There are, I’m sure, a number of responses to be elicited when told that the creator of Gimme, Gimme, Gimme has created a new sitcom for BBC2 — not all of them complimentary.
But Jonathan Harvey has done just that, and after the first two episodes of Beautiful People landed on the TV Today doormat recently, I have to say that it looks like it’s going to be a finely crafted, rather sweet, and often incredibly funny series.
The show is based on the memoirs of the same name
Which, it has to be admitted, Simon’s family are not. However, they are quite sweet in their own way, and the outrageous caricatures that formed the bedrock of Gimme Gimme Gimme’s humour are absent. This is much closer in spirit to Harvey’s acclaimed stage work, including Beautiful Thing, which places believable family relationships at the heart of his comedy.
Each episode is structured in flashback, with adult Simon recalling the events leading up to a particular incident in his childhood. Thursday’s series opener, How I Got My Vase, reaches the acquisition of said glassware through a tale that encompasses his mother’s attempts to go teetotal, his sister’s desire to look like Heather Small from M People in order to impress a boy, and an appropriated dress that leads to a false accusation of adultery.
It’s a slight tale, but one that fulfils its primary purpose of introducing the regular characters and making us want to see more of them each week. The second episode of the series, How I Got My Nose, is much more playful in nature, as Simon, Kylie and another neighbour all start to vie for the coveted role of Joseph in the school musical. The walk to school, with each child singing over the others with a different musical theatre standard before they unite in a rendition of Ease On Down The Road as they skip off down a CGI’d yellow brick road, is something you are unlikely to see anywhere else.
Iindeed, the whole thing just feels unlike any British sitcom currently out there. In terms of tone, it feels closer to the early seasons of either Scrubs or My Name Is Earl, crossed with a funnier and gayer Adrian Mole.
Part of what makes it work is the cast. Luke Ward-Williamson is good as the 13-year-old Simon, but it’s Olivia Colman (Peep Show/That Mitchell and Webb Look) as his mother and Layton Williams (one of the Billys in Billy Elliot the Musical) as Kylie who really stand out amongst a fine ensemble.
Based on the first two episodes of the series, I think this could well be that rare thing of a new sitcom which works from the off. Somewhat, disconcertingly, though, the only preview clip the BBC has put up on its YouTube channel is this fantasy dance sequence from a future episode, which doesn’t quite sell the show as well as it could:
- Beautiful People: How I Got My Vase, Thursday 9.30pm BBC2. Series writer Jonathan Harvey is interviewed in the October 2 issue of The Stage, available from major newsagents priced £1.40.
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