MSN TV: BBC3's HIM & HER (series 3)

Over on MSN TV today: I've reviewed the third series premiere of BBC Three's cult flat-share sitcom HIM & HER, starring Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani as lazy lovers with oddball friends and family...

I enjoyed Him & Her when it started, despite its tendency to take things to such an extreme it becomes icky. The second series widened things by involving Steve and Becky's extended families more: Becky's cruel sister Laura, her thick fiancé Paul (Ricky Champ), ditzy middle-aged hanger-on Shelly (Camille Coduri) and weirdo neighbour Dan (Joe Wilkinson). While clearly not to everyone's taste—given the ribald nature of the jokes and situations, together with the strict decision to keep everything contained inside a three-room flat—Him & Her is an entertaining and innovative comedy that's avoided running out of ideas.

Continue reading at MSN TV...

BBC renew HIM & HER for series 3

BBC Three's flat-share sitcom Him & Her has been recommissioned for a third series. This is a comedy I watch but don't review every week, so I'm pleased by this announcement. Series 2's been much stronger, mainly because writer Stefan Golaszewski's chosen to involve more characters—in the form of the family/friends of reclusive lovers Becky and Steve. It's still not the kind of show I laugh-out-loud with, or feel keen to get other people watching, but it's pleasant and amusing. Most episodes have at least one memorable encounter or uncomfortable situation to giggle at.

I do wonder if the concept will stretch to a third year, though. There's almost no character development with Becky and Steve (which is kind of the point because they're stuck in a blissful rut together), but it's getting to the stage where you're hoping for Becky to at least fall pregnant.

Review: HIM & HER, 2.1 - "The Move"

BBC Three's Him & Her returns for a second series, which I'm sure will delight and depress viewers in equal measure. You either appreciate this comedy's realism and deliberate pace, or you find it tiresome and the raw characters too uncomfortable. It helps that I'm a fan of sitcoms with restrictive settings, and Him & Her has never once strayed from a single one-bedroom flat. Other viewers may go stir crazy, but a narrow focus often means characters and dialogue are written sharper. I'm happy to spend time with these people because the acting's great and there are some brilliant lines, but I do wonder about the show's lifespan because it lacks The Royle Family's warm touch.

The only major change for series 2 is the fact Becky (Sarah Solemani) has moved in with boyfriend Steve (Russell Tovey), but that doesn't mean much because we spent the majority of series 1 believing they were cohabiting. Him & Her's game plan is therefore the same: unemployed Becky and Steve laze around in bed, doing nothing constructive with their day, as their grubby tranquility is interrupted by friends and family. In this episode, Becky's bossy sister Laura (Kerry Howard), her loutish fiancé Paul (Ricky Champ), and middle-aged friend Shelly (Camille Coduri) come round for a house-warming, followed by oddball neighbour Dan (Joe Wilkinson), who's proud to announce he has a girlfriend ("made her a Full English, took her to an airfield, y'know"). Trouble then brewed when it becomes clear Steve's ex-girlfriend Julie (Katie Lyons) has also been invited.

As always, it's in the small moments where this sitcom triumphs. Untidy Steve having an uncharacteristic obsession with clothes hangers facing the same way, a scene where he implores Becky to lick a cut on his arm as a test of her love, or everyone's fascination with the fact Steve likes eating apples (particularly because he rubs them on his shirt before eating them, which Becky thinks is an old-fashioned mannerism). If nothing else, Him & Her perfectly captures a sense of humdrum reality, especially because the flat itself is so credibly unpleasant and cluttered. You can almost smell the laundry basket. The performances are also a key reason to watch; Tovey and Solemani make for a highly convincing couple, and Wilkinson casually steals scenes as socially inept loner Dan. The best example here being when Dan showed Steve a photo of his plain and podgy girlfriend, seeking Steve's approval with an admission he'd love to sleep with her.

