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.
The predictable thing to say about Miranda would be that it was the surprise comedy hit of last year… but that’s exactly what it was, and when the second series began on Monday, it remained obvious exactly why it had received such acclaim.
For the as yet uninitiated, the title role is played by Miranda Hart, and the series revolves around her exploits, with particular emphasis on her social awkwardness and her struggles to find a man. The opening episode of the second series was no exception, with Miranda trying to impress the new chef at the restaurant next door to her joke shop, while struggling to assert herself in various social situations.
It has to be said that most of the show’s success is down to Hart. She has such character and charm that she is impossible to dislike, effortlessly propelling each episode to increasing levels of hysteria over 30 minutes. Furthermore, her sly, fourth-wall breaking comments to the audience are wonderful, with the pre-credits “previously in my life” monologues particularly standing out, despite the fact that they are irrelevant to the main plot of each episode.
It is always clear from the use of techniques such as the monologues that this is not meant to be taken seriously, which prevents the audience from ever placing this sitcom in the same category as more alternative sitcoms such as The Office or The Royle Family. Instead, it follows many of the traditions of sitcoms from the 1970s, which is a style that hardly ever works nowadays (see BBC1 disasters The Old Guys, Reggie Perrin and (shudder) Big Top), but Miranda has such an infectious sense of fun, that the audience can’t help but get into the spirit of things.
The supporting cast members are also of a high calibre, with Sarah Hadland as Miranda’s co-worker Stevie, and Sally Phillips as Tilly, her old school friend, both being superb. But by far the most delightful is Patricia Hodge as her overbearing, extraordinarily posh mother. In this week’s episode there was a fantastic scene where Miranda was entertaining a prospective boyfriend in her flat, while Hodge was crawling around, telling her daughter what to do, and sneakily filling up their glasses with scotch. If that scenario doesn’t exactly make you want to visit the iPlayer website, don’t be disheartened. The best thing about Miranda is that, on paper, it sounds like a nightmare, but when you watch it, you will find yourself laughing.
Now, I don’t want to create the impression that Miranda is perfect, or a rival to Fawlty Towers, because there are flaws. The canned laughter is annoying, the set used for Miranda’s shop has an identical layout to Edina’s kitchen in Absolutely Fabulous, and not all of the jokes work, with some being just a little too predictable. Having said that, it never reaches My Family levels of predictability (with several jokes in this opening episode being entirely unexpected), and there is something fresh about it, feeling like a new spin on a thoroughly tried and tested formula. It’s a real pleasure to watch something that delights in being silly, allowing (no, commanding) the audience to have fun.
Miranda is a more puzzling conundrum than anything that the makers of Countdown could ever come up with, as it manages to be clichéd but original, silly but intelligent, predictable but hilarious. In short, it is a comedy gem that really shouldn’t be.
The second series of Miranda continues next Monday at 8.30pm on BBC2.
You must log in to submit a comment.
