Mark Heap

TV Review: Upstart Crow, Series 1

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Written by Ben Elton (of The Young Ones and Blackadder fame), Upstart Crow is a BBC Two sitcom about the life and works of William Shakespeare, as part of the channel’s commemoration of the Bard’s 400th birthday. The cast is diverse and exciting, ranging from television-screen veterans David Mitchell, Liza Tarbuck and Harry Enfield, to stand up comedians Rob Rouse, Gemma Whelan and Spencer Jones, topped off with Helen Monks (Raised By Wolves), Mark Heap (Friday Night Dinner, Green Wing) and Dominic Coleman (Miranda). From the outset, viewers feel as though they can trust this cast.

David Mitchell’s portrayal of Shakespeare is a refreshing role change for the comedian. He plays a disrespected and under-appreciated playwright, whose work is openly criticised as being confusing, superfluous and grandiose (the bard himself having being famously labelled by the dramatist Robert Greene as an “upstart crow”, in effect, a boastful scavenger).

BBC

© BBC

Many of the moments of laughter in Upstart Crow come from miscommunication, with Mitchell’s depiction of Shakespeare having an extra hurdle to negotiate as no other characters seem to be able to make head nor tale of his rhetoric. For those of us having briefly studied the playwright at school, we are frequently permitted the smug satisfaction of being able to appreciate a reference; something we were no doubt unable to do whilst actually studying. In this way, Shakespeare’s works are made accessible for an audience of all ages, humorously slammed by less-appreciative characters almost before Will has managed to utter beginnings of a metaphor.

The satirical misogyny is in abundance, highlighting the ridiculous nature of inequality spanning way back to the 16th century. Rob Rouse’s character, Shakespeare’s servant Bottom, is particularly moronic in his sexism (along with Kit Marlowe, played by Tim Downie; “A clever girl’s an ugly girl, Kate,”); stupid in such a way that is almost refreshing, as for once the female character is sympathised with by a modern audience. Predictable in places, perhaps, but the ridiculous nature of some of these plot lines is arguably in the same vein as of the bard’s own greatest comedies. It may be a push to label Upstart Crow an informative piece of television, but it certainly encourages further research. The life and works of Shakespeare are fondly ridiculed, with the satire skirting lightly on the border of cynicism. Here we have a modern twist on a widely-known historical figure that encourages a greater understanding of the wider context of Shakespearean Britain, and is already set to return for a second series.

UPSTART CROW IS AVAILABLE ON BBC IPLAYER

TV Review: Green Wing

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I know I’m late to the party with this one, with Green Wing having first been broadcast in September 2004 (though you could say I’ve chosen the best time to watch it: on its ten year anniversary).

IMDB describes the show as a “funny hospital-based sketch-comedy-drama type show,” which I think is very accurate, but if I had to describe Green Wing in just one word, I would probably say it is ‘dense’. This is neither a negative nor positive judgement of the show, though I do like it very much. I think my feelings stems from a few core values it holds throughout: firstly, the episodes are physically very long (each around 50 minutes) and there are nine of them in the series. As well as this, however, I think this feeling of density comes from the vast amount of quality acting, writing and directing throughout.

The cast is thriving with young (therefore not so young and very well known now) British comedy talent, including Tamsin Greig, Mark Heap, Stephen Mangan, Michelle Gomez and Olivia Colman (a few of my favourites, though there are more than ten big roles). I admire the cast of this programme because they aren’t afraid to look foolish: the writers make it clear that this is not a serious drama from the offset by scripting in surreal situations along with extremely childish behaviour.

green wing

There is a great deal of slapstick comedy with an almost Mr Bean-like quality to add to the entirely strange experience of watching Green Wing. The use of camera and soundtrack will often accentuate this in cases where everything will speed up at times and then slow right down to less-than-natural levels.

A stand-out performance for me would have to be that of Michelle Gomez, who plays Sue White, an actress who recently appeared in a recent episode of Doctor Who: Deep Breath and is also recognised as Bad Education‘s Isobel Pickwell. She captures the insanity of Green Wing effortlessly with her deadpan delivery of lines like: “I could put a spell on you” in the middle of a mature conversation.

Although Gomez is a particular favourite of mine, it would be impossible to pick an overall ‘best’ performance because they are all incredible and devoted actors. The insanity of Pippa Haywood and Tamsin Greig’s characters teamed with the typical almost-character-tropes of Stephen Mangan, Olivia Colman and Karl Theobald’s roles makes for truly excellent viewing.

This is obviously a show for every comedy-lover out there and I regret being so late to the party.

TV Review: Friday Night Dinner

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Friday Night Dinner is a fast-paced and brilliantly written sitcom about the slightly dysfunctional and entirely deranged Goodman family. Although the brand new series three has recently been shown on television (Channel 4), I have been catching up on all of the previous series as well as this one, with each being equally as strong as the last.

The format is relatively simple: it follows the family every week, where the boys visit their parents for Friday night dinner. The true skill here is evident in the excellent script writing (the programme is written and produced by the insanely talented Robert Popper) for the conversations are utterly insane but have been injected with a surprising amount of wit. The characters in the programme are consistently getting themselves into terrible situations, often involving difficult grandparents, girlfriends and troublesome neighbours.

Friday Night Dinner is one of the rare television programmes that has a solid cast through and through, with the four recurring characters consisting of two grown-up sons, Jonny and Adam (played by Tom Rosenthal and Simon Bird respectively) and unlikely married couple: Martin and Jackie (Paul Ritter and Tamsin Greig). As well as this, the fantastically talented Mark Heap plays the family’s sinister neighbour: Jim Bell, a character that has had me crying with laughter on multiple occasions.

My favourite character would have to be Jim. With his seemingly irrational fear of his Belgian Shepard, Wilson, and obvious lack of social skills teamed up with the fact he clearly fancies Jackie, every encounter with this tricky neighbour is absolutely hilarious. Mark Heap is a very talented comedic actor and this is made apparent through his uncanny ability to generate a laugh from the viewer purely from a facial expression or body stance. Heap has been given the role of a very typical comedy trope but has managed to make it his own, whilst demonstrating originality and skill.

It is hard to single out any other stand out actors in this programme because they are all undeniably outstanding, with Simon Bird and Tom Rosenthal effortlessly filling the role of annoying, immature, and yet somehow loveable young men and Tamsin Greig and Paul Ritter adding an interesting twist to their parenting personas. The character of Martin (Ritter) triggers many of the biggest laughs in each episode with his absurd catchphrase: “Shit on it!” and generally stupid and disgusting antics whereas Jackie (Greig) has expertly mastered the art of suggesting her emotions through her facial expressions, which has amusing consequences.

Friday Night Dinner deals with multiple recurring jokes that the viewer can never tire of, such as the way Jim always gets confused between Adam and Jonny:

Jonny: “Jim have you seen Adam?”

Jim: “I thought you were Adam?”

Jim is also ignorant regarding the family’s Jewish heritage, but not necessarily Jewish faith. He often tries to join in on their ‘Jewish traditions’ such as fashioning himself a “Jewish hat” and presenting them with a Schmoigle which is an offering of a basket of fruit.

This is easily one of my favourite sitcoms of all time and I hope there are many more series to come. You can catch up on all previous episodes from the past three series on 4OD.

I will leave you with the words of Jim: “Thank you all for the lovely evening. Well, except for everything that happened.”