I think problems arise with Him & Her through how individual viewers react to Steve and Becky. On the one hand they're clearly head-over-heels in love (which is quite unique for a comedy of this nature, where it's easier to write gags for a couple who dislike each other), and they have the patience of saints when it comes to handling and humouring the people in their lives. On the other hand, they're feckless, indolent and often very gross. They feel very authentic to me, but I can understand why some people find Becky and Steve hard to watch, or refuse to because they believe they promote laziness. (Neither character's employed, so one assumes they exist purely on social benefits and dole money.) Thing is, fiction often holds a mirror up to society, and Steve and Becky are what's currently being reflected back. It's a sitcom for its time.

Still, I agree that some of Him & Her's strengths can also be seen as weaknesses. I don't blame people for finding the characters unlikeable and the whole setup rather laborious. It's not a dynamic laugh riot, nor does it have many moments that stick in the memory (although I still giggle over the moment in series 1 when Steve was caught about to masturbate to porn), but it's a sitcom that knows what it wants to be, and succeeds on those terms.

written by Stefan Golaszewski / directed by Richard Laxton / 1 November 2011 / BBC Three

'Him & Her': back for series 2

BBC3 comedy Him & Her has been recommissioned for a second series. The sitcom, about an unemployed and lazy couple (played by Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani), finished a few weeks ago, having received mixed reviews during its run. But this pickup is no surprise, as it was BBC3's most successful sitcom launch, and pulled in a weekly total of 2.1m viewers (including repeats).

Danny Cohen, Controller of BBC Three:

"Him and Her was beautifully written and brilliantly performed. It went on to become BBC Three's most successful ever sitcom launch. I'm delighted it's coming back for a second series."

Cheryl Taylor, BBC Controller of Comedy Commissioning:

"We're all looking forward to the second series of this original, funny and intimately observed sitcom."

Kenton Allen, Chief Executive of Big Talk Productions:

"The tremendous support that BBC Three has given to a lo-fi romantic comedy in which nothing much ever happens has been amazing. We are delighted that their faith has been repaid with a brilliant reaction from audience and critics alike and we can't wait to return to the tea, toast and unwashed bed linen of series 2 to enjoy the further adventures of Steve and Becky."

Initially, I really liked Him & Her, then it became repetitive and I started to lose interest by episode 4. However, compared to other sitcoms BBC3 produce, it was more interesting and oddly watchable than most. For me, this was mainly down to Tovey and Solemani's performances, which felt very natural.

Filming will commence sometime in 2011.

'HIM & HER' 1.4-1.6 - "The Football", "The Parents" & "The Argument"

I stopped reviewing BBC3's Him & Her after the third episode, but kept watching and promised some kind of summarizing review after this week's finale. I think Him & Her showed real potential in its first two episodes, with a brilliantly grimy tone and recognizable traits in lazy lovers Steve (Russell Tovey) and Becky (Sarah Solemani). But then it began to fall apart for me; mainly because, once everything had been setup, the storylines and jokes didn't take things a step further. It was content to play the same cards every week, to decreasing impact.

"The Football" was the worst episode of the run, with everyone gathered at the bedsit to watch a football match on TV, while Paul (Ricky Champ) moaned about finding out he's adopted and Steve tried to parse a dream he'd had of Becky and her ex. There just wasn't much of interest going on, and when the story took a turn into an argument of perceived racism it came across as rather desperate.

An improvement was "The Parents", if only because seeing Becky's mum and dad (Nigel and Jill) interact with Steve, whom they don't like, was inherently amusing. Steve's attempts to look good around his girlfriend's parents, even when he's made to look a fool by asking Nigel to fix a broken fridge that just had the thermostat turned off, was also very funny. Great to see Ralph Brown (Withnail & I, Alien3) playing Nigel, too.

"The Argument" was fairly average, with Becky and Steve spending the whole episode fuming with each other over a silly argument Steve refused to apologize for. The episode just kind of dragged along, but was rescued by a wonderful final scene, where Steve revealed the depth of his love for Becky in the bathroom (brilliantly played by Tovey), and capped by the amusing twist that, contrary to what we've assumed for the past six episodes, Becky doesn't actually live with Steve. A prospective second series should find Becki moving in (although I doubt her "woman's touch" will amount to much in his bedsit), and Steve didn't look too happy about losing his independence.

