selffamily

Pure silliness - if that's not your type of humour, then skip it. But for me the excellent execution of each episode was worth 9 or 10 stars. Ken Morley is brilliant at visual comedy, Peter ?? As Kenny does the gorgeous gormless part perfectly, and "student" is delightful. I personally find Martin Freeman weak, but that's my taste. I loved the assistant Julie in the Cafe, but felt that while her boss was good, she was outshone by the rest of the talent. Scripts were quick and witty without over-labouring the point. Some of the episodes were laugh out loud funny and some were just smile and chuckle. One of the best ever - glad they quit while they were ahead.

I've seen this a couple of times but something about it is not right. The storyline is reasonable, but it doesn't hang well. I don't know what the problem is - is it the casting? Lola seems fine to me, but Charlie is a bit wooden, almost unsympathetic. Obviously the factory workers are going to save the day, and they are the strongest part of the story - Britain is lucky with its strong supply of character actors - but if left to Charlie, I really wouldn't care if it was a successful venture or not. I don't think I'm supposed to feel like that - and I'm almost inclined to side with the girlfriend. Feels like a missed opportunity to me. So much potential, so little pizazz.

Spoiler - I loved Victoria Wood and still love her work.

I have had the boxed set of Dinnerladies on my shelf for a few years, never had time to get into it. I think I've seen an episode or two before, but last week was a bad week and I needed something to cheer me up. Well, she had me laughing out loud within the first episode and it took me a couple of nights but I've polished the lot off. Love it. Love it. REAL people, people you've met and worked with (UK mainly) and real situations, probably with the exception of Petula Gordino. I knew most of the cast from other work - I'm very old - but I hadn't realised what excellent comedy talent the younger members had.

It's a terrific series, and one that I shall watch again. I've already started recommending it to others - buy your own - and I have nothing but admiration for the writing, casting, acting and performance of the whole thing. It's up there with the Ballad of Barry and Freda!