Things You Should Have Done (BBC3 show by Lucia Keskin)

[Jack Shaftoe]

Written by and starring Lucia Keskin, who's done some stuff on YouTube before, although I didn't know anything about her. Anyway, I'm three episodes in and it's made me do actual laughs more than anything for ages. I wasn't expecting to like it much, as the premise is a girl has to fend for herself after the death of her parents which all sounds a bit sadcom, and I'm a bit wearied out with half hour not-quite-comedies about young women with mental health issues, but it has a tone not quite like anything I've ever seen before, sort of deliberately flat but also extremely... deep? Dunno.

It's also fantastically cast, with all the other characters having some brilliant moments, with great use of music (a particular high point is Kim Wilde's Cambodia Reprise coming in out of nowhere), but it's got this surreal deadpan vibe that I absolutely love. Dunno if the creator is a bit on the spectrum but I completely clicked with her non-emotional emotional reactions to horrible things like the death of her parents, and her inability to understand the simplest thing. Also some great impressions of Nigella Lawson and others, which I think is what her YouTube channel is known for.

Anyway, it's on iPlayer and I want to make everyone at least give it go.

[ThaBiggPaybacc]

Hard second - Selin Hizli's sheer venom could have been over-the-top, but with Keslin being so utterly clueless it stays the right side of plausible.

[Ron Superior]

Came on to start a thread about this. Thought I'd give an episode a try and watched the whole series in one sitting.

You're right about the whole cast being great and that making a big difference.

So many characters and jokes that in the wrong hands wouldn't work. And for such a stupid show it does have some genuine heart.

It's a lot like Stath Let's Flats in that it's finding interesting ways for different sorts of idiots to be stupid together. Loved it.

[KaraokeDragon]

but it has a tone not quite like anything I've ever seen before,

Yes, bigly this. I was trying to think how I'd describe it when watching and was really struggling.

I think one problem I had with it is that even for something quite weird like this I'd have liked it to have a bit more...idk, "flow"? Idk, I felt if there was just a bit more structure I could settle into it more, if that makes sense.

I watched the 3rd episode as it was broadcast on BBC3 and got distracted a bit, I might have to revisit it as it seemed a good one. I found the 5th episode a bit of a dud personally.

Got a few laughs out of it and it's far more up my street than most sit coms etc would be. Maybe not an instant classic but to me far more worthy an experiment than some critiques I've read would suggest. I do like Lucia/Chi, hope she gets to do more stuff.

Spoiler alert

If my grandmother had an antenna she would have been a Bug's Life 🤌🤌

[close]

[pk1yen]

I love this, there are so many great unassuming lines of odd phrasing peppered throughout

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"Excuse me, do you know if you're a driving instructor?"

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[Wayman C. McCreery]

I think Keskin's a massive talent and I really liked the first episode of this, but the tone of the second meant I didn't make it to the third. Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for it but the bits about

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kidnapping a child and gaslighting a dementia sufferer

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were unpleasant, laugh-free and (especially the latter) felt like punching down. The

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impotence

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subplot was really boring too.

Does it redeem itself? I wanted to love it.

[jobotic]

It's far from perfect (I don't really like the animated skit bits, are they what she did on youtube) but it really made me laugh. Have seen three episodes so far.

Oh look there's a breast screening.

What time is it on?

Doesn't say. Oh, you have to be over fifty.

[Snrub]

Haven't watched this yet - not sure why as agree with the above that Chi is a brilliant talent - but thought this was going to be inspired by Stacey off of Gavin and Stacey giving it an almighty slagging on a BBC podcast this week and Chi's video response when listening to it which has gone viral.

https://twitter.com/chiwithaC/status/1773302960736424156?t=gNNI-LzoK7Xg9TDIlmHSug&s=19

Not sure how to link to a non-twitter source but it's just a classy sort of disappointment.

Then Matthew Horne tweeted he thought it was the best comedy of the year later that day but then deleted it the wanker

It's the drama Mick, I love it.

But yeah definitely will check it out now especially if it has Stath vibes too.

[KaraokeDragon]

Maybe I wasn't in the right mood for it but the bits about

Spoiler alert

kidnapping a child and gaslighting a dementia sufferer

[close]

were unpleasant, laugh-free and (especially the latter) felt like punching down. The

Spoiler alert

impotence

[close]

subplot was really boring too.

:0 !! It must have actually been the second episode I missed bits of...

Does it redeem itself? I wanted to love it.

I do think the last episode ended it fairly well. But on the way there, you kind of just have to accept that every episode is going to go off in whatever weird direction it wants, with mixed results I'd say.

When I was watching it I thought it'd be a one and done thing that I'd not watch again, but talking about it is kind of making me want to see it again. Idk, maybe you do just have to be in the mood for it.

[neveragain]

Once I got in the mood I really enjoyed it. Nearly everyone's an idiot (like in Stath) so you've got to accept that, but there are loads of nice lines and funny set pieces. The dancing in the credits isn't for me but never mind. Loved the last episode with the "leaving party".