But will there be a second run? Him & Her has split opinion: some people absolutely hate its whole sensibility, premise and characters; others people find a certain honesty, realism and warmth between the dysfunctional friends, if you can get past its puerile tendencies. I wouldn't be opposed to a second series, but I hope writer Stefan Golaszewski spends more time on the scripts, or finds a good co-writer, because the overall joke started to wear thin after episode 3 and there wasn't much cleverness to take the edge off the gross-outs. With increasingly regularity, Him & Her was chasing bad taste gags, or taking things to ridiculous extremes (like Laura believing she's visited by aliens) that took me out of the show's grungy reality.

What are your thoughts on this sitcom? Misunderstood genius? Detestable crud? Promising but riddled with problems? Would you like to see it come back (with improvements), or is it best forgotten because it was already starting to flag?

'HIM & HER' 1.3 - "The Fancy Dress Party"

I get the impression I've been enjoying this sitcom more than most, but even I had a tough time appreciating this third episode. Sometimes the middle episodes of comedies are the weakest, as people will forgive and forget a halfway slump if there's a strong beginning and end. I hope that's true here, but there's also a worry that Him & Her's intentionally limited situation (two lazy lovers, one bedsit) is already beginning to exhaust itself. Are Steve (Russell Tovey) and Becky (Sarah Solemani) interesting enough to keep you engaged with their lives, considering their lives are so acutely dull?

This week, Steve and Becky were preparing to go out for a "P"-themed fancy dress party, to celebrate Paul's (Ricky Champ) son Luke beating leukemia. Unfortunately, Steve had rung HSBC and was stuck on hold, while Becky fretted over the appearance of a spot on her chin, meaning both risked being extremely late by the time Becky's sister Laura (Kerry Howard) came around to ensure Steve had bought the sausage rolls he'd promised to.

As usual, there were a sprinkling of amusing and disgusting moments to make you grin and grimace in equal measure: Becky not remembering the song "Candle In The Wind", the contents of her messy handbag (hairbrush embedded with crisps, etc), a gnawed toothbrush, Becky's "fringe wash" to save time doing her hair, and the late arrival of an angry Paul dressed as Postman Pat with "a Jess" in his satchel. Lonely neighbour Dan (Joe Wilkinson) also continues to become an even more tragic figure; ignored and left alone in Steve and Becky's hallway, resorting to doing an admittedly impressive card trick (that had taken him a week of intense memorization) to make himself appear interesting.

Overall, the problem with this episode was very simple: after a mere two episodes, I'm unconvinced Him & Her has anything left to give us. The basic situation and its grungy tone is well established, we understand the characters, and now it's just rinse and repeat. Becky and Steve are designed to be creatures of habit with zero aspirations in life, and that unfortunately means they're rather one-dimensional personalities. All the great sitcoms with limited scope had very multi-faceted characters (Porridge, The Royle Family), and considering Him & Her is arguably the most limited sitcom ever (effectively three rooms) the characters need to show a depth we're not getting.

Asides

• My schedule is going to be absolutely crazy now the new TV season's begun, particularly on Mondays, so this may be the last regular review of Him & Her from me until the finale in three weeks.
• Becky said she was 11 when Elton John's 1997 version of "Candle In The Wind" came out, meaning she was born in 1986. I feel old again.

WRITER: Stefan Golaszewski
DIRECTOR: Richard Laxton
CAST: Russell Tovey, Sarah Solemani, Ricky Champ, Kerry Howard & Joe Wilkinson
TRANSMISSION: 20 September 2010 - BBC3, 10.30PM

'HIM & HER' 1.2 - "The Birthday"

Episode 2 of this superbly skuzzy comedy often limped in the first half, but managed to pull itself together for a ribald climax that gave me a seriously hearty laugh as the credits rolled. The performances are great, the grubbiness is intoxicating (kudos to the production designers), and while it's definitely not to everyone's taste, I think Him & Her has enough wit and verve to pull you through its slower, queasier moments.

