	Don Danbury
David Armand	Eddie
Sinead Moynihan	Abby Jones
Finlay Robertson	Karl Menford

Guest cast
Shantha Roberts	Woman in Don's Bed
Anne Kidd	Pupil
Chris Hegarty	Pupil
Ruby Kelly	Pupil
Sophie Franklin	Pupil

Writing team
Dan Clark	Writer
Drew Pearce	Script Editor

Production team
Dan Clark	Director
Gary Reich	Director
Gary Reich	Producer
Dan Clark	Producer
Cheryl Taylor	Executive Producer
Alan Tyler	Executive Producer
Paul Machliss	Editor
Iain McDonald	Production Designer
Ben Parker	Composer

Videos

Language to avoid around children?

Don isn't very good at avoiding to swear when around kids.

Featuring: Dan Clark (Don Danbury) & Sinead Moynihan (Abby Jones).

Bad reasons for not seeing someone again

Don reveals some bad reasons to give for not seeing someone again.

Featuring: Dan Clark (Don Danbury) & Shantha Roberts (Woman in Don's Bed).

Press

Pity poor Sinead Moynihan. Okay, don't pity her too much, because she's drop dead gorgeous and clearly in demand as an actor. But it must have been galling to get the second lead in sitcom How Not to Live Your Life, only to discover that the full extent of your contribution would be to look pretty and provide a sensible foil to the show's writer/star Dan Clark. Would it have killed Clark to throw the show's only female character the occasional funny line to deliver?

This grump notwithstanding, I rather like How Not to Live Your Life. Clark stars as the self-centred, cheerfully odious Don, who inherits his grandmother's house, the debts that come with it and her live-in carer. By a twist of sitcom fate, his advert for a lodger is answered by his childhood sweetheart Abby (Moynihan), who unfortunately comes with boyfriend in tow.

Episode one was something of a slow starter, but the show hit its stride by episode two which saw child-hating Dan try and impress schoolteacher Abby by accompanying her and her class on a camping trip.

Clark's unorthodox delivery, combined with Dan's almost wilful unloveability, takes some getting used to, but this is consistently amusing, frequently hilarious and totally addictive.

Harry Venning, The Stage, 22nd August 2008

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