Purposefully obscure but brilliant :). (Marion and Geoff)

Member Name: jacaranda

Product:	Marion and Geoff
Date:	31/05/01 (225 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brydon is brilliant as Keith, the show is unassuming but a gem, it can take you from fits of laughter to sympathy in one sentence.

Disadvantages: Not one for the cheap laughs, needs patience to be understood

Rob Brydon's talents seem boundless. His other series, Human Remains, which received critical approval earlier this year, cemented the comedian/actor as a guy to watch out for in the coming years.

Marion and Geoff was originally aired in 10-minute episodes, which was part of the reason why they sunk without trace despite good reviews. Placing them at 9:50pm in the schedules meant that many missed them even though they wanted to watch them because other, hour-long, shows might finish at 10. This was a great shame but it's good to see that BBC2 are repeating the series in more approachable 40-minute chunks past 10pm.

Marion and Geoff is based almost exclusively around the ramblings of Keith, a cab driver, who speaks into his dashboard camera about his day, his life, and his unbreakable devotion to Marion, the woman who left him for Geoff.

When I first saw the programme I honestly thought it was another one of those 10-minute Video Nation slots that BBC2 began a few years ago, where ordinary people talk about their lives. The budget of the show is kept low and the title sequence is succinct, to preserve this disguise.

Marion and Geoff is an interesting title for a thoroughly amusing programme, because the two characters are never seen or heard, but remain instead as the pedestal of marital bliss that Keith never manages to reach. Keith's monologue is similar to Alan Bennett's Taking Heads in that the character's speech betrays the terrible loneliness in his life, whilst he himself is in the dark about his true situation. Brydon manages to balance the melancholy with the cringeingly funny. One example is Keith's response from a picture his sons have drawn of him being shot at and decapitated in a shower of crayola-red blood: 'They think I'm a bit of an action hero, I think.' Brilliant!

Brydon's Welsh brogue is faultless, and his likeable face and innocent eyes add to the character of K
eith as a well-meaning dolt who cannot understand that Marion has moved on, while he is still holding onto an ended relationship.

Catch Marion & Geoff if you get the chance and just give it time - the language and Brydon's excellent manner is a welcome relief from the mass-produced sitcom hell that ITV has become.

Summary: