The Tate Gallery (The Catherine Tate Show - Series 1 (DVD))

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Product:	The Catherine Tate Show - Series 1 (DVD)
Date:	07/01/06 (2586 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Hilarious sketches, clever writing and wit

Disadvantages: Some characters are on it far too much

A month ago, I’d heard of but never actually seen anything of The Catherine Tate Show. It’s one of those programmes often discussed at work, in the press or on other television shows but I never actually seemed to notice a time when it was actually on TV. That didn’t stop me being intrigued (in fact, it probably made me far more so.) When I mentioned that it might be rather nice if Santa Claus dropped me a copy down the chimney you can imagine my delight when that’s exactly what the fat old fart did.

The Catherine Tate show is a self-titled sketch show, written by and starring comedienne Catherine Tate. She wasn’t that familiar to me until she landed a co-starring role in Dawn French’s quirky comedy series, Wild West. From there, she soon moved on to have her own series and two series have now been broadcast on BBC2, along with a Christmas special. Comparisons regularly seem to be made between this show and the hugely successful Little Britain (now in its third television series) but it would be safe to say that Little Britain has rather eclipsed Catherine Tate and where the former has migrated from BBC3 to BBC1 prime time, the latter has remained on BBC2 for both series.

Although there are some similarities with Little Britain, The Catherine Tate Show is actually quite a different kind of programme and employs a rather different type of humour. Clearly inspired by people that she has met (either intimately or casually) Tate revels in the opportunity to show different extremes of womankind at their very worst and masters a particularly accomplished style of writing. Whilst the characters of Little Britain are shocking caricatures, Catherine Tate is generally rather more subtle about things and as a result both her performances and the characters are far more convincing and engaging. Whereas Little Britain seems to have got cruder and cruder (albeit in a very funny fashion) Catherine Tate relies more on sharp wit to entertain her audience.

In series one, her characters cover the cross-spectrum of the modern female almost completely. From teenagers, through to twenty-somethings, struggling thirty-somethings and downright wicked pensioners, she has an eye for quirky, yet realistic humour. I’ve met people who exhibit the traits of all her characters, in some cases almost to the letter and therefore whilst the humour clearly exaggerates these characteristics, the laughs come more from your observing people you know than ridiculing people you’ve never seen before.

Compared to Little Britain, there are far fewer enduring trademarks and catchphrases in Catherine Tate’s show although there are some to be found. Hormonal teenager Lauren is easily the most famous of the bunch and regularly gets herself into arguments with just about everyone where she makes it very clearly that she “ain’t bovvered”. Rather like Vicky Pollard from Little Britain (only nowhere near as grotesque), Tate’s rapid script and wit is rather a sight to behold and as each argument descends into the same territory (“are you disrespecting me?”) the pace of the debate reaches almost lightning speeds. This is a common trait of Tate’s style where she will increase the pace and mirth throughout a sketch to deliver a satisfyingly hilarious climax, even if it is normally painfully obvious. Indeed, once you familiarise yourself with the characters (as the audience in season one does) you find yourself chuckling, grinning and smirking because you know what they’re about to do, rather than what they’ve just done.

There aren’t so many obvious favourites in Catherine Tate compared to other shows. Apart from Lauren, the next likely candidate is Mrs Taylor, otherwise known throughout the series as Nan. The appeal of “Nan” for me is largely based on the fact that she is almost the spitting image and personality of my father’s mother and some of the situations that arise in series one have almost identically occurred in my own life. “Nan” is an archetypal old lady at first, but once she gets rattled, she lets of a stream of obscenities and shows her true, darker colours. The real hilarity of the piece is her ability to completely change her mind, smiling sweetly at the window cleaner and thanking him sincerely for his time before quickly calling him names and criticising him for taking liberties as soon as he has left the flat. The sketches work particularly well with Mrs Taylor given the trying relationship she shares with her grandson and the fact that you can’t help feeling sorry for the poor bloke. Nan crops up at least once on every episode in series 1 and each sketch seems to get funnier and funnier – although I wasn’t keen on the song she started singing in episode six.