[Vodkafone]

I have started watching this thanks to @Jack Shaftoe

More like frequent chuckles for me than laugh out loud, but I do really like the writing. Lots of great daftness, e.g. 'Karen, he says he's not a paedophile!' Not sure I'd avidly recommend it to friends but glad I watched it.

[Fambo Number Mive]

I didnt like the bits with the driving instructor, just felt really sorry for him, but loved the rest of the series. I think Chi is brilliant, loved her in Sneakerheads, love her Youtube comedy (she is great at impersonating tv shows) and loved this, great writing and characters. I hope there is a second series of TYSHD and that she carries on doing new stuff, I love her brand of comedy.

[dissolute ocelot]

I watched the first couple and it's more pleasantly weird than outright funny, but quite like it. Her joy at the thought of retirement is something the Simpsons already done, but what isn't?

[dissolute ocelot]

EDIT: I just watched episode 3 about pancake day while slightly drunk and it's definitely to be stood up alongside all the classic Xmas, easter, thanksgiving, and Commonwealth Day sitcoms.

[Vodkafone]

EDIT: I just watched episode 3 about pancake day while slightly drunk and it's definitely to be stood up alongside all the classic Xmas, easter, thanksgiving, and Commonwealth Day sitcoms.

I just watched episode 3 and thought it was great, definitely going to finish the series now. The cast are all really good but Selin Hizli stands out I think.

[neveragain]

Selin Hizli stands out I think.

She was the stand-out in Am I Being Unreasonable? for me.

[ASFTSN]

This is the sort of thing I'd never give a chance if wasn't for this forum, thanks.

The part in the retirement home where they told all the old folks they were somehow shocked that all of them had dead parents and said sorry for their loss was a quick combination of touching and stupid that Drkekre couldn't pull off in a thousand years.

[neveragain]

I'm enjoying dipping into Lucia Keskin's Youtube videos. She's a bloody good mimic, something which didn't come across in the series. (Which is fair enough but it could have been utilised in some of the fantasy sequences.)

[dissolute ocelot]

Finished this. Definitely very enjoyable up to the end, and occasionally moving. Also managed to sustain its tone well, whimsical, kindly, childlike, and never too mean, yet still grounded in some kind of real world. It definitely felt like the central character's worldview, rather than just random wackiness. In episode 6 I loved

Spoiler alert

both the orgy (which managed to be funny rather than gross) and the vast sea of mugs of tea. And inexplicable Ellie Goulding appearance.

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I don't know if it's significant that this has the aunt as the main villain and Such Brave Girls (also very good) had the mother. Lots of anger towards female relatives from young female comedy writers? Lack of male role models?

[jobotic]

Spoiler alert

If my grandmother had an antenna she would have been a Bug's Life 🤌🤌

[close]

"I think crisps are a load of old rubbish" just made me laugh out loud.

[Captain Z]

This was really funny, another thank you for the recommendation. The cast immediately feel very at home in their characters and all have lines/moments to shine throughout. Sarah Kendall also plays a very entertaining part.

The fact that Stacey from Gaving & Stacey didn't like it just reinforces my enjoyment, and also my gut assumption that her and Sonia from EastEnders podcast would be a very long way down the list of things I'd want to listen to.

[Icehaven]

Halfway through this and thoroughly enjoying it so far, it's not perfect but as others have said there's so many little moments and details to enjoy, I loved her suddenly being in the house during the parcel delivery, or the gleeful "I've changed a bit haven't I?" when we see the care home lady's wedding photo.
One thing I was less keen on was Karen being a stereotypical Karen and being called Karen, although maybe that's deliberately on the nose. Hard to tell with this, which isn't a bad thing.
I can't be arsed listening to the podcast but what were Stacey-From-Gavin-And's main objections to it?

[Captain Z]

I know it's Twitter but I'd recommend the clip posted above, you'll hear the gist of Stacey's dull/bitter analysis and get a funny bit from Lucia all in under 60 seconds.

https://twitter.com/chiwithaC/status/1773302960736424156?t=gNNI-LzoK7Xg9TDIlmHSug&s=19

[Jack Shaftoe]

My favourite tiny moment in this so far (still haven't watched the last couple of episodes - I am not a completer/finisher) is when Chi is approaching the chair when she's about to give blood, the nurse says 'make yourself comfortable' and Chi sort of panics and tries to lie down on the chair on her front.

[Icehaven]

I know it's Twitter but I'd recommend the clip posted above, you'll hear the gist of Stacey's dull/bitter analysis and get a funny bit from Lucia all in under 60 seconds.

Alright now I love her.

[bobloblaw]

Alright now I love her.

That is very funny and I like a lot of her online stuff but sad to say the sitcom left me totally cold

[jobotic]

2:30 was made for CaB

[Icehaven]

That is very funny and I like a lot of her online stuff but sad to say the sitcom left me totally cold

I'm sort of the other way round, I've not watched loads of her online stuff but what I've seen I found just OK, well observed mimicry but nothing special, but the sitcom is great.

[Fambo Number Mive]

Apparently Lucia was also in a sitcom called Big Boys, playing a student union rep.

[Jockice]

"I think crisps are a load of old rubbish" just made me laugh out loud.

Great Stacey Solomon impression too.