Channel 4 - Drop the Dead Donkey > Reviews (2)

Globelink News - a beacon shining in the dark night of television news coverage. Or so Gus would have us believe!

I must confess that I love Drop the Dead Donkey, and was ecstatic (well, pretty pleased!) when I found out that Paramount were repeating all the episodes. OK, so the ultra-topical news items referred to are now consigned to history, but the razor-sharp wit still makes me laugh out loud. The characters are excellent - all utterly flawed and totally hilarious. Sally and Henry engage in a war of one-upmanship and bitch about each other constantly; George tries (and fails) to cope with the pressures of running the newsroom, his failed marriage and completely uncontrollable daughter whilst wearing some decidedly dodgy cardigans; Dave and Damian are often their own worst enemies; and Joy is the PA from hell. Fantastic! Gus, the "leader" of the team, can always be relied upon for inane management-speak at just the wrong moment. Ahh, the benefits of Sir Royston's extensive training programme...

When DTDD was first shown (thank you, Channel Four!) it was the first "sit-com" to deal with current affairs. Shows were recorded during the week of transmission to keep them topical and up-to-date. Like I said before, these news items are now so old that they've almost passed into political folklore (at one point, jokes about Neil Hamilton and brown envelopes featured quite heavily) but the quality of both the humour and the writing haven't dated at all. The only drawback is the transmission time - it's usually on Paramount about 11.15 or 11.30 - and I need my beauty sleep!