Thanks for the memories!

I gave it a 7.5 out of 10

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

In the years gone by a series would get to the end of its run of 6 or 8 episodes, its ratings would be assessed and if it was liked it would be brought back. Now however about 5 minutes into its first episode a show can be dead in the water thanks to Twitter and other such social networking sites. The Wright Way is a prime example of this and after a critical mauling on the internet and from critics it has been axed.You can understand why the BBC felt confident about this show. It was after all written by Ben Elton a man who can claim credit for bringing us Blackadder and Mr Bean, it was about so called 'lovable losers'(isn't every sitcom these days?) and it was by and large family friendly despite being dumped in a late slot (another bad omen).However when people started taking glee in the fact that Elton had seemingly lost his touch and listing the weak jokes the axe looked set to loom. The Wright Way isn't actually a bad show, it just was never given a proper go.

You would think that overzealous health and safety would make for good comic fodder. Indeed there are a few good lines on the subject and the main character is exactly what I imagine these people to be like in real life. He plays it pretty well.Unfortunately the programme fails to deliver so much in every other regard that it is genuinely just painful to watch. It is actually impressive just how they could ruin this to such an extent. If Ben Elton were not the writer this never would have seen the light of day. Indeed if this was the first thing Ben Elton ever produced neither would his career... it pains me to say.An array of stock characters which feel like they are almost designed solely with the intention of being annoying and physically unpleasant to watch. Silly voices, pseudo catchphrases and incredibly predictable (but enormously strung out) punchlines... coupled with just the most over-the-top laughter track I have ever encountered makes this utterly dreadful.If you took every half decent line from the entire series as a whole you might just be able to squeeze out a twenty minute sketch show that'd actually be vaguely entertaining... but I doubt it.

This is getting a 7 because of the scripts - which i will come to later.Most have panned this as rubbish but i like it. Great idea of Health & Safety office in a council as its not been done and there's always a daft story about a council somewhere in the UK doing something completely stupid. This ridicules it.Gearld Wright is the head of the H&S team which is a ram-shackled collection of different personalities (ill leave that to surprise) and has a habit of using a million words to describe something where ten would do. They are constantly looking into the H&S of daft things, last episode i watched was about pins in the packaging of shirts...His home life isn't much better than work with his ex wife showing up with her Adonis of a new boyfriend, daughter Susan moving in her girlfriend who has trouble speaking English....Its a laugh in my opinion (and I'm going to get rated down for that) The humour is obvious and, OK it might be a laughter track, is funny with laughs in the right place unlike modern comedies where you have to look for the humour (read my review on Cuckoo). Ben Eltons scripts do contain a lot of his stand up shows but it is funny. Only thing i would have done different is made the daughter and her girlfriend as sisters as they are different personalities where adding in boyfriends would give it another route for comedy. I said ignore the critics and watch it for yourself..

I think many who have ripped this new sitcom apart are overlooking the fact that it's meant to be risible. Elton is lampooning the councils who have given us this silly culture of fear of doing anything. The H&S team are zealous idiots who go to great lengths to justify their own jobs and importance. It was a subject itching to made into a sitcom. How you make a subtle sitcom of this subject I'm not sure, so the bold almost cartoony approach was justified imo.But it is this bold style which has turned many off, and Elton certainly hasn't held back on the cartoon like characterisation and dialogue. Also he dives deep into his juvenile love for puerile sixthform humour, with little regard for its suitability here, he just throws it all in without really examining whether it's a good match or not for the sitcom.So it's a very long way from being great but it does the job effectively for me and I've laughed watching every episode as well as cringed a bit. Best of all it sets up punchlines and payoffs aplenty and has proper sitcom story lines that have a beginning, middle and end. A throwback style sitcom and a bit too cartoony it may well be, but I laugh at this more than I do many so called modern day sitcoms.