Human Remains/People Like Us

[phmc]

Having watched my Human Remains DVD to death a friend of mine recommended that I have a look at People Like Us which I'd never got round to watching when it was broadcast. I've now got the DVD and am all of a quiver with excitement - just wondered if anyone had any thoughts on either series?...

[Pepotamo1985]

People Like Us is a bloody revelation. Incredible scripting, aesthetically bracing and intricately rendered. Release the second series now, Bastard Broadcasting Commision.

Never seen Human Remains. Worth checking out?

[ninestonecreature]

People Like Us is just terrific- would also recommend the original radio series if you can get hold of it.

Human Remains I'm quite a fan of, though it does have a tendency to bend over backwards in striving to be as bleak as possible, which very occasionally kills the comedy stone dead, or, as in the case of one otherwise very funny episode, leaves a bitter post-credits taste in the mouth. Generally, it's a strong series, well-written and deftly performed, especially by Rob Brydon.

I'd recommend it.

[Neville Chamberlain]

People Like Us is - yes - a work of genius. Simple as that.

[thatmuch]

People Like Us has probably the highest rate of laughs per minute of any thing I've ever seen. Fortunately you won't notice them all until you've seen it at least five times, probably more. The script, acting and direction are done with wonderful attention to detail. The second series is even better but you probably won't be able to see it for the next ten million years because the  fucking BBC won't release it on DVD despite the fact that I've written to them.

[Catalogue Trousers]

People Like Us - great. Lovely borderline absurd commentary and a genuinely humane feel, as well as being bloody funny.

Human Remains is just not funny. It's slit-yer-wrists-bleak black drama which wanted to be funny, but forgot to include any laughter or indeed happiness. A pox on "dark" comedy.

[Rats]

Some of it was very funny but I agree, it was too daaaaaaaark for it's own good. People like us, you can't fault. Does anyone know when the second series is out on dvd? It's been play for ages saying "not available"

[neveragain]

I absolutely love both shows. People Like Us is obviously the funnier but I still think Human Remains is very enjoyable, if only to see how bleak they try to make it. And there are funny moments as well. I have went off it a bit after hearing all the criticism levelled against it by some on here and agreeing with it but still I adored it the first time round. Michael Palin and Nigel Planer are known to be fans too, so there you go! For documentary realism and realism in acting (not to mention sublime wordplay and beautifully performed offscreen befuddlement), People Like Us is obviously the better series but by god Brydon and Davis' thing comes close. I would buy it. In fact... I did. Great extras on the DVD as well.

What episode did you think was killed by the post-credits sequence, ninestonecreature?

[thatmuch]

Human Remains is just not funny. It's slit-yer-wrists-bleak black drama which wanted to be funny, but forgot to include any laughter or indeed happiness. A pox on "dark" comedy.

I'd be interested to know - what do you think of 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' ? Or 'The Ladykillers'? How many people are happy in those films (apart from the little old lady at the end)? How many times do you laugh out loud?

[ninestonecreature]

What episode did you think was killed by the post-credits sequence, ninestonecreature?

It was 'Straight as a Flute', the episode about the pseudo-religious suburban couple, Barbara and Tony. The revelation at the end (that Brydon's character has cancer) simply did not work, neither comedically nor dramatically. It just left me feeling uneasy and negated a very amusing previous 25 minutes.

Similarly, in the episode about the Welsh couple (the title of it escapes me), they included a scene where Brydon's character tries to force his fiancé to perform a lesbian sex act with her best friend, much against their will. It's a horrible scene that serves no real purpose, and even Brydon seems regretful about it during the episode's commentary. Again, a shame, as there's otherwise a lot to enjoy in the episode.

[Catalogue Trousers]

a scene where Brydon's character tries to force his fiancé to perform a lesbian sex act with her best friend, much against their will

ninestonecreature, it was that very scene that I was thinking of wheh I described "Human Remains" as "slit-your-wrists"-type stuff. The earlier episodes seemed to have one good comic moment each, but then this slough of despairing depression settled over the whole thing.

[neveragain]

It was 'Straight as a Flute', the episode about the pseudo-religious suburban couple, Barbara and Tony. The revelation at the end (that Brydon's character has cancer) simply did not work, neither comedically nor dramatically. It just left me feeling uneasy and negated a very amusing previous 25 minutes.

You've probably picked this up already but (I'll ask anyway) did you notice that somewhere at the beginning Barbara and Tony claim that cancer is the Devil's way of taking a soul? They also show little sympathy to a friend whose husband died of cancer for this reason, which was probably why Tony's character was diagnosed with it at the end. This brings about an element of turning the tables because the couple acted horribly towards everyone else in the community and now they are being ignored. I'm just saying this because that is how it works dramatically. I actually thought the ending you were going to choose was going to the 'More Than Happy' one as it is horrendously grim.

[Dark Sky]

People Like Us is the greatest comedy series ever made.  (Apart from the Day Today, obviously...)

Plus has the greatest rewatchable value of any series I've ever seen, as thatmuch said before!

I've been trying to cap my off-air VHS copy of the second series, but it's rather fuzzy and worn 'cause I've watched them too much...  I'm loathe to send the tape to anyone else to do it 'cause I don't trust that I'll get it back!  Plus they'd cut off the BBC2 continuity announcements into the episodes which would be such a shame...

