Reviewed by Michael Beddoes
Stars Will Mellor, Sheridan Smith, Natalie Casey, Kathryn Drysdale | Written by Susan Nickson
UK certification 18 | UK RRP £19.99 | DVD Region 2 | Runtime 229 minutes | Directed by Nick Wood
Britain has a great tradition of comedy with the likes of Monty Python, Open All Hours, Fawlty Towers, The Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin and numerous others. This tradition continues today with contemporary sitcoms such as The Office, Peep Show, The Inbetweeners and Lead Balloon still flying the flag.
Unfortunately, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps cannot be included in this list. Canned laughter, terrible dialogue and bad acting all add together to make watching the show a truly awful experience. But the worst offence is that it simply is not funny.
Every single joke in this series falls completely flat. The emotional elements are delivered in the style of a bad amateur dramatics production, the mocking of celebrities seems desperate and the sexual innuendo (of which there is too much) falls even lower than the level you would expect to hear in a school playground.
Janet: "Can I exfoliate you?"
Gaz: "Not now, I’ve just washed my cock."
This is typical of the exchanges that take place between the characters. Forced and painful, like the sound of a ship running aground. This funnily enough is what this show now is, with the BBC finally seeing sense and pulling the plug on it.
The question remains as to how Two Pints of Lager actually made it to eight series. The BBC airs some fantastic comedy shows on its BBC 3 digital channel, so how this programme warrants slots on BBC 2 terrestrial television is one of the mysteries of the universe.
EXTRAS None