Queen of Oz

Catherine Tate seems to be an 'all or nothing' performer to me. Sometimes her characters are very funny, sometimes they fall flat as a pancake. She does have a tendency to stretch a one-joke character so thin that eventually it snaps and the original joke becomes so overworked that it just isn't funny any more.

"Queen of Oz" doesn't seem to have a joke or a character that hasn't already been bent out of shape to fit into a shaky framework that just isn't funny. Some will love it I guess, but it's not for me.

The whole premise is so far-fetched as to be ridiculous, it's neither based in reality or interestingly surreal, it's just one of those ideas that seemed funny when you were drunk one night, but really can't stand the harsh light of day.

An unwanted, ginger haired member of The Royal family has become a national disgrace, and to spare The Country and family any more torture, she's packed off.....

.....and so begins the reign of Queen Georgiana of Australia.

Catherine Tate where on Earth do you get such weird and wild ideas, I can only imagine.

Already this show has been fairly unfairly maligned, but if like me you're a big fan of Tate, you'll enjoy it, it's typical of her brand of humour. How nice to sit down to something funny on a Friday night, it's been a while.

It's a bumpy opening, but it develops well as the series progresses, there are some fun characters and great one liners, lots of jokes about Britain's standing on the world stage.

It won't be to everyone's taste, but I enjoyed it, a funny take on the madness of The Brits abroad.

7/10.

I would've given this an 8, except the series was uneven. Some of the bad reviews on here are from people who only watched the first episode or the first couple. Those episodes were fair at best, relying too much on gross humour and one level of shrillness from Tate. But within that, two of the characters in particular were very funny - Bernard, played by Robert Coleby, successfully channeling Sir John Gielgud from "Arthur" and Anabel, played by Niky Wardley, the ditzy lady-in-waiting. The writing for them was very clever and I thought "OK, maybe it just needs to find its way" so I kept watching.

What I think this is supposed to be is a satire of what happens to members of the Royal Family who don't conform and Georgiana does not. Despite her obvious privilege, I think Tate very successfully - although not immediately - creates a character who never fit into the "Royal" template and who's very damaged by many things that happened to her in the past. She has a family who doesn't care about her at all as a person and never did.

Tate loses a lot of the shrillness and becomes quite sympathetic as the show continues. She's a good actress and comedienne and I was glad to see that come out. There is a cast of straightmen and women that Tate uses to her advantage to strut her sarcastic humour and they're all game. Besides the two actors I mentioned earlier who were so funny, I'd also add Sylvia, played by Lynette Curran, who shows up a few episodes in with her dog and has a single bit that she does frequently, but it's so well timed and so silly that I laughed each time. It felt like the part was written for Jacki Weaver, but she wasn't available or something.

It's hard to say more without mentioning main plot points. I'm trying to keep the spoilers light so my review isn't hidden due to spoilers. The whole season is a bit over two hours. If you watch the whole thing, I think you'll be glad you did.

Ive not been a Catherine Tate fan in the past. I didn't think I would like this at all but I found it surprisingly enjoyable. In fact, I very much warmed to her character by the end and really hope for a series 2. I don't find shouty and rude humour funny but with the dynamics of our own royal family unraveling over the last few years, I think its very cleverly wrote. As a royalist who has an interest in the families dynamics, this had some very clever hidden references to many generations of the Royal Family. She depicts different royals in just one character. You'd automatically think it was Harry acting like a spoiled brat and he was probably the inspiration but I could see multiple people coming through. Fingers crossed for season 2. Marc is a total dish.

The absurd premise should be your first hint that this show is hilarious. The characters and plot develop nicely through the episodes.

From shrieking self-obsessed alcoholic Queen Georgiana develops into an understandably damaged, self-centred but not irredeemably so, woman managing the best she can in difficult circumstances.

Anything that could go wrong in her life does, and she reacts accordingly. Not necessarily sensibly, but accordingly. Not everything is her fault, although some of it really is. The band of misfits around her somehow survive.

I'm disappointed to read that it's been cancelled because the end of episode 6 is just leading into the next round of comedy-of-errors!

Nice structural symmetry, having the first and last episodes with very convincing vomit.