8054/20995
Bad news everyone. Egg Wallace has died. No one is quite sure if it was natural causes or murder, but if the latter, the list of suspects is very long and very middle-class and very much of a certain age. If it's any consolation to his grieving friend, he was delicious.
And he may return (I am not saying he is Jesus, that's for other people to say, but he's certainly very on message for Easter).
Nose fully up against the perineum (I will not call it the merineum -there is nothing merry about it) of 2024 today. Would you be surprised if I told you that it was Friday? I was.
And just a reminder warning to celebrities. Do not die in the next few days or you'll miss out on the end of year death round-ups. I am 100% going to die in the taint of whichever year I finally kick the bucket. 2024?
We managed to offload the kids for most of today and I had visions of tidying up or putting up the pictures that I've failed to put up for three months. But instead I spent most of the day in bed, failing to sleep and then catching up on Christmas telly.
I watched both the Gavin and Stacey and Outnumbered Christmas specials. I wasn't sure that I'd enjoy the former, but it was very funny and moving and the 90 minutes whizzed by. It also got record viewing figures (in recent times) which might hopefully encourage the BBC and other channels to make more scripted comedy, but as someone (probably Joel Morris) pointed out it might just be a signal to them to remake more stuff from 15 or 20 years ago.
It does take commitment from a broadcaster to let a scripted thing bed in and capture the public's heart, but Gavin and Stacey definitely managed it (but then so has Mrs Brown's Boys). The beauty of it is that every character is properly defined (and played by excellent actors) so we have to thank Ruth Jones for that. And we must also all reluctantly thank James Cordon too. Does this make up for Cats and all his other crimes? Yes it does. He's terrific.
Outnumbered didn't feel quite as joyous, partly perhaps because it was about one of the characters getting cancer (though as I hope I've shown that can be a source of joy too), but it felt a little bit stilted somehow and perhaps not quite as magical as when the young actors were children and ad-libbing. I'd say they overdid the parcel joke and also the make-up to make the older son look exhausted from being a dad (unless it's going to turn out that he is a heroin addict too), but Hugh and Claire especially were terrific and it's fun to see them become grandparents. Not sure if they're hoping it will lead to a reboot - the cancer story seemed unresolved - but I sort of hope not.
There's no denying the huge success of these shows. My own attempt at a family comedy drama, You Can Choose Your Friends, started up at roughly the same time and also starred Claire Skinner (I remember her remarking how she was doing another comedy thing with one half of a 90s double act). I think it's fair to say that if two of the projects had to be successful, the right two succeeded, but it makes me wonder what might have happened had we got a series.
Aside from the what-ifs that are quickly quashed by reality, I enjoyed both these rival shows (that were such juggernauts they would not even have noticed I was their rival) and am delighted that narrative comedy can still make waves, even if I have accepted by now that I probably won't be creating any more myself. Unless my own third act holds some surprises.
I don't think I have the focus or energy to write something like that any more anyway.
And if YCCYF had been a success then we wouldn't have RHLSTP or TOF or AIOTM. Or the life I have now, which I really like. Just think, I might be as popular as James Cordon.
It's a great way to introduce new people to the podcast or to send you back towards episodes you may have missed. Please do recommend it to your pals if you think they might like it!
