Newark, Newark

The UK TV channel "Gold" has, in the last decade, been shifting a little bit from repeating classic shows, to producing some of their own. "Newark, Newark" is perhaps their biggest attempt at a hit series yet. Admittedly three episodes isn't much to get stuck into, but the securing of Morgana Robinson and Mathew Horne as two of the stars shows a certain commitment. The result is . . . Not awful, but I can't say I'm overly enthused at the prospect of anymore.

Recently divorced, Maxine (Morgana Robinson) balances her job running a chip shop, whilst taking care of her dramatic teenage son Leslie (Jai Hollis). Her ex-husband Terry (Mathew Horne) is desperate for the relationship to rekindle and is conspiring with Maxine's mum Pauline (Beverley Callard) to get back with her.

I like Morgana Robinson a lot, she's contributed enormously to "House of Fools" and is a great guest star in "Inside Number 9" and "Toast of Hollywood". I don't think she's particularly suited to this character though, as dowdy, middle aged mother isn't necessarily what I think of, when I think of her. The accent is, to my ear - living in the Midlands but not specifically Newark - sometimes a bit much, but it's not entirely false.

I found the first episode, revolving around Maxine's birthday to be the best of the three and laughed a few times in that one, unfortunately it wasn't maintained into the second and third episodes and by the end I was reasonably relieved to discover that there were only three episodes of the series.

Honestly, I can't imagine I'll have any recollection of this at all in three months as it's neither good, nor awful enough to have made much of an impression.

I really liked this show, it was a real struggle to stop myself bingeing the whole thing in one go. The characters are funny and compelling, the story is engaging and most of all it's funny!

I don't understand the reviews on here that say it isn't, I suspect their issue is not with the quality of the show itself and more that it's just not their type of thing. I can see how, to audiences that prefer Gold's repeats from the 70s, it wouldn't appeal but I have to say I think it's a very promising sign of what Gold is hoping to put out in the future.

Only three episodes though, hopefully there will be more in the future? I think I remember the creator Nathan Foad hinting there would be (maybe on his Instagram) but I don't know if I'm remembering that correctly. Either way, it would be a real shame if we didn't get another series of this.

Overall, I strongly recommend!

For what it is I absolutely enjoyed it for three episodes a laugh every other minute and Morgana Robinson is class as usual and Beverly callard back in comedy since two pints of lager and a packet of crisps.

OK.. it's exaggerated but that's TV for you. And although the slang exists I think it was way over used.

The people who are complaining about how the show portrays newark obviously are not the same people who would have watched shows like shameless for example.

I actually quite enjoyed it and I thought the acting was good.

But Obviously there is plenty of room for improvement.

I don't think we all watched the same program, it cracked me up! Loved it duck lol. I hope they do make more, very reminiscent of people that I met during my childhood in Lincoln.