Stand-up comedian Jack Dee has cultivated the comedic persona of the grumpy, scowling, cynic, endlessly frustrated by life's little annoyances and between 2006-2011 Dee and writing partner Pete Sinclair harnessed that character to good effect in the BBC Sitcom "Lead Balloon" that ran for four successful series. Now in 2017 Dee and Sinclair have teamed up again to co-write this simple sitcom for ITV based, at least in part, on Jack Dee's own real-life 'Escape To The Country' that did not pan out for him and his wife.
"Bad Move" (a title that invites an obvious comment from reviewers) sees Dee take on the role of Steve Watson, an award-winning web designer who has decided to up sticks and move from Leeds to the picturesque North Yorkshire Moors along with his second wife Nicky (played by Kerry Godliman). You might think one of the priorities for a web designer planning to work from home would be to check out the availability of broadband internet at the farmhouse he is buying, but no apparently not and this opening episode largely centres around the problems that that causes and the attempts to solve the problem.
One of the keys to the success of "Lead Balloon" was the supporting cast - Raquel Cassidy as Mel - the girlfriend of Dee's Rick Spleen character, Anna Crilly as Eastern European housekeeper Magda and in particular Spleen's American writing partner Marty played by Sean Power. "Bad Move" has a very small supporting cast with sitcom stalwart Philip Jackson as Steve's interfering father-in-law, Ken. Sue Vincent as the the unhelpful and downright rude local shopkeeper with the husband heardbut not seen (and a tearaway son we will meet later in the series).
Miles Jupp and Manjinder Virk are well-cast as the annoying urbanites Matt & Meena who live on the farm at the top of the hill overlooking Steve and Nicky's new home and are making a smug success of their new life in the country. Matt & Meena would have once been classed as typical "Guardianistas" - if that didn't involve felling trees to print the newspaper - and are raising their two equally annoying children to have an 'authentic', self-sufficient upbringing in the countryside - while at the same time sheltering them from the unpleasant realities of nature, red in tooth and claw.
However, it is comedian Seann Walsh who has the potential to steal the show as the Watson's other neighbour - the madcap, rock-star Grizzo who has more money than sense but seems to naturally always walk away unscathed from his daredevil thrill-seeking escapades.
The first episode of any sitcom has its work cut out introducing the characters, the setting and the situation while still trying to be funny and the laughs do not come thick and fast here. There are some nice lines from Dee - referring to Matt, Meena and their kids as The Von Trapps then quickly asking "Where are the Nazis when you need them?" and responding to Matt's comment "You don't get flowers like these in the city, do you?" with "Only tied to lamp-posts" are the best lines of the episode.
"Lead Balloon" was broadcast ad-free on the BBC so each half-hour episode had 28/29 minutes to play with, on ITV "Bad Move" has barely more than 22 minutes of run-time and this first episode had a brisk feel to it - however one thing that caught my eye (or ear) was that despite the short length the episode still managed to get in some neat touches. The opening title sequence neatly encapsulates the show at a glance, events or lines of dialogue have repercussions down-the-line and somewhat surprisingly Jack Dee's character of Steve showed some signs that beneath the scowl he may actually be an optimist at heart.
It will be interesting to see if what could be a fairly bog-standard sitcom can stretch its proverbial legs over the course of just 6 episodes and develop into something more.
"Bad Move" (a title that invites an obvious comment from reviewers) sees Dee take on the role of Steve Watson, an award-winning web designer who has decided to up sticks and move from Leeds to the picturesque North Yorkshire Moors along with his second wife Nicky (played by Kerry Godliman). You might think one of the priorities for a web designer planning to work from home would be to check out the availability of broadband internet at the farmhouse he is buying, but no apparently not and this opening episode largely centres around the problems that that causes and the attempts to solve the problem.
One of the keys to the success of "Lead Balloon" was the supporting cast - Raquel Cassidy as Mel - the girlfriend of Dee's Rick Spleen character, Anna Crilly as Eastern European housekeeper Magda and in particular Spleen's American writing partner Marty played by Sean Power. "Bad Move" has a very small supporting cast with sitcom stalwart Philip Jackson as Steve's interfering father-in-law, Ken. Sue Vincent as the the unhelpful and downright rude local shopkeeper with the husband heardbut not seen (and a tearaway son we will meet later in the series).
Miles Jupp and Manjinder Virk are well-cast as the annoying urbanites Matt & Meena who live on the farm at the top of the hill overlooking Steve and Nicky's new home and are making a smug success of their new life in the country. Matt & Meena would have once been classed as typical "Guardianistas" - if that didn't involve felling trees to print the newspaper - and are raising their two equally annoying children to have an 'authentic', self-sufficient upbringing in the countryside - while at the same time sheltering them from the unpleasant realities of nature, red in tooth and claw.
However, it is comedian Seann Walsh who has the potential to steal the show as the Watson's other neighbour - the madcap, rock-star Grizzo who has more money than sense but seems to naturally always walk away unscathed from his daredevil thrill-seeking escapades.
The first episode of any sitcom has its work cut out introducing the characters, the setting and the situation while still trying to be funny and the laughs do not come thick and fast here. There are some nice lines from Dee - referring to Matt, Meena and their kids as The Von Trapps then quickly asking "Where are the Nazis when you need them?" and responding to Matt's comment "You don't get flowers like these in the city, do you?" with "Only tied to lamp-posts" are the best lines of the episode.
"Lead Balloon" was broadcast ad-free on the BBC so each half-hour episode had 28/29 minutes to play with, on ITV "Bad Move" has barely more than 22 minutes of run-time and this first episode had a brisk feel to it - however one thing that caught my eye (or ear) was that despite the short length the episode still managed to get in some neat touches. The opening title sequence neatly encapsulates the show at a glance, events or lines of dialogue have repercussions down-the-line and somewhat surprisingly Jack Dee's character of Steve showed some signs that beneath the scowl he may actually be an optimist at heart.
It will be interesting to see if what could be a fairly bog-standard sitcom can stretch its proverbial legs over the course of just 6 episodes and develop into something more.