TV Not Going Out, the new BBC One sitcom scripted by Lee Mack and Andrew Collins has had some bizarrely mixed (pre)reviews from a couple of raves to notices which seem to have been written by people who don't like television period. I went in with an open mind and fingers crossed. And you know, given all that, I loved it. The premise is refreshingly simple. Lee and Kate share a flat, he's a bit of a bloke, she's a bit of an American and they both know this other bloke Tim, because he's Lee's friend and Kate's ex-boyfriend (he dumped her). And err... that's it. In an industry which increasingly relies on high-concepts, it's lovely to see a British sitcom that strips everything away to the important essentials -- the characters.
The script was a riot. Presumably because I've been watching Gilmore Girls again lately, it reminds me of Gilmore Girls, that clever utilisation of flippancy and pop culture and rapid fire one liners which eventually and subliminally cut to the core of the subject. Of course my favourite line was 'As my mum used to say, "Just because Thora Hurd couldn't get up stairs doesn't make her a Dalek!" but there were so many others that I'll have to rewatch to catch them all -- this burned through more good lines in half an hour than most have in a series. Note also the surprising re-introduction of the malapropism, last seen in Restoration comedy -- in one scene Mack says that his latest date 'sells farms'. Vine asks what's so wrong with that then realises at the same time we do that it was actually 'self harms'.
The performances were very fine too. Lee Mack and Tim Vine previously worked together in ITV's late night sketch comedy experiment The Sketch Show and presented real chemistry in the scenes in which their characters propped up the bar and reflected on their differing relationship with Kate. In the middle, majestic Megan Dodds in her first television sitcom role proves that her scene stealing turn in Spooks wasn't a blip. Her timing was excellent particularly in the aftermath of a water spillage. Sometimes sitcom acting can detour too far away from anything like realism, but here the work was perfectly measured and in places touchingly dramatic.
If there is a tiny criticism it's that often the laughter track was loud enough to lessen the impact of the script and the performances, with lines being drowned out and in places actually intruding on the comic timing, filling in important silences and not allowing moments of real wit time to breath. In this case, there is a danger that the viewer won't be able to bond with the characters (which is just as important in sitcom as in drama) because they simply can't hear what they have to say or be able to tune into their rhythms. Here any vaguely humourous word or line was greeted with a guffaw deadening the effect of the whole. Compare to Friends, in which the laughter builds across the scene which means the big punchline is all the sweeter -- they'd often agonise over the sound mix of a scene for just this reason -- guide the audience to the humour rather than hit them over the head with it.
I'm pleased to say that for the first time in some time, there is a British sitcom worth watching on a main channel that isn't by Ricky Gervais. Not Going Out somehow manages to straddle the mainstream and not so mainstream and I'm sure that the harsher reviews were too quick to dismiss it because of the supposedly unfashionable elements of a studio and multi-camera setup instead of taking pleasure in the script and performances. The best measure of any sitcom is whether it makes you laugh and I did, all the way through.
No comments:
Post a Comment