TV Review: THE SYNDICATE and VICIOUS

This article was originally published in The Courier on Saturday 7th June 2015.

http://www.thecourier.co.uk/lifestyle

The Syndicate: Tuesday, BBC One

Vicious: Monday, STV

Paul Whitelaw

What would you do if you won millions on the lottery? Like most good ideas, the premise behind writer/director Kay Mellor's The Syndicate is so simple, it's a wonder no one has thought of it before.

So far she's exploted two hit series from this universal fantasy, each starring a different cast of characters. Theoretically, it's a flexible, fecund format. But I'm not convinced that series three will continue her winning streak (I swear that's the only laboured lottery-themed metaphor in this review).

My problem lies not with the storyline – the staff at a stately home suddenly becoming richer than their employers is a strong idea – but with Mellor's treatment of certain characters. She can usually be relied upon to write about “ordinary” people without condescension, but I'm troubled by the presence of Lenny Henry as Godfrey the gardener, a kind of fantasy “idiot savant” in the Rain Man mould.

Are we to take it that Godfrey is placed somewhere on the autistic spectrum, hence why he's an obsessive mathematical theorist prone to sudden fits of rage? Well, I ask you, isn't that a dubious stereotype? It doesn't help that Henry plays him with a permanent expression of wounded surprise, as if befuddled by his character. Who can blame him?

I'm not sure what Mellor is playing at here, especially during those uncomfortable scenes where Godfrey basically lusts after Amy, the pretty teenage maid. Now, I trust Mellor to prove me wrong, but so far she's come perilously close to portraying Amy as a sexually precocious brat just asking for trouble. Sure enough, she was apparently abducted at the end of episode one, possibly by her aggressive ex.

Bizarrely, this instinctively felt like the kind of knee-jerk moral judgement you'd find in a cheap slasher film: flaunt your sexuality, and you're mincemeat. And please, Mellor, spare us a hackneyed storyline involving poor, innocent Godfrey being falsely accused of abducting Amy. You're better than that.

Misgivings aside, I did enjoy certain aspects of the episode. Winningly, the upstairs-downstairs setting suggests a cynical, contemporary subversion of Downton Abbey. Mellor even made the comparison explicit, when the ailing Lord of the manor complained about a visiting American contingent: “They only come because they imagine they're in an episode of bloody Downton Abbey!”

And who plays his charmingly ruffled Lordship? Why, none other than stately period drama stalwart Anthony Andrews. His presence is another neatly self-referential touch; I hope the rest of the series builds upon its flashes of promise.

Is it too late to hope the same of Vicious? This defiantly camp, old-fashioned sitcom divides opinion, but for all its faults I enjoyed series one. All it needed was some fine tuning.

But even with the best will in the world – and lord knows I want Vicious to be better than it is – last week's return was a disappointment. Ian McKellan and Derek Jacobi are still an impeccably timed hoot as a fondly caustic gay couple, but without their sterling efforts Vicious would sink like a stone.

In a semi-amusing attempt to undermine criticism, this week it cheekily drew attention to the creaky contrivances of its own plot. But that kind of post-modernism only works with strong gags to support it.

Shameless, flawed and slick, Vicious makes not a jot of sense, and that's to its credit. But I wish it was funnier, if only to piss off those who foolishly believe that mirthless, single-camera sitcoms have usurped this classic form.

TV PREVIEW: Vicious, The Job Lot

This article was originally published in The Scotsman on 27th April 2013.

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/tv-and-radio/tv-preview-vicious-the-job-lot-1-2911304

VICIOUS

Monday, STV, 9pm

THE JOB LOT

Monday, STV, 9:30pm

Paul Whitelaw

No-one would've believed, in the early years of the 21^st century, that human credulity would be stretched to breaking point by the arrival of a sitcom power-hour on primetime ITV. But it's true, it's here. It's happening. In a turn of events so shocking and bizarre it's actually quite frightening, the notoriously laughter-shy broadcaster – whose pantheon of classic sitcoms amounts to piddling single digits – has decided to take comedy seriously again.

