Tag: andy hamilton

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Televisual Advent Calendar #08 – Drop the Dead Donkey

I’d just like you to stir-fry a few ideas in my think-wok.

Drop the Dead Donkey

This is my 2019 Televisual Advent Calendar. I did a musical version in 2011 and a cinematic one in 2012. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the TV series that I am blogging about. These TV series have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. These are scripted TV series, some are drama, some are comedy, some are both. I found it really hard to narrow this down to just 24.

Drop the Dead Donkey is set in the offices of “GlobeLink News”, a fictional TV news company, it covered the life of some key staff and presenters.  The work and personal life of George Dent, Alex Pates and Dave Charnley putting together the news with presenters Henry Davenport and Sally Smedley, as well as field reporter Damien Day was portrayed in a comical and humours fashion. The characters were somewhat extremes (or are they), though my favourite characters was the cynical personal assistant, Joy Merryweather, who was neither joyful or merry. Overseeing all of the work of the news room was Gud Hedges, a real management stereotype who has no real idea about management, but attempts to put into the workplace all those weird and crazy things he must have learnt on management training courses. I think Gus Hedges taught me more about management (and how not to do it) than any real management training course I have been on.

Could we interlock brain spaces in my work area?

Recorded close to transmission, it made use of contemporary news events to give the programme a greater sense of realism. That means in some ways it hasn’t aged well, but on recent viewings I still found it very funny.

My favourite episode of this was the The Christmas Party, even thinking about it, makes me smile and laugh a little.

I really enjoyed many of the things that Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin have been behind, including Old Harry’s Game and Outnumbered.

Get Drop the Dead Donkey on DVD.
Get Drop the Dead Donkey on Amazon Video.

Just a thought I wanted to pop into your fishbowl to see if it blows bubbles.

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Televisual Advent Calendar #05 – Outnumbered

It tasted horrible to begin with, but then I added five spoonfuls of sugar and now I feel all zingy zangy zongy!

Outnumbered

This is my 2019 Televisual Advent Calendar. I did a musical version in 2011 and a cinematic one in 2012. It is in no particular order and I make no apologies for the TV series that I am blogging about. These TV series have either made me think, I have enjoyed or have had some impact on me. These are scripted TV series, some are drama, some are comedy, some are both. I found it really hard to narrow this down to just 24.

Outnumbered is centred on the Brockmans, a middle-class family living in Wandsworth, whose two parents are “outnumbered” by their three somewhat unruly children. The father, Pete, is a history teacher at an inner city school and the mother, Sue, is a personal assistant. The three children are: Jake, Ben and Karen. Outnumbered stars Hugh Dennis and Claire Skinner as the exasperated parents with three children.

I think one of the reasons that Outnumbered resonates with me, and more so now since it was first broadcast in 2007 was that I also have three children, two older boys, the youngest a girl and roughly the same ages. I can really identify with Pete and Sue and we as a family now laugh at the series.

Sometimes the series feels a little too close for comfort. However it is a series which makes me laugh.

What was clever was that wasn’t really a script and much of the conversations were improvised so that the children’s lines appeared natural.

The creative team behind this have been behind a lot of my favourite TV and Radio programmes. I have always been a bit of a fan of Hugh Dennis as well, ever since he starred in the The Mary Whitehouse Experience on BBC Radio 1 with Steve Punt. I really enjoyed many of the things that Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin have been behind, including Old Harry’s Game and Drop the Dead Donkey.

As you might expect, my favourite quote is about coffee….

Pete: You got yourself a coffee?
Jake: Yeah. Double espresso.
Pete: A double espresso?
Jake: Well, you’re one who’s telling me to like, try new things all the time.
Pete: Yeah but I meant vegetables and stuff, not stimulants, you’ve never had caffeine before, I –
Jake: Don’t get in a state. I only drank half of it.
Pete: Oh. Okay.
Jake: Ben drank the other half.
Pete: (pauses) You let Ben drink a double espresso??
Ben: It tasted horrible to begin with, but then I added five spoonfuls of sugar and now I feel all zingy zangy zongy!
Pete: Zingy. Zangy. Zongy.
Ben:I feel like lightning!
Pete: Oh my god.

Get Outnumbered on DVD.
Get Outnumbered on Amazon Video.
Get Outnumbered on iTunes.