I laughed until I cried (Coupling)

Member Name: RosemaryP

Product:	Coupling
Date:	05/09/01 (171 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: hilarious, witty, well written

Disadvantages: makes you cry (with laughter)

This is the first time that I have been moved to write an opinion on Dooyoo but this is the only platform for me to urge others to take a look at the new series of Coupling on BBC2.

Last night (Monday, 3 September 2001) I watched the first episode of the second series, which started at 10.00 pm and I can genuinely state that I laughed until I cried. The plot is simple and sounds on the surface like a British version of Friends. Three men and three women are friends and the plot centres around their relationships (or in some cases, lack of relationships). Last night's episode was based around Jeff (played by Richard Coyle), who has difficulty in finding women to go out with, and his obsession with a woman he sees on the train. The problem is that he has only seen her leg and the back of her head but is convinced that he is in love with her. However, it is once she comes to sit opposite him on the train that the hilarity starts. His fumbling, idiotic explanations about why he is staring at her become more bizarre and complicated result in him convincing her that he has lost a leg in an accident. Having to keep up this pretence rather than lose her forms the crux of the remainder of the plot and it is further complicated when he Jeff believes that one of his friend's boyfriends is a surgeon but is in fact a butcher.

I can understand why the first series of Coupling won a Silver Rose at Montreux but cannot believe that the BBC has not given it a big push. In my opinion it should be on BBC1 at prime time, definitely not hidden away on a Monday evening on BBC2. The script is cleverly written by Steven Moffat, all of the characters are convincing and the comedy timing of the actors is superb. I would urge you to watch it but be careful - laughing as much as this could endanger your health. I was not only crying by the time the first episode had finished but starting to feel physically ill because I couldn't laugh any more.


I hope that the BBC keeps up the good work with Coupling but brings it to the wider audience that it deserves.

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