When accident prone Lee is kicked out by his wife he goes to live with his slobbish mate Terry. They rent a place from failed society girl Heather. Together they get into weekly scraps of `hilarity and fun'.
..right! Let me tell you the real plot after an initial episode to set up how everyone got into their situations we have a weekly poor plot that usually involves something relatively simple such as changing a light bulb or moving a sofa etc. This then turns into a farce by the most contrived means possible. The basic idea was to put Lee Evans into the Frank Spencer character in an update of `Some Mothers do ave em'. However it fails horribly.
It fails because no matter what the story is the writing requires the characters to get into trouble. This means it feels like the show tries very hard to be wacky and zany hence reducing the comedic impact. For example, when climbing a ladder something will happen and the characters will twist and turn to make it as bad (or funny) as possible. What makes it worse is the constant canned laughter which makes it feel even less funny because it's like we're being told `oh, look, isn't that hilarious you should laugh now'. It is also embarrassing to watch it and realise that the only laughter in your front room is coming from the TV itself!
I love Lee Evans his standup shows are really funny and he is great a physical comedy WHEN HE HAS THE MATERIAL. I stress that because he doesn't have the material here to work with. That's why he constantly has to twist and turn himself to overdo everything in an attempt to be funny. Wright is a good sitcom face but again he is working with nothing here. Sophie Thompson has had some good minor film roles but here is just annoying and displays none of the decorum and subtly that her older sister has shown in her best roles.
The show has about 2 minor laughs per show simply because Evans's talent still manages to shine through occasionally. However a lack of material means everything is forced and woefully unfunny. Lee good in Funny Bones, good in Mouse Hunt, great in his stage shows, but sitcoms? Cancelled after one short series this wasn't even good by the low standards of BBC sitcoms not that's bad!
