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Rafe Spall returned as the eponymous Pete Griffiths in the second series of Channel 4’s innovative comedy, Pete Versus Life, this Friday. Very much a continuation of the latter half of the previous series, this episode saw Pete, as ever, getting into unfortunate entanglements, often leading to dubious moral decisions on his part. The ever constant commentators Terry McIlroy & Colin King were there to supply their usual stat related witticisms; however they couldn’t pull this episode out of the doldrums of the comically average.
In a double stranded edition Pete gets tied up with the ravings of a mad old woman and the raptures of a beautiful ‘Polish’ thrill seeker. As expected, both ventures end in social and moral bankruptcy. His employment as the elderly woman’s dog walker is as unsuccessful as his attempts to bed his parent’s cleaner.
After an initially brilliant start to the first series the latest instalment seems to show a further decline into a relatively average comedy with increasingly ridiculous comic premises. This is not helped by the generally weak writing for the depleted and, just about, passable supporting cast. Both beleaguered best mate Ollie (Reece Ritchie) and roommate Kurt (Chris Geere) seem to have dropped out. Interestingly ‘Wolfie’ of Inbetweeners fame (David Fynn) has replaced Kurt like for like, filling the hole for South African jokes to be spewed out tastelessly.
Perhaps the key problem with Pete Versus Life is that it relies too heavily on Spall’s likeable rogue character, which is now a little tired, and occasional hilarious comments from the omniscient sport pundits. Admittedly this, in certain episodes, was enough to distract from an overall lack of well roundedness.
However, having criticised it fairly heavily, I would like to point out that this is still an enjoyable watch and much more entertaining than a great deal of modern comedies (Coming of Age for instance...). I personally was just so disappointed that what seemed a brilliant concept, with a possibly very bright future, seems to have failed to maintain the great heights that were achieved in the first couple of episodes. I like to think there is still hope for the rest of the series to reignite the original fire of what is an imaginative and amusing notion for a programme. Let’s just hope for a second half hat trick from Pete and the gang.
Pete Versus Life continues Friday 10.10pm Channel 4.
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