BBC2: World of Pub

How's this for a comedy show, you take a genuine cockney pub, add a couple of owners and a genuine cockney dodgy geezer and stick the characters in amusing situations which end with the pub being burnt down by dodgy. This is the basic premise behind World of Pub and if my overview gave the impression that this might be amusing I'm very, very sorry. This is a comedy show which should be sued under the trade descriptions act. By its nature comedy demands ...
...to spend several years discovering what the word funny actually means.

Now in case you think I'm damning a show i haven't given a chance then I'll point out that I've actually sat through two entire episodes of this trash. I suspect most people turn off after seeing the title sequence. The only redeeming feature this show has is that its only half an hour long and so far there's no hint of another series. Since the show revolves around ... more

How's this for a comedy show, you take a genuine cockney pub, add a couple of owners and a genuine cockney dodgy geezer and stick the characters in amusing situations which end with the pub being burnt down by dodgy. This is the basic premise behind World of Pub and if my overview gave the impression that this might be amusing I'm very, very sorry. This is a comedy show which should be sued under the trade descriptions act. By its nature comedy demands humour and i suspect the writers of this show need to spend several years discovering what the word funny actually means.

Now in case you think I'm damning a show i haven't given a chance then I'll point out that I've actually sat through two entire episodes of this trash. I suspect most people turn off after seeing the title sequence. The only redeeming feature this show has is that its only half an hour long and so far there's no hint of another series. Since the show revolves around a pub you can expect vomiting and very few changes of scene. It starts in a pub and it ends outside a pub, some action may take place elsewhere but the focus here is on the pub. The plots consist of there being a threat to the pub or of the pub hosting an event which Dodgy ends up sorting out under the watchful eye of the owners, Garry and Barry. The pub is then burnt down as the result of a freak accident. Unfortunately the next show opens after the rebuilding of the pub, personally I'd have left it a burnt out wreck.

The shows main cast consists of three characters. Garry (the thick one), Barry (the sensible one) and Dodgy a genuine cockney geezer. There are other characters which vary show to show. However what needs to be remembered is that the show is based around the trio above and that if you don't find them amusing (and i doubt that you will) its pointless watching. Garry and Barry are the pub owners. They are harmless enough. But they aren't amusing. The problem doesn't really lie with the actors who try their best. The problem is that the script rigidly straps them into their stereotypes. Garry has to be mostly quiet and when he opens his mouth he has to say something stupid. There must be a scene at which people try at length to explain things to him, usually by repeat a line ad nauseum, and he continually fails to understand it. As a character he is predictably and boring. Its not that restricting a part to a rigid guideline can't work. Look at Baldrick in Blackadder. There was a character that rarely varied from saying things stupid, a thick foil to Blackadders intelligence. Baldrick worked because the writers were good and came up with funny inventive lines. Garry fails because all you get is Dodgy trying to get him to complete the phrase Beer and Wine make you feel fine by repeating it and banging his head on the bar.

Barry is little better. Barry is the clever one. This means he gets lines like Don't drop that torch on the alcohol soaked floor. I can only assume that such mind numbing statements of the obvious were thought up because the writers realised that once people had seen the first bit of the program they switched off, or started doing more interesting things like the washing up. To help out those who aren't paying attention they kindly decided to use Barry to carefully spell out what was happening. Either that or they simply assumed that all viewers are as stupid as Garry and need the pointers to keep up with the complex plotting. In fact the plotting isn't as bad as it could be. It's not exactly full of twists and turns and is fairly predictably. But as comedy shows go its respectable enough. The program on last night had a new pub stealing business from Garry and Barry's establishment. After a succession of rival schemes the new pubs owner challenged them to a drinking contest. They got a ringer and won the contest but were then shown up as cheats and dodgy managed to burn the pub down. Not complicated but not seriously bad. The charm of shows like this should lie in invent characters and funny lines rather than sophisticated plotting. Its just unfortunate that World pub lacks both of these elements.

The final member of the trio is Dodgy. As the name suggests he is a dodgy cockney geezer who generally uses his connections to help Garry and Barry out. In each episode he solves all the problems until the end where one of his helpful solutions will be responsible for burning down the bar. The highlight of Dodgy's character should be his wonderful trademark phone conversations. These run something like "yes mate no mate thanks luv". As you can see these gems work on so many levels. First they are full of flavoursome dialect that helps set the scene and establish character. Next they enthral the viewer by not letting them know what's happening so the results of the conversation will be a huge surprise when shown in the next scene. Finally the short lines make for a quick delivery which is guaranteed to have you laughing. While this maybe true the first time you hear it, the 22nd time its said in an episode you begin to turn off. Rather than try and give the characters really funny dialogue the writers just let dodgy repeat the same conversation, occasionally ending it with a different word. Of course they may have thought that giving him a dodgy shirt and leather jacket made him look amusing enough but I'm sorry to say that all the clothes do is inform the viewer that this is a program in need of some serious original thinking.

The sets are actually not bad, the pub seems real enough and since most of the action takes place inside it that's fine. The special effects, usually projectile vomiting and fire, are nothing to shout home about but are respectable enough for a comedy show. The actors certainly seem to make an effort with their characters and so the characters come across as being not too bad. There is at least a sense of character rather than the sense that the actor is simply playing themselves, an impressions you get from a lot of TV. Even the plots are all right. They are not original or unpredictable but they are solid pieces that would probably stand up well in any half decent show. Unfortunately for World of Pub the writing is do bad that all the good features are sadly lost in a tide of humourless repetitive dialogue. With a half decent script this would have been a mildly amusing show, the kind that you watch occasionally and might even laugh at on a good week. As it is all the efforts of the actors can't redeem a script which strives to create a kind of humourless vacuum around the show. The only redeeming point about the script is that the writers haven't made in dependent on sexual innuendo. This is a show that if it were not for the script would be mildly amusing. With its script it becomes one of the least funny things you could watch. This is a show that makes Allo Allo look like a comic masterpiece.

This show was screened in a double bill of comedy that ended with an advert asking for comedy scripts. After watching this program i can only beg anyone reading this who can write even half a joke to get a script into them. The BBC seems to have lost is knack for finding what's amusing. This program was also reccommended by Garry Bushell on the Big Breakfast which its damning enough as far as I'm concerned.
 

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