Not Going Out: End of Series Review

1st June 2013

Much like its protagonist, Not Going Out may be simple and not very refined, but it certainly is funny. Finishing its sixth series on Friday night, it’s easy to see how Lee Mack’s sitcom survived a brief cancellation and now maintains a steady audience on BBC One. A solid rather than ground-breaking comedy that would never spring to mind if someone were to ask me my favourite comedies, it nevertheless often has me laughing out loud.

The series finale followed the established Not Going Out formula, where episodes play out like extended stand-up routines, and characters exchange punchlines rather than dialogue. Bobby Ball returned as Lee’s father, offering Lee the chance to woo landlady Lucy (Sally Bretton) in the romantic surroundings of his new boat. Naturally, Lucy turns out to have a fear of water, the boat turns out to be an un-seaworthy wreck, and soon enough they are adrift at sea with the hapless Daisy (Katy Wix) sabotaging any hope of return to dry land. The standard hijinks, banter and innuendo ensue; Not Going Out may be none too subtle and several steps removed from reality, but it gets all the bigger laughs for its unashamed reliance on quick fire one-liners.

The series has suffered this year from the loss of Tim Vine, which has resulted in his girlfriend Daisy being given greater prominence in the village idiot role. Her simpleness has proved a difficult tool to master – her misunderstandings can easily and hilariously escalate the many absurd predicaments the characters find themselves in, but used too often she can become wearisome. The sitcom is set to return for another series, where hopefully she can settle into her more central role, and with any luck the development of Lee and Lucy’s will they/won’t they relationship, left unresolved in the finale despite many hints to the contrary, can accelerate.

Its style may not be for everyone, but for mainstream BBC One fare Not Going Out is extremely good at what it does, and when on form the calamitous life of Lee can be hysterical. Though not every episode entirely hits the mark, occasionally a tightly scripted and quick witted gem will come along that demonstrates why the sitcom has continued to thrive. At six series old it still has life in it, unlike many other comedies that struggle on this far, and there are worse things to watch on a Friday night – although a high tolerance for jokes about the North is recommended.

Britain's Got Talent - Review

Saturday 13th April

Saturday night marked the start of the seventh series of Britain’s Got Talent. Seven years is a long time – I’m not sure I can remember a time before BGT. Where did all these eccentrics go? What did Amanda Holden do? Are there even any talented individuals left? It’s best not to think about it. BGT is specially designed bombastic Saturday night fare, and it’s unlikely The Voice or anyone else can do anything about it.

Though a sleek and glitzy Cowell product, a few years back BGT was drifting into irrelevance, and a recent regeneration of the judging panel that introduced David Walliams and Alesha Dixon has given the show a new lease of life. Walliams is undoubtedly the star, bringing warm-hearted anarchy to the proceedings and, along with national treasures Ant and Dec, counteracting the arrogance of Cowell. Arriving to the menacing strains of Star Wars music, Cowell has become so nonchalant with his ownership of the television crown that he was often eating whilst casually throwing out comments to star-struck contestants. Make no mistake, we are dealing with the Dark Lord of entertainment here, and it is only the combined cheekiness of Walliams and the Geordie duo that deflate his self-importance.

The selection of contestants is as predictably and gloriously bizarre as ever. Clearly we need to acknowledge at the outset that nothing is going to top last year’s winner; it’s common knowledge that you literally can’t get better than a dancing dog, but there are still some humans keen to try. The best acts (ie the contestants that could claim to fulfil the basic remit of talent) were a sneak attack gospel choir, a genuinely funny young comedian, a couple of singers, and a troupe of shadow dancers, if that is even a thing. The audition stages flourish, however, because of the reliability of the Great British public to look at the word “talent” and well and truly believe that dancing with a mop qualifies. The highlight was a man who came on stage, crouched down and barked like a dog. After a couple of barks, he got to his feet and said apologetically: “That’s all I’ve got.” God bless him.

Obviously, the standard caveats apply to this sort of show – it is formulaic, painfully noticeably scripted, and deploys music at strategic moments to tell you how to feel. The baying audience can get uncomfortably Roman-amphitheatre-esque when an act displeases them, and it is one of those shows that annoyingly tries to start a conversation with you by suggesting hashtags. However, the inclusion of David Walliams, the only man with the gall to get away with wrestling Cowell on stage to participate in a dance act, means that BGT is the most palatable of the Cowell stable of shows. If you don’t like it now, you never will, but as The X Factor looks ever more unappealing, against all odds a show that lets a dancing dog rise to the top of the showbiz pile remains a solid Saturday night choice.

