Sunday, March 02, 2008

Gavin and Stacey

BBC2 played a blinder last night by showing the first series of "Gavin and Stacey" back-to-back. I missed it the first time around - mainly I guess because it was described as a "Romantic Comedy".

Now, I have nothing at all against either Romance or Comedy - the world needs more of both of these - but when you put the two together you usually end up with the kind of braindead chick-flick mush that infests suburban multiplex cinemas.

This however succeeds where the usual Hugh Grant romcomathon fails for a number of reasons :-
  • Likeable characters
  • Clever genuinely funny dialogue
  • A number of excellent acting performances
  • No Hugh Grant
You are warned that there is an almost total absence of plot and that the humour is subtle to the point where some may not even see it, but for me it was an amazing achievement - funny, moving and rude.

There is to be a new series on BBC3 this month and judging by the preview clips online, it's going to be well worth watching.

4 comments:

ArcticFox said...

bugger.... I wanted to watch it first trime round and missed it.... now I missed it again!!

FoX

Anonymous said...

I saw some of these... didn't have the stamina to watch all of them. Hadn't seen it before, but liked it for all the reasons you state. Will watch out for the new series...

Anonymous said...

P.S. Do you write fiction yourself? You have hinted as such but I can't see any obvious links to more info...

Stan said...

Clare - I have tried writing but it didn't make me happy so I stopped http://radiofreestan.blogspot.com/2007/09/dyslexic-walks-into-bra.html

I'm a HUGE fan of good writing - probably because I understand just how difficult it is.