John Finnemore's Double Acts (New Radio 4 Comedy Series)

[Crabwalk]

His style would be very well suited to a trad multicam sitcom. I'm convinced he's got a monster primetime BBC1 hit in him.

[MojoJojo]

Surely his stuff only works best on radio because he only really works on radio?

And Cabin Pressure I think is a very traditional sitcom indeed, and didn't use the meta "well, these coconuts aren't going to get us very far" kind of jokes very often.

He's done a fair amount of stage stuff as well. Here he is talking about the differences between stage and radio http://www.run-riot.com/articles/blogs/john-finnemore-writing-radio-vs-writing-stage

(I wonder if his Souvenir Show was partly a step towards getting some of his stuff on the telly).

And yeah, Cabin Pressure is a pretty straight sitcom. Although hard to imagine it being on telly unless they got a massive budget it got rid of most of the episodes they get out of the plane (which I suppose is a surprisingly small number, I suppose).

[MojoJojo]

Last one was the worst, I thought. I'd been hoping for classic episode 5 the weakest before the strong finish pattern.

The structure stopped it flowing, and since the outcome was in the description there was no suspense at all.

[idunnosomename]

Now I liked the Pony one but this one was a weak send-off indeed. Oh well. I love the Goliath Window one so much though. Even if the iconography of Uriel expelling Adam and Eve for an east window of any period (or indeed, David and Goliath) is extremely unusual to the point of impossibility.

[olliebean]

They could have put them in a better order, I think, to avoid going out on a (relatively) low note. 2, 3 and 4 were the best, I reckon - 4 probably pipping the other two by virtue of Simon Kane's fantastic performance.

[MojoJojo]

To add to "no actually linked" thing - I re-listened to Red Handed and noticed that the Joel in that was Administrative Assistant, whereas I'm pretty sure "useless Noel" in WYSINNWYG was a bit more senior than that.

[Crabwalk]

The last one was sweet enough, but pretty standard romantic comedy fare. Good to see the little link return, though!

Overall then a very good series that scaled exceptional heights in episodes 2, 3 and 4. I'd love it to be recommissioned and become a regular show.

I'd rate them 4>3>2>1>6>5. Not much between the top 3 - just different shades of brilliant.

[MojoJojo]

I'd probably swap a couple round

4>3>1>2>5>6

I find "Red Handed" a bit mean. It's an unpleasant man getting away with being nasty, which puts me off it a bit.

And the cliched American woman/posh English bloke didn't put me off in "A Flock of Tigers" - I just enjoyed the performance.

[Consignia]

I haven't seen 5 or 6 yet, but I love Red Handed. Easily my favourite of the lot, Bird steals the performance along with everything else. I'd probably put the Goliath Window next for the obvious Finnemore/Kane partnership and it just comes together. Then WYSINWYG, just worked for me. Flock of Tigers was my least favourite, despite being well constructed, it just felt very Radio 4 play of the day.

[Pranet]

I liked the last one well enough as well. I won't rank them, but my least favourites were the first two.

[Consignia]

I've caught up on these, and I don't know what you guys are talking about. English for Pony Lovers was great. Probably top 3 for me. Hot Desk was difficult though, the uneven timeline of it didn't gel well with the radio play type story.

Still loved the series as a whole, more please Finnemore.

[Pranet]

I admit that one of the reasons I liked the last one is that for a while I had a job with a similar sort of arrangement, you'd hand over quickly then not see anyone till the next day, when you'd handover quickly again. But I still liked it. It didn't surprise me, quite quickly I knew where it was going, but the getting there I found a pleasure.

[MojoJojo]

Just realised in Goliath Window the brothers are named after the gospels, in order.