Let's Dance for Comic Relief 2013 - Week 3

Monday 5th March 2013

As the final heats for this year’s Let’s Dance for Comic Relief arrived, it was not only iconic dances that were running low, but celebrities to perform them: one contestant was making his second appearance, whilst another was the landlady from the backstage bar. Guy Levy

Nevertheless, this week arguably showcased the best dancers so far, in talent if not necessarily in comedy value. Luckily, Arlene Philips was on hand to lend some gravitas to the panel, alongside Greg James and Lee Mack (who evidently hadn’t got the memo about being unreservedly positive about everything on stage).

Following the great tradition of BBC newsreaders embarrassing themselves for charity, Newsround presenters Sonali Shah and Ore Oduba took on Outkast’s Hey Ya. Similarly, in the great tradition of BBC dance programmes, the braces on Ore’s trousers broke the second he began dancing, meaning that the pair deserve extra credit for executing several lifts without a) Ore’s trousers falling down or b) Sonali getting whacked in the face by errant buckles.

Keith Duffy was scheduled but unable to appear, and was replaced by Jodie Prenger, West End star and ‘landlady’ of Shenanigans. Her performance suggested she had been physically restrained from launching herself onto the stage every week, such was her evident enthusiasm and step-perfect routine to Word Up. She may have been called upon at the last minute, but she had definitely been rehearsing that one for a while.

Comedienne/ventriloquist Nina Conti performed a decent jungle themed routine, vastly improved by an elaborate costume designed to look as though she had been kidnapped by a giant monkey. It sounds bizarre, but didn’t even come close to being the weirdest thing we’d see tonight. A surprisingly graceful Lee Nelson turned up for a second shot at glory. The brief clip we saw of his previous performance mysteriously showed him in his pants, so this year was a definite improvement as he teamed up with Britain’s Got Talent contestants Twist and Pulse to do a ballet/hip-hop fusion that was remarkably slick.

Just as I was musing on the high standard of dancing we were witnessing, Vanessa Feltz unveiled an homage to Cher which was somewhat less concerned with choreography. Not that it mattered, for she had incorporated flying, a giant cannon and a very revealing leotard into her routine. Top marks for bravery, but as Feltz herself admitted, you weren’t really sure you wanted to see it again.

Let’s Dance may have missed out on big name contestants, but they did manage to secure Nicole Sherzinger and Justin Bieber to provide the music - probably the first and last time Bieber will be sharing the bill with Vanessa Feltz. After much filler, Jodie Prenger deservedly reached the final on public vote, reacting like someone who had simultaneously won the lottery and been punched in the stomach. Lee Nelson was rewarded for his choreography by an Arlene still misty-eyed for her Strictly days, and so the final line-up was complete. With no runaway favourite this year, the only guaranteed winners are Lycra and wig manufacturers.

Let's Dance for Comic Relief - Week Two Blog

Thursday 28th February

After last week’s array of not quite iconic dances, the field was wide open in the second round of heats of Let’s Dance for Comic Relief. This week I watched the show accompanied by my gran and her, shall we say, firm opinions, giving this week’s judges Jason Manford, Paloma Faith and Lisa Riley a run for their money.

Opening the show were the cast of Waterloo Road as the Spice Girls, which was a lot of fun, especially with the men who adapted to their female alter ego very enthusiastically. Unfortunately mid-way through my gran and I realised simultaneously that the man dressed as Posh Spice looked uncannily like me – a sobering moment which cast a shadow over the performance.

Jon Culshaw’s brilliant repertoire of impressions suggested he would be perfect for Let’s Dance, but rather than impersonate anyone in particular he undertook a routine to Fatboy Slim involving an exciting dash from Television Centre reception to the studio. Unfortunately once he got there all he had the energy left to do was leap around a bit aimlessly. Shot down by my gran with the judgement that it was “galumphing”.