Despite the obvious mass appeal of Nan and Lauren my favourite character throughout the first series is one who most other people seem indifferent towards. Anyone who has ever worked in an office will almost certainly have known somebody who refuses to stop chatting to you when you’re trying to work and keeps talking about pointless rubbish, engaging you only to hazard a guess at information that he/she clearly wants to share with you. Throughout series one, this nemesis crops up frequently as you witness hilarious scenes between two office co-workers, one of whom suffers terribly at the hands of the other who simply will not relent in her attempts to make her “have a guess”. The dialogue is incredibly sharp, and it’s Tate’s ability to bring the irritating cow to life that really has me in stitches. The joke is almost formulaic – you know that the hapless victim is going to be harassed into saying something utterly ridiculous, only to get more grief, but the formula does get played around with just to keep you on your toes. The first sketch involving the two ladies, a slice of cake and a weight loss programme is undoubtedly my favourite of the series.

There are loads of other great characters too, including a rather jumpy woman who screams at everything; a seemingly calm, prim woman who, when prompted, suddenly demonstrates a desire to give innocent people a good “back hander” across the chops; a neurotic mother and her (frighteningly convincing) equally neurotic children; and another couple having problems getting their baby to stay asleep.

Despite Tate’s creative skill, however, there are fairly frequent visitations in the series that bored me rigid and had me reaching for the remote control. Paul and Sam, a youngish Essex couple seems to find even the most mundane of things utterly hilarious and although I know it’s supposed to be, the whole thing is completely excruciating. What makes it worse is that they dominate the series, cropping up three or four times in one episode alone. A rather deranged female police detective who acts like a cross between Amanda Burton’s character in Silent Witness and the police man from The Pink Panther is also pretty dire and features in a number of episodes too. There’s also a daft woman intent on marrying a serial killer on death row (horrifically long sketches) and an irritating woman from Doncaster who refuses to admit that she is too old for the majorettes. In general, the longer sketches tend to be the ones that really do nothing for me.

Rather like the series itself, the design of the DVD is very understated and unlikely to grab you as you walk past. Each of the six episodes from series one is contained here and via the simple DVD menu, you can opt to watch them individually or as one continuous flow (which will include each of the title sequences.)

The DVD is rather lacking in extras, which doesn’t particularly bother me (I wanted the programmes to watch not the extras) and this obviously keeps the main menu pretty simple.

There is a fifteen-minute interview with Catherine Tate, which provides some insight into her inspiration for the characters but it isn’t terribly well comprised and generally feels rather rushed. Indeed, I’m pretty sure that a studio interview with Jonathan Ross or Parkinson would actually yield more information and would almost certainly be funnier. It is, however, still interesting to see if you are a real fan of the show’s star. The other extra on the DVD is a short (five minute) interview between the character Lauren and the boy band McFly, which is very funny but because it was filmed for Comic Relief is obviously very short. Lauren has some great lines in the interview and the idea, at least, was pretty inspired.

Other features that I think would have been welcome on the DVD could have included out-takes and deleted scenes, the latter particularly as I’m quite sure then when making a series like this, a lot of stuff gets chopped out. In comparison to the DVD menu structure of the Bo Selecta series, I couldn’t help thinking that the package could have been presented in a more creative fashion (Margaret could have appeared and then screamed when you select an option from the menu.) I think this is more indicative of the BBC’s lazy attitude compared to the creative talents of Channel 4. More stuff about Catherine Tate would have been good too – maybe some scenes of her doing stand up?

The region 2 DVD was released in August last year and is widely available. If you have enjoyed series 2 or even just the Christmas special, I’m pretty sure you’d like this. There are quite a few bits that I don’t personally like, but because there are so many that I absolutely love, I’m prepared to overlook this – and of course on DVD you can skip ahead. The best bit about Catherine Tate is that (some strong language aside) I think that the humour is fairly versatile and accessible by just about everyone.

Summary: Clever, pertinent wit - a great introduction to the world of Catherine Tate.