Jasmine Sahu is well suited with this new American drama exclusive to Dave.
Lois Cameron explains why this series is much more than your average cosy period drama.
The last episode of this series sees Sherlock and Moriarty attempt to solve the final problem with devastating consequences.
With major cast changes afoot, Jacob Martin ponders whether Being Human can live up to its own scarily high standard.
Now in its eighth series, this marks Mock the Week’s first series without regular panellist Frankie Boyle, Boyle having quit the show at the end of last year. The official line from the Beeb was that Boyle was quitting to honour “other television commitments”, a promise he seems not to have kept thus far not counting the guest presenter slot on Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
Rumours abounded that Boyle had been forced out by the BBC tightening up on offensive comedy in the aftermath of the Brand/Ross scandal, but Boyle himself has said that he was “bored” of the show and it was his decision to quit. Whatever the reason, there was a huge Glaswegian-shaped hole in the satire this week and it was clear he was missed by the other regulars.
For many fans, Frankie Boyle was the show, assaulting us with the funniest, most outrageous and often offensive jokes and one-liners. David Mitchell did well as Frankie’s replacement in two episodes last series, but whoever the producers choose to fill Frankie’s now permanently vacated seat has to have earned that accolade. So their first choice was…. Patrick Kielty.
To be fair Kielty didn’t do too badly, but his best, and most telling, joke of the night was his quip that the answer ‘39 seconds’ was the length of time it would take viewers to change the channel after they realised he was sitting in Frankie Boyle’s seat. Fortunately he was supported by a value-for-money supporting cast of guest panellists, with the increasingly less Welsh (has anyone else noticed?) Mark Watson, and the surreal but brilliant Milton Jones, whose eccentricity seems to have been a good fit in his recent appearances.
In other news, Russell Howard revealed his new look with shorter hair and suave new spectacles, and one up-side of Frankie’s absence is that we got more contributions from Dara O Briain. But with the BBC having already commissioned another series after this one, it looks like production isn’t going to be hampered by Frankie’s absence, and regular viewers are going to stay tuned; plus if you miss Frankie that much you can always catch old episodes on Dave. Bring on more 'Scenes We’d Like to See'.
Mock the Week is on Thursdays at 9pm on BBC2
I enjoyed last night's episode, but agree the show just isn't as good without Frankie. I was kind of hoping David Mitchell might be a permanent stand-in for him after his appearances last season, but I guess having three guests works too.
I think they need stronger guests though to compensate for Frankie's absence. I agree that Milton Jones was quite funny, but it annoyed me that he didn't really contribute much to the discussions. As Russell said, he chipped in a quirky one liner here and there like an eccentric granddad. It was almost as if he didn't have an opinion on anything, just a collection of rehearsed jokes that he'd bring in when they were loosely relevant to the topic at hand.
Frankie was the central point of the show... It was fine without him but just doesn't have the same edge, in my opinion. Milton Jones is always amazing at one-liners and sometimes you could see him thinking up new ones but it wasn't 100% suitable for most Mock the Week rounds and you were left with Hugh and Russell having a funny conversation and some other people chipping in. Still better than Celebrity Big Brother though ..
Jason's right- the show's lost without Frankie's outrageous contributions. They need to get this guy on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeyajsCZej8
You must log in to submit a comment.
Report