Director: William Sinclair
Cast: Martin Freeman (Greg), Emma Kennedy (Sally Woodison), Matt Green (Mr Kane), Siobhan Finneran (Shirley), Phil Davis (Sergeant), Adrian Mackinder (Policeman), Nicholas Burns (Rick Parish), Rebecca Grant (Neela), James Rochfort (Prosecutor) & John Fortune (Magistrate)
A former child star, famously heckled on live TV, is accused of violence 20 years later and finds himself in court...
The first of Channel 4's Comedy Showcase episodes is a one-off story about Greg (Martin Freeman), a former 80s child star who was famously called a "f*cking wanker!" on live kid's TV show Crikey, It's Saturday!
The moment ended Greg's career as a young TV magician, and the clip's appearance on TV blooper shows for the past 20 years, has reduced Greg to a figure of ridicule. Now 36, Greg is working as a bored sofa salesman for jobsworth Mr Kane (Matt Green), and is later arrested when Shirley (Siobhan Finneran), a brash "fan" and opportunist, accuses him of violence.
Written by Toby Whithouse (Angels, Doctor Who), Other People takes a simple idea and successfully milks it of every laugh possible. Martin Freeman has always been good at playing downtrodden everymen (in The Office to Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy), and Greg is certainly cut from the same cloth. It was a shame Freeman never convinced as a magician, though (intentionally so, in one funny scene at a newsagent's), but they missed a trick there. So to speak.
There's fine support from the guest stars, too -- from Phil Davis, as a Sergeant who's convinced illusionist Greg has the abilitity to hypnotize him into kissing men, to Nicholas Burns as Rick Parish, an incompetent lawyer in the Troy McClure mould. Burns gets the funniest moment, when he suddenly realizes he knows the answer to a Coronation Street half-question asked in court, so leaps up to dramatically to answer: "Richard Hillman, your honour! The character's name... is Richard...Hillman."
Siobhan Finneran was good as Shirley, the villainess of the piece. She's not given many funny lines, but earned giggles when her "injuries" are revealed to Greg as fraudulent, when he sees her chasing spilt Maltesers down a ramp.
Matt Green is less successful as Mr Kane, primarily because the script crowbars in an unfunny trait where he narrates his actions in the style of a bad romantic novel. He was much better in his opening scene, as the jumped-up manager of the sofa store, without that unnecessary flourish.
Other People is bookended with scenes set in 1987. The opening is a fun recreation of kid's shows like Going Live!, while the final scene is set backstage at a Royal Variety Show. The latter scene is amusing for its digs at the calibre of 80s homegrown celebrity (Russ Abbott, Dustin Gee, Keith Chegwin, etc), but perhaps robs the episode of its perfect, present day ending outside the court.
Overall, Toby Whithouse's Other People was a funny and engaging 30-minutes of comedy. The premise and plot were simple and predictable (CCTV, whodathunk?), but the characters were nicely established and, above all, it was constantly funny.
Regarding Channel 4's Comedy Showcase season itself; it's refreshing to watch comedy designed as a one-off instalment. Some ideas are just best suited to this format -- Other People being a great example. But, if something works as a backdoor pilot for a continuing series, that's great too. The season can act as an informal "broadcast test bed" -- with the most popular episode perhaps inspiring Channel 4 to request a full series.
5 October 2007
Channel 4, 10.00 pm
