A hidden gem that the BBC is keeping away from us! (Marion and Geoff)

Member Name: redcockney

Product:	Marion and Geoff
Date:	29/11/00 (105 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Short length thus keeps the most interesting bits on show.

Disadvantages: Hinges on your enthusiasm for Keith.

If you’ve been watching what comes after Attachments you’ll know what this is all about.

A series of ten 10-minute vignettes featuring Rob Dryden in the primary role of Keith, a man who is seemingly obsessed by his ex-wife Marion and her new husband and his friend Geoff and their (or rather
Keith and Marion’s) two kids.

Featuring the kind of humour only TV critics seem to like, it’s dark, with ‘hidden’ subtexts (particularly if you witnessed the instalment when Keith worries over the anniversary of his father’s death and his
need to repair his father’s gun, the subsequent entry into a radio quiz and the final punchline, all of which is very dry but remarkably funny stuff).

All taking place in his car/taxi (where the initial joke was that he never could get to a fare as he wasn’t on the same frequency as the taxi firm).

He is obsessive, trailing back to Cardiff to give his sons presents only to find they already got the stuff, trailing them to France to spring a ‘surprise’ on them, and having strange thoughts wondering if members of mobile phone call centres wear uniforms which brings a brutal yet funny payoff when he calls to find out what she’s wearing! All the while never fully realising the heartbreaking truth that his kids seem to hate him.

All the while he reminisces on how he fell for Marion, why he was in love with her, what he’s planning to do, all of which gives it a curious curio feel. But we also focus on his upcoming divorce and his job as a taxi driver (of which, if you’ve watched the last two-but-one instalments, you’ll know what happened next). And you surely were rooting for him in the last episode which ended in a pleasant surprise.

We get a sense of mystery about Marion and Geoff of which is never spoiled by revealing them to us (of which will probably drive some people crazy).

You’ll
find him tragically funny. You’ll probably find him easy to detest. But you’ll probably find that this is very, very good.

The BBC can give us the courtesy of at least repeating it whether it be all in one go or separately, because this is wonderfully simplistic yet inventive stuff like a ball of string that keeps on unravelling little details that you get whilst he doesn’t.

The GOOD NEWS is that the SECOND SERIES will be shown next year! (Again probably on the back of the second series of Attachments though).

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