It Takes a Worried Man

To my mind, Peter Tilbury is one of the unsung heroes of UK TV script writing, His scripts were always funny, erudite, moving and, above all, intelligent. Some of the monologues written for the Shelley series, as well as the characterisations, were stunning. A dry downbeat humour that always hit the spot.

In the "worried man" series I still remember his visits to his psychiatrist where he ended up acting as counsellor rather than the counselled (the psychiatrist was always having problems with his partner Gerald and his love for muesli - "trudging through all those oats").

The very fact that I can remember so much from the series and Shelley pays tribute to the excellence of his writing.

Then of course, a few years later, was the Chef series, with Lenny Henry. Equally stunning. I always wondered if Peter was a genuine foodie or if he carried out meticulous research (e.g looking for the one unpasteurised Stilton still being mad Now, thank heavens, a reality in Stichelton).

Where is he and writers like him these days?

The good news is that Network DVD are planning to issue all 3 series of "It Takes A Worried Man" on DVD, with Series 1 already available. The even better news is that - having just watched Series 1 again for the first time since it was broadcast - it's still as witty and as literate as I remember it being. Peter Tilbury never dumbs down his writing, paying his audience the compliment of assuming that they're intelligent and cultured enough to enjoy even the cleverest of his characters' witticisms, much as he did when he wrote the marvellous early episodes of "Shelley".

I just wish someone could explain to me why a comedy show as brilliant as "It Takes A Worried Man" currently only has an IMDb rating of 3.8/10. An injustice that inexplicable ought to be enough to make worried men and women of us all!

Am I the only one who seems to remember this vague series? As I recall, it was about a married/bored/husband/dad, played by Peter Tilbury, who seemed to moan and groan about life and everything in general. Sounds like good material for a sitcom eh? The title sequence was excellent, and featured an animated picture of Mr Tilbury, which rapidly split and fell apart.

Hmmm?

I certainly remember this series. Though I saw only a few episodes, the series sticks in my mind because in most of them, it was essential to the script that the elegant Sue Holderness strip off to her undies.

Another series, Chance in a Million, with Simon Callow, was memorable for the same reason (as well as for being very funny), though in that one it was the Oscar-winning Brenda Blethyn who couldn't keep her clothes on.

Cheers

Nick

IMDb rating system is beyond baffling - how can an arithmetic mean of 8.6 and a median of 9 possibly equate to a weighted average of 4.2?!

This was a fantastic series. If any aspiring comedy writers take the trouble to watch this, they will see that Peter Tilbury's technique defies every single piece of received wisdom on sitcom writing. The plots are wafer thin, Philip Roath seldom finds himself up a tree that he has to get down from, there is precious little conflict to be resolved and it is all tell and no show: most of the laughs come from the characters we never see: Gerald, the analyst's boyfriend, the boss's Mohican son-in-law, and Napley's delinquent sprog.

Tilbury's central performance is workmanlike; the comparison with Hywel Bennet who took the part he had written for himself in Shelley, is interesting. ITAWM demonstrates the advantages of having the writer deliver his own lines; Tilbury knows exactly what he is trying to achieve. But Shelley shows how a great actor can lift a script with a performance that exceeds the writer's vision.

The supporting performances, particularly from Benjamin and the wonderful Le Prevost, are excellent.