As usual, Steve (Russell Tovey) and Becky (Sarah Solemani) are in bed together, this time watching an Inspector Morse DVD box-set Becky's scammed from their local HMV. The difference this week is that Steve's bedridden for a valid reason because he's unwell, and thus having to refuse offers of sex. The spurned Becky instead has to play the role of nursemaid, which includes fishing bogies out of her boyfriend's nose... only to wipe them on their sheets. It must be true love.

"The Birthday" also introduced more characters into the fold: Steve's fussy mother Janet (Joanna Bacon), who arrived trailing dog shit into their apartment, before giving her son a multitude of gifts that included a personalized sweatshirt and kitsch badger calendar; and a middle-aged friend called Shelly (Camille Coduri), who didn't really get much to do, but I assume is intended to be a tragic figure (as a fortysomething single woman hanging around with people half her age). Hopefully we'll get to know more about Shelly in future episodes, as Coduri's too good to waste in that kind of role.

The basic formula of Him & Her is that Steve and Becky just want to be left alone beneath their filthy duvet -- to have sex, watch TV, and play computer games... but they're inexplicably still popular enough to keep being interrupted by people they know. In this episode, Becky's sister Laura (Kerry Howard) and her boyfriend Paul (Ricky Champ) did their best to drag the sickly Steve down the pub for a celebratory piss-up, but Steve actually had other plans: an evening to himself involving a hardcore sex chat-room, an inflatable armchair, headphones, and moisturizing cream.

Overall, I'm enjoying this new comedy a great deal. It's not crammed wit laugh-out-loud zingers every minute, but thank goodness for that. I like its grubby style and the accuracy of its central relationship. I've heard it said that there's no appeal in watching lethargic unemployed people lounging around a dingy flat, but so many great sitcoms have focused on lazy/jobless characters that I can't readily accept that complaint. But I understand Him & Her won't strike a chord with viewers who like their comedy to have an upbeat flavour, dynamic leads or big laughs all the way through. Personally, it helps that I've always loved sitcoms with a restricted location and skeleton cast -- it always seems to focus the writing and performances.

Asides

• I loved the irony of Steve being given a coffee table book about London (which he genuinely seemed to appreciate), considering how he never appears to leave his apartment and (assumedly) actually lives in London.
• Camille Coduri is, of course, best known for playing single mum Jackie Tyler in the revamped Doctor Who.
  
• This notion of Inspector Morse being fantastically appealing to people in their 20s, is that accurate? I know from experience that bad/tacky/mature TV shows are often embraced by the youth/student demographic, but Inspector Morse? Really? I'm not sure what an alternative could have been, admittedly. Midsomer Murders? More plausible was their love of quiz show Eggheads.


• Last week it was Becky audible on the toilet, this week it was Becky wiping snot on her bed sheets. Is there going to be one truly repulsive scene in every episode? And is a good thing that Becky's been the focus of them so far? Is Solemani given these scenes for the added shock value, or does it demonstrate gross-out equality with the sexes?
  

WRITER: Stefan Golaszewski DIRECTOR: Richard Laxton GUEST CAST: Ricky Champ, Kerry Howard, Joe Wilkinson, Joanna Bacon & Camille Coduri TRANSMISSION: 13 September 2010 - BBC3/HD, 10.30PM

'HIM & HER' 1.1 - "The Toast"

Today over at Obsessed With Film, I review the first episode of BBC3's brand new comedy HIM & HER, starring Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani...

"It's ironic, but only when a BBC3 comedy/drama aims above the core teen demographic the channel was created for, only then does it produce quality shows like Being Human and the sorely missed Pulling. Brand new sitcom Him & Her is capable of joining those hits in viewer's estimations, provided it can build on the promise of this first episode. Set in a dingy bedsit, the show focuses on Steve and Becky, a lazy and unemployed twentysomething couple with no aspirations beyond snacking, sleeping and shagging." Continue reading...