Kim of ‘Kim and Aggie’ fame confusingly turned up without her partner but with TV chef Rosemary Shrager instead. I wondered why Aggie hadn’t signed up, until I saw the horrific dresses they had been lumbered with, the lifts that almost ended in disaster, and the pair’s vague grasp of the choreography. Aggie was probably wise to avoid, but Kim and Rosemary were certainly this week’s good sports.

Comedienne Katherine Ryan, frequenter of 8 Out of 10 Cats, took on Nicki Minaj with a hilariously accurate bodysuit and a send-up of Minaj’s irritating style that Culshaw would have been proud of. Closing the show was Antony Cotton, backed by my gran due to him being “such a gentle looking person”. Despite randomly setting his routine in an old people’s home, Cotton proved to be the star of the night, revealing his hidden tap-dancing talent. As Jason Manford noted, he was almost too good for the show, although he wouldn’t be the first tap-dancing winner if he managed to go all the way.

It seems as if the awkward karaoke competition held backstage whilst votes are counted is unfortunately becoming a weekly feature of the show, along with the at best mildly amusing pre-dance videos accompanied by a deafening laughter track featuring the world’s most easily amused audience. The videos reporting on Comic Relief’s various missions and reminiscing over the best bits of 25 years of the telethon are a much more worthwhile way to fill time.

Unsurprisingly Antony Cotton sailed through to the final, whilst the gloriously dramatic Paloma Faith decided to send Katherine Ryan through (once she was reminded of her name). Next week is the last round of heats before the final, and with Justin Bieber set to perform, at least the celebrity contestants can rest safe in the knowledge that they won’t be the worst thing to grace the stage that evening.

Let's Dance For Comic Relief - Week One Blog

Monday 18th February 2013

On Saturday night the run-up to Comic Relief started in earnest, with the return of Let’s Dance for Comic Relief, now in its fifth year of humiliating celebrities. The number of iconic dances left to recreate has dwindled since Robert Webb’s sublime Flashdance, but each series usually throws up a couple of hilarious and surreal routines (Noel Fielding’s Wuthering Heights tribute springs to mind), and this year should be no different. But can we agree at the outset: first person to do Gangnam Style is disqualified?

 Judging this week were Tameka Empson, Bradley Walsh, and Mel Giedroyc deploying as many baking metaphors as she could muster. First up were soap stars Natalie Cassidy, Dean Gaffney, Claire Sweeney and Ricky Groves, dancing a routine from Hairspray. I was at Television Centre on Friday and saw Claire and Natalie: Claire looked confident, Natalie was on the phone. Only one of these approaches was carried over into the routine - a competent performance which introduced the first man in a dress of the series in record-breaking time. Bonus points for Gaffney who effectively walked out of a car crash and straight into rehearsals, so should be congratulated simply for being able to remember the choreography.

In the absence of any particularly imaginative routine, comedienne Olivia Lee as Lady Gaga provided the most memorable moment of the night, causing chaos in the studio by incorporating George the dog into her performance. Mel Giedroyc tried in vain to compare Olivia’s dancing to cake whilst Tameka Empson revealed herself not only to be afraid of dogs, but also surprisingly gullible when it came to Bradley Walsh’s impression of George attacking her.

As Justin Timberlake makes his musical comeback, comedian Tim Vine made the topical choice to dance in the manner of a JT who had spent his time away from music indulging in very little dance practice. To his credit, Vine unleashed some great “hat-ography” and was in time throughout (an achievement which says a lot about the show’s standard of dance).

A trio of unrecognisable comedians formed a Destiny’s Child tribute act which was disturbing rather than hilarious - very good sports, but perhaps avoid YouTubing this one. The final performance - Ricky Hatton as Robbie Williams – was built around Hatton flying through the air. Unfortunately something went wrong, meaning the routine consisted mainly of some skipping and then a prolonged bit of filler with the judges playing air guitar before an empty harness drifted forlornly across the stage. At least we were treated to seeing Ricky in what Giedroyc called a “nappy of sequins”.

After a reminder that the array of shambolic and occasionally traumatising routines we witnessed was all for a terrifically good cause, Tim Vine sailed through to the final on the public vote, and the judges sent the soap stars through. Neither of them screams winner, but there’s still time for the series to produce a classic routine. If nothing else, let’s just hope the costume budget for the men’s dresses and catsuits is a bit bigger next week.