Staged

Review: Staged, BBC iPlayer

It is an absolute joy, mainly because of the chemistry between the two leads, who not only get on with each other, but are so willing to send themselves up and revel in self-deprecation.

Another Zoom meeting with David Tennant and Michael Sheen playing locked-down versions of themselves in a time of Covid-19. As we rejoin them, the producer Simon Evans must step in to try to patch things up between the pair. Meanwhile, David is nervous about Georgia helping out a friend in labour.

Staged (BBC One) is the latest lockdown drama - lockdown dramas being an entire new genre, which Wikipedia will define as "a needs-must 2020 phenomenon in which, under the strictures of coronavirus, a rich person is seen questioning their values, a poor person is seen struggling yet being gamely cheeky, and core workers are celebrated. The genre must feature a Zoom-glitch or similar technological embarrassment." And yet Staged was a hugely refreshing addition to the genre, featuring simply a couple of immensely personable actors playing heightened versions of themselves. David Tennant and Michael Sheen, aided hugely by wives Georgia Tennant and Anna Lundberg, are lockdown-rehearsing an unpalatable, 100-year-old absurdist Italian drama, urged and egged on by Simon Evans, who wrote and directed Staged, and gave himself, in fairness, the very worst lines, the lines which those aged eight to 80 will lift eyebrows to and wonder "Did he really say that? What a dick."

It is grand fun, even if slight, although I suspect that the good friends Sheen and Tennant are, no matter how inadvertently, auditioning even in lockdown for the next series of The Trip.

Staged: Comedy heaven! & even a Zoom joke that's funny!

The pure joy - that is, a pure, pure joy and, quite possibly, heaven - comes from new comedy series Staged. So funny. So so soooooo funny.

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Staged review

At times though, Staged can feel like a lockdown sitcom merged with reality TV show taking place in the homes of the celebs rather than a serious look at the difficulties faced by the theatre as viewed through the medium of a postponed Pirandello. At others, viewers get a glimpse of the issues that concern thespian types. For example, in episode three, Evans finds himself compromised by innate weakness after effectively offering the same role to two distinguished actors, allowing a very funny cameo appearance from the USA by Samuel L Jackson, while subsequently a similar, unresolved plotline involves Adrian Lester.

Staged review

How lockdown locks turned an ex-Doctor Who into Joan of Arc.

Staged review

A fun night in with the lockdown luvvies.

Staged review

BBC One's delectably meta lockdown comedy featuring David Tennant and Michael Sheen.

TV review: Staged series 1 episode 1

There's been quite a few comedies that satirise actors and their quirky ways and this offers up nothing new.