- Awards
- 44
Keep It In The Family has now run its course. The downside of there being only six episodes per year is that there simply isn't time for a series to experiment in the hope of finding a formula that works. Which is what's been happening
In fact the whole Fifth Series has been take up with making these changes. The first established Muriel's absence. The second had Dudley converting the loft into a studio. Then came the middle two episodes.
In the third episode, Duncan is moving house, so Dudley schemed to get a lift to Brighton in the moving van, mid-move. Cue scenes where the girls sunbath on the beach in cold, grey weather (though the script barely acknowledges this and we're expected to suspend disbelief and pretend it's really sunny, despite the crowds of gawping tourists in winter wear watching the scene being filmed). Cue a visit to Dudley's eccentric sister (Sheila Steafel) where Duncan tried on a Danger Mouse mask only to find it was being repaired with superglue and was stuck, meaning a trip to the police station in said mask when the moving van was stolen. This episode really highlighted how the series was struggling without Muriel's grounding. The girls and Duncan seem to behave however Dudley's insane-plan-of-the-week requires, seeming all the less intelligent for it. And there's no longer anything endearing about Dudley. Unleashed as he is, he's quite taxing.
The fourth episode saw a rare moment of direct continuity when the previous episode's escapades were mentioned at the beginning in order to set up Duncan moving in to the newly-created loft space. Quite why he needs to do this when it's established he already has a new home in Easthampstead isn't at all clear, leaving us, the audience, to fill in the gaps. For my own sanity I decided the stolen property included any appliance he might need to use to cook and heat his new place. And perhaps he also wanted to prove a point by inconveniencing Dudley partly for the sake of it.
The penultimate episode was a silly-but-passable one involving books of magic from Jacqui's bookshop, which Dudley bought hoping to make Duncan's plant grow healthy again.
Finally came the obligatory sitcom episode where they are putting on a performance of The Mikado for no reason. Indeed, not only is Dudley invested in this one, but Duncan is directing a performance of Oklahoma which appears to take place the very same night. There's no logic or truth to it, and it feels forced and interchangeable. We simply have to accept that this is suddenly the most important thing in everyone's lives. Susan and Jacqui compete over the part of Yum-Yum, with each prepared to screw over their co-stars (and family) by leaving to take the lead in Oklahoma should they not be successful, which really isn't a good look. But they get a chance to sing, which I'm sure the actresses appreciated.
This episode highlighted how limited the interactions are. Highgate may have a "village" but it's not a true English village in the sense of being small, rural and sparsely populated. Yet the auditions are being run by Jacqui's boss from the bookshop and Susan's boss/friend Hugo. And the production's cast ends up being the three Rushes. This kind of generic and clunky scenario relies on the good will of the audience to carry it through... which is a shame because the entire year has gradually pissed away any such feeling.
Don't get me wrong, the last episodes weren't unwatchable. They weren't painful in the way, say, the last episodes of On The Buses were. But I realise that as much as it was a pleasant little "fix" of an evening, my laughter stopped coming a good number of episodes before the series ended.
I wonder if he was analogous with KIITF's Hugo, who was in a recurring role as Susan/Sara's boss and friend (the relationship seemed to change as needed). He was the archetype that would later become known as the "Tim Nice But Dim" type, which - as here - is frequently amalgamated with (or closely related to) the "Hooray Henry". I found him likeable enough, but the episode where he tried to write punk rock music was a bit testing.
Incidentally, David Neville - who played Hugo - played a very similar character in the Fawlty Towers episode Basil The Rat (probably most memorably getting his dander up and threatening to give "grotty little man" Basil a bunch of fives). His screen girlfriend in that FT episode was played by Sabina Franklyn, with whom he shared most scenes in KIITF.
Oh dear. Yes.
Somehow, that makes Muriel UK's fate of simply disappearing to Australia seem not quite so bad.
In fact the whole Fifth Series has been take up with making these changes. The first established Muriel's absence. The second had Dudley converting the loft into a studio. Then came the middle two episodes.
In the third episode, Duncan is moving house, so Dudley schemed to get a lift to Brighton in the moving van, mid-move. Cue scenes where the girls sunbath on the beach in cold, grey weather (though the script barely acknowledges this and we're expected to suspend disbelief and pretend it's really sunny, despite the crowds of gawping tourists in winter wear watching the scene being filmed). Cue a visit to Dudley's eccentric sister (Sheila Steafel) where Duncan tried on a Danger Mouse mask only to find it was being repaired with superglue and was stuck, meaning a trip to the police station in said mask when the moving van was stolen. This episode really highlighted how the series was struggling without Muriel's grounding. The girls and Duncan seem to behave however Dudley's insane-plan-of-the-week requires, seeming all the less intelligent for it. And there's no longer anything endearing about Dudley. Unleashed as he is, he's quite taxing.
The fourth episode saw a rare moment of direct continuity when the previous episode's escapades were mentioned at the beginning in order to set up Duncan moving in to the newly-created loft space. Quite why he needs to do this when it's established he already has a new home in Easthampstead isn't at all clear, leaving us, the audience, to fill in the gaps. For my own sanity I decided the stolen property included any appliance he might need to use to cook and heat his new place. And perhaps he also wanted to prove a point by inconveniencing Dudley partly for the sake of it.
The penultimate episode was a silly-but-passable one involving books of magic from Jacqui's bookshop, which Dudley bought hoping to make Duncan's plant grow healthy again.
Finally came the obligatory sitcom episode where they are putting on a performance of The Mikado for no reason. Indeed, not only is Dudley invested in this one, but Duncan is directing a performance of Oklahoma which appears to take place the very same night. There's no logic or truth to it, and it feels forced and interchangeable. We simply have to accept that this is suddenly the most important thing in everyone's lives. Susan and Jacqui compete over the part of Yum-Yum, with each prepared to screw over their co-stars (and family) by leaving to take the lead in Oklahoma should they not be successful, which really isn't a good look. But they get a chance to sing, which I'm sure the actresses appreciated.
This episode highlighted how limited the interactions are. Highgate may have a "village" but it's not a true English village in the sense of being small, rural and sparsely populated. Yet the auditions are being run by Jacqui's boss from the bookshop and Susan's boss/friend Hugo. And the production's cast ends up being the three Rushes. This kind of generic and clunky scenario relies on the good will of the audience to carry it through... which is a shame because the entire year has gradually pissed away any such feeling.
Don't get me wrong, the last episodes weren't unwatchable. They weren't painful in the way, say, the last episodes of On The Buses were. But I realise that as much as it was a pleasant little "fix" of an evening, my laughter stopped coming a good number of episodes before the series ended.
I wonder if he was analogous with KIITF's Hugo, who was in a recurring role as Susan/Sara's boss and friend (the relationship seemed to change as needed). He was the archetype that would later become known as the "Tim Nice But Dim" type, which - as here - is frequently amalgamated with (or closely related to) the "Hooray Henry". I found him likeable enough, but the episode where he tried to write punk rock music was a bit testing.
Incidentally, David Neville - who played Hugo - played a very similar character in the Fawlty Towers episode Basil The Rat (probably most memorably getting his dander up and threatening to give "grotty little man" Basil a bunch of fives). His screen girlfriend in that FT episode was played by Sabina Franklyn, with whom he shared most scenes in KIITF.
Oh dear. Yes.
Somehow, that makes Muriel UK's fate of simply disappearing to Australia seem not quite so bad.
