Chris Langham, best known to Americans (if at all) from an appearance on "The Muppet Show," takes center stage (sort of) in this wonderful twelve-part pseudo-documentary series.
Langham plays Roy Mallard, one of the worst documentarians ever. Not only does his voice-over narration make no sense half the time, and makes half-sense the other half, Roy constantly violates the cardinal rule of documentary makers: don't get involved.
Sometimes his involvement is inadvertent, as when, in "The Solicitor" (a sort of lawyer, for Americans) a distraught woman cries on his shoulder. Sometimes, it's accidental, as when Mallard shows a fear of heights in "The Police Officer." Sometimes, his involvement is just his idiocy, as when a flirty girl in "The Estate Agent" (Sarah Alexander from "Coupling") comes on to him and he responds; or at the end of "The Managing Director" when he . . . but I won't spoil that ending.
My favorite episode is "The Photographer", when Roy Mallard follows a day in the life of a hangdog photographer (Bill Nighy). But every episode has great moments, as when Roy Mallard notices the police station fax machine in "The Police Officer" is spitting out blank sheets of paper--the station ran out of fax paper and they asked another station to "fax" them some more.
The show is so deadpan, anyone just surfing in will probably take it for a legitimate documentary show, unless they watch long enough to realize everyone is talking nonsense. The actors are all wonderful, whether they went on to better things (as with Susan Alexander or with David Tennant as "The Actor") or not. Everyone underplays believably, and there are very few moments when anyone seems to be acting. Though a few faces do reappear (for instance, Emma Kennedy in "The Police Officer" and "The Bank Manager.") Even the kids chosen for speaking lines in "The Head Teacher" are good.
Roy Mallard himself is never seen, only glimpsed (in a glass door in "The Estate Agent"; in a reflecting window when his subject suddenly disappears in "The Photographer") but it is implied that Mallard is hideously ugly. In nearly every show, someone is surprised to discover he's married.
And every show ends in one of the most subtle in-jokes of all time, where the credits say Roy Mallard would like to express his thanks to Chris Langham.
Overall, if you like your humor exceedingly dry, this series is worth your while. But spread them out. If you watch too many in a row, a dreary sense of sameness pervades the shows.
Oh, and while I don't like correcting other reviewers, one fellow reviewer mistakingly says Benny Hill chased women in bikinis. He did not. Since I am open to all varieties of humor, I watched Benny Hill as well, and in every show the girls chased Hill rather than the other way around. This is a common misconception and should be corrected whenever it's ignorantly spouted.
Langham plays Roy Mallard, one of the worst documentarians ever. Not only does his voice-over narration make no sense half the time, and makes half-sense the other half, Roy constantly violates the cardinal rule of documentary makers: don't get involved.
Sometimes his involvement is inadvertent, as when, in "The Solicitor" (a sort of lawyer, for Americans) a distraught woman cries on his shoulder. Sometimes, it's accidental, as when Mallard shows a fear of heights in "The Police Officer." Sometimes, his involvement is just his idiocy, as when a flirty girl in "The Estate Agent" (Sarah Alexander from "Coupling") comes on to him and he responds; or at the end of "The Managing Director" when he . . . but I won't spoil that ending.
My favorite episode is "The Photographer", when Roy Mallard follows a day in the life of a hangdog photographer (Bill Nighy). But every episode has great moments, as when Roy Mallard notices the police station fax machine in "The Police Officer" is spitting out blank sheets of paper--the station ran out of fax paper and they asked another station to "fax" them some more.
The show is so deadpan, anyone just surfing in will probably take it for a legitimate documentary show, unless they watch long enough to realize everyone is talking nonsense. The actors are all wonderful, whether they went on to better things (as with Susan Alexander or with David Tennant as "The Actor") or not. Everyone underplays believably, and there are very few moments when anyone seems to be acting. Though a few faces do reappear (for instance, Emma Kennedy in "The Police Officer" and "The Bank Manager.") Even the kids chosen for speaking lines in "The Head Teacher" are good.
Roy Mallard himself is never seen, only glimpsed (in a glass door in "The Estate Agent"; in a reflecting window when his subject suddenly disappears in "The Photographer") but it is implied that Mallard is hideously ugly. In nearly every show, someone is surprised to discover he's married.
And every show ends in one of the most subtle in-jokes of all time, where the credits say Roy Mallard would like to express his thanks to Chris Langham.
Overall, if you like your humor exceedingly dry, this series is worth your while. But spread them out. If you watch too many in a row, a dreary sense of sameness pervades the shows.
Oh, and while I don't like correcting other reviewers, one fellow reviewer mistakingly says Benny Hill chased women in bikinis. He did not. Since I am open to all varieties of humor, I watched Benny Hill as well, and in every show the girls chased Hill rather than the other way around. This is a common misconception and should be corrected whenever it's ignorantly spouted.