A good solid start
Upstart Crow marks a bit of a revival for Ben Elton. Without actually restoring him to the top of the comic writers league it has to be said. If you can see Ben's career faltering after Blackadder, next was "The Thin Blue Line" where the standard dropped quite a bit. After that things became unwatchable. Let's say "Upstart Crow" gets Ben back up to "The Thin Blue Line".To achieve this Ben has pretty much returned to Blackadder territory, this time he is investigating Shakespeare with a few nods to the modern age. Each show is split into 3 parts – the real story is book ended by scenes set in Will's home and are pretty bland. A few star names (Harry Enfield, Liza Tarbuck and Paula Wilcox) to stick on the advertising hoardings but precious little to amuse. The major activity is either in Will's London residence or the pub down the road.
You just can't escape the Balckadder comparisons though and. let's be fair though, we are comparing this programme with one of the classic comedies of the 1980s. Not many since have equalled that show. Ben Elton writes his parts in particular styles and the Shakespeare role is Rowan Atkinson. David Mitchell may be a fine actor but he cannot channel Atkinson. I can see Atkinson extracting every ounce of humour out of some of the diatribes which sounds ordinary from a mere mortal. Other characters evoke those from Blackadder 2 and are quite pedestrian but develop over the course of the series. I do though like the Ricky Gervais mimic. A bit of vitriol from Ben? If so...more please!
These are the obvious observations but how is the show as a whole? A knowledge of Shakespeare would help but I don't know much about the bard and I found the show pretty good. In spite of the criticisms the cast carry off decent, but not great, roles. Each show contains a gentle dig at luvvie actors and there is a lot of genuine humour on board. The stories are simply mechanisms to wrap around a number of sketches. A mechanism which works.
Very few comedies hit the bullseye in the first series and I think there is plenty to work with here. I hope that there is a second series and Ben can gear the dialogue to the actors at his disposal. Let's remember "The Blackadder" didn't exactly predict the glories to come. That was before they took on board an upcoming new writer...oh yeah. Ben Elton.
score 7/10
tlloydesq 10 November 2016
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw3578129/14496
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