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

I think people wanted and expected laugh out loud funny from this program. Whereas this is amusing more than anything. Its not normally my kind of thing but I adore it.
 
We really like this - hubby and I found it amusing last week about the contents of the fridge. That was remarkably like the conversations we have!!!!! Found it very emotional this week and I think both the acting performances are great. We all had tears in our eyes towarRAB the end of yesterday's episode - even our 19 daughter who hasn't really watched any of the others. I'm glad we stayed with it.
 
I only lasted about 15 minutes before turning off.It was a bit too determined to show the ecentricities of 'normal people' and really started to grate on me. I might give it another try but it's going to have to relax a bit.
 
I love Roger and Val. My husband hated the first episode but admits its grown on him. I think people were just expecting something laugh a minute, and obviously R&V would be a disappointment if that was what you were after, but it is so worth persevering with.
 
So glad I persevered with 'Roger & Val'.

If this had been presented as a 5 act, 90 minute bittersweet drama, it would have been highly acclaimed and been a shoe-in for the BAFTAs. The way it switches from the mundane to the tragic, and from laughter to tears is sublime.

Only just learned it has been delayed by the BBC - could this be because of Dawn French's marital issues?
 
I agree - I think it's very telling that the BBC were planning to transmit it back in January, but panicked and pulled it from the schedules, only for it to resurface in a late summer Friday night slot where it perhaps wouldn't draw as much attention to itself.
 
I'd never heard of this series until last night when I caught it by accident. As someone who is a bit of a people watcher (not in a creepy way though) I found it very well realised. After the first five minutes it was clear these were two people running away from something they didnt want to have to face, and whilst their never ending efforts to distract themselves were quite amusing, the overall sense of heartbreak was never far away. Not many actors could pull that off.
 
Dreadful. What the hell was a good actor like Alfred Molina thinking of when he took this gig on?? Also the picture quality was as dull as dishwater, which at least matched the standard of the script. After a tedious Jo Brand hospital comedy last night, we can go for a trifecta of trash on Monday with Simon Amstell's new programme. Who is commissioning all this rubbish? At least Mongrels on BBC3 is funny but has had little publicity.
 
The closing shot of last night's episode, if you saw it, strongly suggested so. I'm sticking with it out of interest to see how it develops - it really is a slow burner, which I think is both a blessing and a curse. It really does need to audience to stick with it over the whole 6 episodes in order to get the full value.
 
Mrs Chuff and I didn't persevere past the end of ep.1, but I am very glad to read things have picked up. I was unsure about whether to carry on with Grandma's House, but am glad I did.

On reflection, the problem i had most with R&V ep.1 was that it felt very unnatural. Val had a big spiel about a woman who has an appropriate coat for everyweather. Potentially very funny, but it felt very stilted. Maybe it was DF's delivery? I am not a fan of hers.

A lot of the best TV series don't kick off til ep 3 or 4. I would proudly hold up my alltime favourite drama, Tenko, as an example of that. Glad that R&V has revealed its hidden depths. i wish the show no ill will and, who knows?, may give series 1 a go if there's a series 2. There's nothing wrong with the early episodes building something up, but I didn't really enjoy ep.1. There's a thread about This Life, that begins with someone saying they're up to ep.5 and it's slow going but they are persevering.

I watched it because it had Hugo Blick's name atatched, but it didn't touch his other work (especially the awesomely beautiful Sensitive Skin)
 
Oh my god, so glad there is a thread for this show! I've watched it from the start and you can tell from right then that it's this sort of weird little program that is genuinely captivating. The first two episodes rely very much on the humor of the mundane and being able to relate to these bizarrely "normal" characters, since then it has gotten so much more dramatic and emotional as the story of these two people unfolRAB to the point where you genuinely have to shed a tear for their experiences and you just know its gonna get a whole lot worse!
Anyone who wasn't moved by tonights episode in particular is ridiculous! Such an amazing slow burner and it saddens me to think that some people might not have appreciated its potential in the first few episodes and just shut off, expecting a laugh a minute riot but now missing out an amazingly written and acted out gem!

All the while I'm writing this, I feel like i sound like some random 50 year old who writes into Points of View lol but I promise you, I'm 20 lol

Oh and I have just got to ask! Do the BBC have ANY idea what kinda program it is that they've got here? They seemed to be advertising it as a comedy with Dawn French which is originally why I watched it and even in their "Best of British Comedy" adverts they show clips from this show!
 
I love it, it has me laughing one minute and crying the next, the pair of them really work well together, they have a fantastic chemisty, it reminRAB of something Mike Leigh might do and people who don't get his stuff won't get this.
 
Word. I'm watching Roger & Val, but it doesn't hold a candle to the brilliant & vastly under-rated Sensitive Skin.

If ever a series was due a repeat, it is Sensitive Skin. Sublime TV.
 
I missed the first episode (might catch up on iPlayer) but have seen the last two and I don't really know what to make of it. I think I like it, but I don't know why. It isn't particularly funny, but there's something nice about it. I suppose it's a bit like watching Big Brother really.
 
Back
Top