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Yet, the series could easily have been cancelled when ITV viewers failed to respond to the original version, which featured Clunes sharing his flat with someone named Dermot, played by Harry Enfield. Indeed, it was only when the third series moved to the BBC and was then broadcast in a post-watershed slot--allowing writer Simon Nye greater freedom to explore his characters' saucier ruminations--that the show began to gain a significant audience.
By then, of course, Morrissey had become firmly ensconced on the collective pizza-stained sofa, while more screen time was allocated to the boys' respective foils, Caroline Quentin and Leslie Ash. Often glibly dismissed as a lame-brained succession of gags about sex and flatulence, the later series not only featured great performances and sharp-as-nails writing but also sported a contemporary attitude that dared to go where angels, and certainly most other sitcoms, feared to tread. Or, as Gary was once moved to comment about soft-porn lesbian epic Love in a Women's Prison: "It's a serious study of repressed sexuality in a pressure-cooker environment."
Series 5 includes: "Hair" in which Tony returns from holiday to discover Dorothy has convinced Gary she should move in. And that Tony should move out; "The Good Pub Guide" in which our heroes are dismayed when The Crown gets a new look and new landlord (The Fast Show's John Thomson). Tony rescues the pub's old condom machine as a present for Deborah ("I thought it was something we could enjoy together."); "Cowardice" in which Tony becomes convinced Deborah is going through a lesbian phase; "Your Mate Vs Your Bird" in which increased tension in the household persuades Dorothy to reconsider her living arrangements; "Cardigan" in which Gary, concerned he's becoming middle-aged, suggests they go to a rave; "Rich and Fat" in which Tony goes on a diet after Gary accuses him of being "a bit of a podgemeister"; "Home Made Sauna" in which temptation comes Gary's way when Dorothy and Deborah go away for a sailing weekend.
The DVD version also features aquiz.
Series 5, for me, represented the high spot of the whole thing, where Martin Clunes had physically adapted himself for the role -- with longer, more unkempt hair and rather more body mass -- and became an utterly believable Gary. The joy of it is that Clunes makes a special effort for each episode to do something prattishly and memorably ridiculous -- such as his enthusiastic sofa jig to Tony's awful guitar ditties in the 1st episode, or the wonderfully clumsy route of the beer-can to his mouth each time he takes a sip using the 'Lager mitt'. Series 5 also heralds the arrival of Ken, the utterly inexperienced barman, played by the deadpan John Thompson.
Comedy elsewhere has been more incisive and far more satirical. But this is character-based sitcom at its peak, with writer and actors working together to create something magnificent.
It steers through many different themes ranging from Les being sacked from the crown and ken the new landlord moving in, to the whole street finding out that Gary secretly has a stash of £33,000. If you liked "Game On" or "Babes In The Wood", You'd love it!!!! Suitable to anyone with a sense of humour!!!
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