[ninestonecreature]

You've probably picked this up already but (I'll ask anyway) did you notice that somewhere at the beginning Barbara and Tony claim that cancer is the Devil's way of taking a soul? They also show little sympathy to a friend whose husband died of cancer for this reason, which was probably why Tony's character was diagnosed with it at the end. This brings about an element of turning the tables because the couple acted horribly towards everyone else in the community and now they are being ignored. I'm just saying this because that is how it works dramatically. I actually thought the ending you were going to choose was going to the 'More Than Happy' one as it is horrendously grim.

Hard to argue with much of that, I s'pose. I dunno, though I appreciate dramatic convention necessitated the need for a 'pay-off' of some kind, it still just felt unnecessarily cruel to me, maybe because I couldn't bring myself to completely dislike the characters. 'More Than Happy' would probably be a better example- but then that whole episode is swathed in bleakness, almost without respite. It's a difficult watch, that one, and the episode I usually skip on repeat viewings.

[neveragain]

That's a fair point about it being unnecessarily cruel, it certainly slapped me in the face, and yes the episode could have done without it. However, I'm interested in the fact that you felt you couldn't hate the characters. 'Why?' would be what I would ask. And you're bang-on about 'More Than Happy' incidentally - perhaps they were trying to build up the amount of despair in each episode until the last one was just monumentally depressing - although in a sadistic way I enjoyed its swathes of bleakness.

[oceanthroats]

i liked the more than happy one, even though it was horribly bleak. maybe because it was just so bleak. i also liked the village by the sea.for some reason.
the hardest one to watch for me was the folksingers one. 'three o'clock in the morning, there's a mouse on my face...' i liked it and laughed at it but the whole thing about a guy whose hobby is wanking and who regrets 'beating my mother to death with my own meat' and whose music is just so totally shit, and who (spoilers) winds up at the end climbing into his parents old bed and wanking under the sheets. i don't know. not pleasant.

[Catalogue Trousers]

what do you think of 'Kind Hearts and Coronets' ? Or 'The Ladykillers'? How many people are happy in those films (apart from the little old lady at the end)? How many times do you laugh out loud?

Lots!

The crucial difference is that there IS humour in those films, albeit frequently black. A dragged-up Alec Guinness dying in a balloon crash is a major laugh-fest for me.

A boorish groom-to-be trying to force his distraught-to-the-point-of-tears fiancee and her equally upset friend into a lesbian sex act isn't.

Simple as that.

[Jemble Fred]

I remember disliking Human Remains at the time, but always intending to give it another go. But I should imagine my respect for Rob Brydon would plummet, so I think I'll give it a miss.

[neveragain]

I don't know what you thought about The Keith Barrett Show but quite frankly that was the moment my respect drooped for Brydon. However, rewatching HR has brought it straight back up again.

[Little Hoover]

He keeps riding on the success of the Keith Barret character, 2 series of Marion and Geoff, a spin off spoof chat show for the character with 2 series, a live tour, a book, its pretty tiresome, but I've never been much of a fan anyway.

[Jemble Fred]

Surely the other way round? Fun studio-set show vs cheap 'dark' depression?

'A bit of fun' versus 'Cancer is funny cos Julia Davis says so' – not a difficult one, really.

Still, fair enough, it take all sorts to make a cliché and so on.

[Lee]

Well if you can accept the fact he does Andrex adverts then surely watching him do comedy's not going to lower your respect for him.

Human Remains is... alright. Nothing brilliant, and bits of it certainly seem like early prototypes for Nighty Night, but it's perfectly OK. People Like Us on the other hand is pure brilliance. I've only seen series one, but it's absolutely fantastic.

By the way, who wrote PLU, because I don't think it was Chris Langham/

[Jemble Fred]

John Morton. Also did Kiss Me Kate. I think.

[Rats]

That was the thing with les dennis' wife's nipples wasn't it? Was it any good then? I always assumed it was shite and never watched.

[Dark Sky]

John Morton. Also did Kiss Me Kate. I think.

John Morton co-wrote Kiss Me Kate with Langham, and it was absolutely fantastic.  Same sense of humour as People Like Us, but in a standard three walled studio audience sitcom format.

Much better than that recent Help thing, which seems to me to be just rejected bits of Kiss Me Kate coupled with Paul Whitehouse doing silly voices and nob and fart gags.

[Beagle 2]

Well with the exception of les dennis' wife's nipples I thought it was toss.

Haven't really seen PLU before so this thread prompted me to download S2E2, the mother one, and yes it's very good. Human Remains is a bit too bleak for me, although the acting was excellent from what I saw it's not really what I want out of a comedy.

[Pepotamo1985]

You won't notice them all until you've seen it at least five times, probably more.

That's what puts PLU above the majority of 90s comedies. It's custom made for video/DVD release.

Which makes the BBC's refusal to release the second series is even more annoying.

[Dark Sky]

And what's the name of the bitch who declined John Morton's script for a third series: People Like U.S., set in America?

You see, this is my gripe over stuff like My Hero and Two Pints; I have no problem with the programmes themselves per se...I mean, they're crap, but as long as I don't have to watch them, then fine, whatever.  But when the BBC continue to make series four or five or whatever of that sort of shit and yet don't recommission things like PLU...  That's when my anger starts to boil.

[Rats]

Blimey, I never knew that. My friend was saying tonight that sony wouldn't release fiona apples third album because it wasn't commercially viable. Thank god that thing about the BBC not competing with ITV is being put into practise.

[Little Hoover]

People Like U.S

Fuck that could have been brilliant.

Why is there not enough comedy around, remember when their used to be U.K play, a channel for Comedy and Music occasionly they would play some classic old programs, like The Larry Sanders Show. things that would be too much for a U.K gold audience, things I don't even remember ever going on BBC, because they never made anything out of the comedy shows they have.