Roger & Val Have Just Got In - BBC2 Fridays 10pm

I've heard so many people slate this programme because it's not funny. Fair enough, it's not going to have you cackling but I often find myself laughing inside at it. I think it's one of those programmes which warms yer cockles. :p
 
The programme is really growing on me too now that I'm getting to know the characters. It's a gentle programme isn't it? And the camera panning onto that photograph of them holding a baby probably means that there's tragedy somewhere in their past as I've never heard them mention a child in past or present tense.

I'm intrigued now and want to know more!
 
And that is fair enough. I have no problem with you not liking what you saw, but do you not understand my point. This isn't a fast-paced story; it's slowly building up over the episodes so that now we're just reaching the point where we start to care about these two people.

My main concern with what you wrote was the bit about your post having more laughs than the show had. You can't know that if you only watched the end where Val broke down.
I agree with you that your post had more jokes than the last few minutes, because that was the entire point of the ending.
 
Last night was another moving, and well observed episode, IMO.
Interestingly, I found myself feeling more sympathetic for Roger's character, even when Val was speaking about him not feeling the loss of their child in the same way as she, his Mother, did.
I really get the feeling that it's actually Roger who hasn't come to terms with it.
It's a really well written, and thought provoking series.
 
I actually think Dawn French can act very well, her strength is her sense of pathos. Sure a lot of the time, she's running around shouting and being Dawn French - Jennifer Saunders Comedy Partner, but Friday's episode of Roger & Val was very moving as was the episode of Jam and Jerusalem which focused on French's character.
 
No, I do understand you and I appreciate that if you've already spent hours watching the show, you might now be getting to the point where the characters are revealing themselves. However, I've gotta say: that sounRAB like a huge investment of time for (IMHO, other views are valid) a very small reward - one that you can't even have known about when the show started, since it's only happening at the end of the 4th episode.

Further, now that their personalities are being revealed, they appear pretty dam' lame. I acknowledge the earlier point that this is supposed to be some sort of "human story" but that's not to my taste either, it's simply not entertaining - and yes, I have read Pinter.
I don't need TV to show me human stories, or the tragedy of a mundane existence, I see that every day. Putting it on TV and calling is "comedy" does not validate it, or somehow make it worthy or insightful viewing.
 
Roger & Val Have Just Got In...

and they are two of the most boring people on Earth.

Jesus wept, this show is awful.
 
Timothy West is a brilliant choice, but I'm not sure about Sheila Hancock fitting that role...I'd prefer someone like Penelope Wilton.
 
Agree - how on earth did this ever get commisioned! Absolue and utter tripe. In fact Watching a still of some tripe would be more entertaining than this #@#@

I was yelling to my o/h to switch it over - it was so dire - it was annoying.
 
I have a great deal of sympathy with that view. It would have helped if they had given us some kind of insight into what to expect from the series.
I don't think I'm entirely stupid, but I was puzzled from the start. I continued watching, more out of curiosity than enjoyment. I also posted several times that it appeared a lot darker than I had anticipated. I now "get" what they appear to be attempting, but wish there had been a little more information "on the tin".
I think there was a really good idea in there somewhere, but the casting of Dawn French was a big mistake. I don't think she has the emotional depth (acting-wise) to carry the role.
 
Really? This was the first episode that I actually could at last define as hilarious. All that fuss over an inadvertent work email,and Val not knowing much about emailing, then suggesting the ideal panacea to Roger's email clanger, only to end up making the situation that much worse. Good stuff.
 
This show definitely polarizes opinion it seems. I did struggle through the first episode but stuck with it and feel rewarded now. The last 5 minutes of Friday's episode were heartbreaking. Great acting from both. Agree with previous posts that this really was promoted incorrectly. It's not a comedy at all.
 
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