People Like Us

I LOVED this series. Watched once and then went back to stream again and again. Inventive, clever and laugh out loud quality. Wish US audience could enjoy season two. Highly recommend...

I really love this sitcom. It´s a breath of fresh air from all those stupid moronic American trash proggies (with exception of Seinfeld, that is). For starters, there is no laugh track. Nobody laughs in the show. I simply love that. It´s great! You don´t hear those damn idiotic laughs that are crammed all over other sitcoms. Second, it´s filmed as a documentary. The basic premise is this guy, Roy Mallard, that walks around interviewing people at work. For example, a headmaster of a nice school, a freelance fotographer, people like that. So, in the beginning, every thing seems quite Unfunny, but then stupid things start to happen. People do mistakes, and funny things, altough they don´t even understand it. For instance, Roy is always saying "Hum" and "Hun hun" in order to advance in the interview. The show is excellent, and I really can´t describe accurately. You have to see it for yourself.

To give an example of the texture of People Like Us, here are the only two lines the actress playing a shoe-shop assistant in episode 5 has. All the other characters speak like this as well, only more so.

"You'll find that over time your feet will start to give with wear."

"Most people have at least one foot that's bigger than the other."

In the same episode, the announcer at a train station can be heard in the background droning po-facedly something like "This train stops at Berksley only, Hemperdon only, Staffordsly only, and Blackpool only."

From an episode set in a school; "Mr. Hensley's Problem-Solving club meets at lunchtime on the third floor, but you're not allowed to use the stairs."

These are only short examples from memory. The body of it, Roy Mallard's narration, relies on him going on so long like that that he forgets how he started the sentence.

You can buy some episodes of the radio series if you want a clearer example. Or look at the entry on radiohaha. That summarises it better than I can. Recommended for fans of On The Hour / The Day Today, although you probably know about it already.

What appears to be a serious documentary about 'a day in the life' of some member of a profession (policeman, priest, bank manager etc.) is actually a very clever spoof of a documentary. If you listen carefully you realize that most of what the commentator is saying is gibberish – and very funny. The commentator (Roy Mallard) is mostly off camera (except for the occasional hand when requested) and is a fine example of how not to do an interview. Some examples of his commentary –'X is 2 hours from London both by rail and train', 'It's 4pm and everybody has left school except for those who have stayed behind', 'It's 2 p.m. and already the Japanese are on time' and 'the world of financial money'. That's not all. The people whom he interviews are also prone to mangling the English language with many misstatements and misunderstandings. This is not the brash, crude humour that many Americans enjoy but more subtle and laid back. American humour tends overdo the one-liners in order to make sure the audience 'gets it'. This is the type of humour that has to be experienced more than once as it is very easy to miss the subtleties the first time around. Overall, an acquired taste, but much to my liking.

Hapless Roy Mallard (the almost entirely unseen Chris Langham) makes documentaries about 'people like us': bank manager, estate agent, mother, vicar, photographer, pilot, etc. These half hour episodes are as droll as anything you'll see or hear.

The droning narration is a masterpiece of nonsense. Almost every sentence has a misunderstanding, a mixed metaphor or something downright silly. If you like lines like: 'if John and Mary are still together in two years they'll both have been married to the other person, as husband and wife, for the same period of four years', make sure you watch 'People Like Us'. But if you prefer to snigger at custard pies, painful blows to the groin or creepy Benny Hill chasing bikini babes, this won't be your cup of tea.

This is cerebral rather than visceral comedy. There are some running jokes, mainly about the appearance, marital status and name of Roy/Ray Mallard/Nolland/Mattard and the succession of faux pas he commits.

The acting is excellent throughout. Even the credits play the game by not linking performers with their roles. All we see is that the BBC wishes to thank Tom, Dick and Harriet, etc.

Each episode is superficially pedestrian and boring, as we appear to follow a typical day of 'people like us' in the time-honoured 'fly-on-the-wall' manner. But this isn't wham, bam, in your face comedy. You have to concentrate very hard to get everything. Watch out for the flustered mother loading slices of uneaten toast into the dishwasher. Listen to the flight attendant, Susan Churchfield, switching to French, introducing herself as Suzanne Eglisechamp and later asking passengers to return to their assiettes. Note the plane reflected in the office block windows flying backwards.

'People Like Us' is a wonderful series, for those who like that kind of thing. For aficionados, it could hardly be bettered. Rarely has humour been so clever and concentrated. For others, reruns of Benny Hill, Paul Hogan and too many others of that ilk can always be found. I know what I prefer.