Director: John Henderson
Cast: Steve Coogan (Tommy Saxondale), Ruth Jones (Magz), Rasmus Hardiker (Raymond), Morwenna Banks (Vicky), Darren Boyd (Jonathan), James Bachman (Alistair)
Tommy has his intellect tested when he goes to a school to exterminate vermin, but ends up giving careers advice...This is more like it! I sometimes feel guilty whenever I criticize Saxondale for not being more amendable with its comedy, as the intention of its creators is clearly to construct laughs around Coogan's dominant performance and rich dialogue, not pratfalls and toilet humour.
But Episode 4 strikes a happy medium between the high-brow and low-brow, to become Saxondale's best episode. Sure, the quirks, life views and mannerisms of Tommy can be very funny, but nothing screams "comedy" quite like a man getting glued to a chair...
This week's theme is built around the notion of intelligence; or, more precisely, Tommy's inflated opinion of his own I.Q. Having graduated from the "university of life" to tour with rock legends in the 70s and 80s, most of Tommy's knowledge comes from Discovery Channel documentaries, so the comedy stems from throwing Tommy into a world of clever kids.
It begins with Tommy being flummoxed that Magz doesn't know, or care, who Barnes Wallace and Douglas Bader were, yet could tell you everything about David Hasselhoff. From there, a quick chat with vapid Vicky at work seals Tommy's belief he's intelligencia, only to become the stupidest person in the room when investigating vermin at a posh school.
The school scenes are excellent, particularly when Tommy is frightened by a deep discussion about Victorians with a teacher, so escapes by disappearing into a store cupboard for no particular reasin. It's an old chetsnut, sure, but beautifully played by Coogan.
Later, Tommy is inexplicably given the chance to discuss his pest control career with a class, and tries to impress them with his outside-the-box style of sitting on the classroom floor (only to be undermined by a trapped nerve). Then, when he makes a breakthrough by regaling them with Pink Floyd stories, he soon realizes their interest was faked so they could superglue him to a chair.
It's refreshing to see Saxondale handle with more "obvious" comedy, and there's no shame in that. There's a reason people still laugh at the sight of a man walking through public areas with no trousers on. It's funny. But there's still plenty to counterbalance this style of humour, with Tommy's dialogue always shining and some neat twists to the theme.
There's even a vague whiff of Tommy being racist, when he mentions Ghandi was "supposed to just shut it and open a corner shop." Hearing politically incorrect material being uttered like that only adds to Tommy's depth and texture as a character.
I particularly liked a moment when Tommy acts impressed someone has a copy of Robert Altman's film Short Cuts, ready to begin a film buff debate on Altman's work, only to learn it was purchased because Julianne Moore gets her kit off!
The old adage that "you can't judge a book by its cover" is another element to the story, with Raymond (Rasmus Hardiker) mentioning people might not think Tommy appears particularly intelligent... while a square teacher is revealed as the proud owner of a classic car Tommy lusts over.
Darren Boyd just gets better every week as brownosing neighbour Jonathan (this week, in a Glastonbury T-shirt), although his talk of a pub quiz sadly goes nowhere. Shame.
Overall, there's much to enjoy in Episode 4 and it's wonderful to see Saxondale take broader strokes with its humour, whilst never losing its rich dialogue, insightful characterization and amusing subtext. It sometimes spills into silliness, particularly in the last scene -- when class feedback labels Tommy "a prick", only for Tommy to claim it proves he's taught them to kick the system and authority figures -- but, for the majority of the 30-minutes, this is Saxondale at its most enjoyable.
13 September 2007
BBC2, 9.30 pm
