Dave Allen at Peace

The first reviewer has not one clue. This was a brilliant tribute to the wonderful man with a top cast

It's an ambitious project, taking on one of the greatest comedians and storytellers ever. They mostly get away with it - but woe, how short it is! Entire aspects of Dave Allen's career are either left out or glossed over. His relation with his brother, almost worth an entire film in itself, is pencilled out with broad strokes, only to come to life with one final banter that shows what the film could have been. Plenty of good Allen jokes, delivered as well as you can if you're not actually Dave Allen, and great acting efforts all over. But at the end of the day, it's little else than a fond reminder of who he was. Go watch some of the clips of the real Dave Allen on the net instead. Discover the genius.

Dave Allen will forever be one of the funniest men to grace a stage, a true comic genius, perhaps a little before his time.

This dramatisation helped to give a little back story, perhaps explain the motivation in some of his humour, and provide plenty of laughs with the sketches. Very well acted, Aiden Gillen was genuinely superb as the legendary comic, doing great justice.

At times it was a little disjointed, and didn't perhaps flow as has been the usual with these biopic dramas, when you think of ones for Frankie Howerd, Hattie Jacques and Barbara Windsor, each had a beginning, middle and end, this one was a little clunky in terms of flow. It didn't seem to matter though as it was interesting and funny, like the great man himself.

Whimsical rather then informative. A fun watch.

A comedy genius with an incredible story ruined by a simplistic telling. Performances by Aidan Gillan, Ely Solan, Ferdia Walsh-Peelo and Senan Jennings were great but also ruined by the flashbacks and flash forwards. A great story ruined by the production

I was a fan of Dave Allen's comedy. In the late 1980s when he did his stand up series for the BBC, he showed the up and coming generation of comics that he could still produce the goods.

Dave Allen was 'alternative' before the phrase was even coined. His target was the Catholic church. Just imagine if he was alive today what he would have made of the revelations of the church's misdeeds in Ireland over the past decades.

Well this drama reflected it on it. Young Dave being whacked by the nuns. It seems Dave had a comfortable lifestyle (bar going to a church school) in Ireland thanks to his father who worked in newspapers but then he died.

Dave with the help of his older brother got into comedy in Butlins. While his older brother became an alcoholic, Dave hit it big on the BBC.

Yet this was a curious drama, it recreated some sketches, you saw a bit of his stand up or should it be sit down comedy.

You see a reflection of his childhood and a tender moment between the adult Dave and his brother as he once again tries to recover from his alcoholism.

I still walked away knowing very little about Dave Allen. Apart from why he picked on Catholicism, we never even find out how he lost his finger!