Given the BBC's total domination of the field, it's long felt as though ITV were simply unwilling to compete, preferring instead to concentrate on glum thrillers, cloying dramas, and Ant & Dec's pension plan. But the huge mainstream success of BBC sitcoms such as Miranda, Outnumbered and Mrs Brown's Boys has obviously spurred them into belated action.

What's even more remarkable – staggering, even – about this dedicated comedy offensive is that one of their new efforts, VICIOUS, is actually very funny. You may wish to take a moment to process that information.

A studio-bound, single-set, multi-camera sitcom, it's a gratifyingly old-school farce in which thespian deities Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi have a char-grilled whale of a time as an incessantly bickering homosexual couple. Sealed within their sepulchral Covent Garden abode – they shriek like vampires when the curtains are accidentally opened – pompous actor Freddie (McKellen) and retired bar manager Stuart (Jacobi) tussle waspishly over decades of perceived slights, while never missing an opportunity to mock each other's supposed decrepitude.

Now, these are hardly original comic creations – the vituperative, hammy old queen has long been a staple of popular culture - and there is nothing especially notable about the premise. But that simply doesn't matter when the execution is as strong as this.

Resembling a startled, wounded guinea pig, Jacobi squeals and frets amidst a knowing flurry of camp mannerisms, while McKellen booms fresh insults in that oak-lined voice of his. He also pulls some of the funniest “Why, I've never been so insulted in my life!” expressions this side of imperial phase Frankie Howerd. It's an impeccable dual assault of seasoned comic timing.

Enjoyment is magnified by the addition of Frances de la Tour as their dotty, man-hungry pal. Famously, she starred in Rising Damp, one of ITV's few great sitcoms, and it's tempting to view her presence here as a deliberate nod to the past. Not that her involvement is merely symbolic – she's a peerless comic actress – but you could argue that she's essentially playing lonely Miss Jones thirty years on. Even the dingy brown set recalls her most celebrated role.

Broad and boisterous in the best possible sense (i.e. it's nothing like that aforementioned avalanche of horror, Mrs Brown's Boys), Vicious is jam-packed with gags, hitting the ground running with an impressive opening episode which establishes set-up, character and backstory with consummate ease.

A co-write between acclaimed playwright Mark Ravenhill and Gary Janetti, a former executive producer on Family Guy and Will& Grace, it revels in its camp bluster with such benign relish, I doubt it'll get into too much trouble for reinforcing stereotypes. It's obvious that Freddie and Stuart are blissfully happy in their enmity, and it's that undercurrent of warmth – the spoonful of sugar beneath the barrel-load of bile – that make these characters so engaging.

I'm no soothsayer – I've never said “sooth” in my life - but I predict that Vicious will be huge. A hit sitcom! On ITV! Nurse, the smelling salts...

The madness continues with THE JOB LOT, which, while nowhere near as sharp as Vicious, is a perfectly amiable and amusing sitcom set in a drab job centre (is there such a thing as a bright, welcoming job centre?).

Despite being a single-camera comedy with no laugh-track, it's essentially a traditional sitcom populated by dysfunctional characters and daffy situations. It is, however, blatantly influenced by The Office, not because it's a workplace comedy – Gervais and Merchant didn't invent that genre – but because of the exceedingly Tim-like lead played by Russell Tovey. A bright, likeable everyman trapped in a job he detests – his feelings for an attractive female colleague stop him from leaving - the similarity is compounded by the fact that Tovey appears to have partially based his acting style on Martin Freeman.

While Tim-bot 2000 is mildly distracting, he doesn't detract overall from a show which, given the danger inherent in its recession-fuelled premise, mercifully refrains from sneering at the unemployed. Granted, one of the regular job-seekers is portrayed as a harmless oddball, but it's significant that the villain of the piece is a rude, sadistic and actively obstructive job centre employee played by the excellent Jo Enright.

This character has an obvious antecedent in the monstrous Pauline from The League of Gentleman. She also shares a few genes with Little Britain's “Computer says 'No'” grotesque. And yet despite these visible origins, Enright imbues her with a distinctive, deadpan venom.

What this all adds up to is a derivative yet serviceable sitcom with a smattering of potential. But it undoubtedly succeeds in being an ITV sitcom that's Not Appalling. I still can't quite believe it and Vicious exist at all.