Friday night dinner is a British television sitcom about a Jewish
family of four who have dinner together every Friday night, which never goes to
plan and almost always ends in a disaster. The events that occur during each
episode are unexpected yet hilarious and mirror family life well. It is not
your typical sitcom because it has a sense of realism to it and it addresses
issues that could well happen to an ordinary family, making Friday night dinner
an original and refreshing show. This entertaining show takes situations of
little value or importance and turns them into priceless ‘laugh out loud’
moments with the strong cast helping to enhance this humour.
Normally, each episode is different and does not usually
follow on from the previous one. This generally makes the episodes more
exciting and intriguing as you are uncertain of what is going to happen next,
therefore you are left feeling curious and wanting more. Each individual plot is fresh with new jokes
constantly on the go as well as old, consistent jokes which help to make the
show unique and engaging.
The Mother, Jackie is
played by Tamsin Greig and can be described as immature yet easily wound up by
the behaviour of her sons and husband. Paul Ritter plays the role of the
peculiar Father who has a very low attention span and many odd habits leaving
him socially inept. Adam is the elder son and is played by Simon Bird, an actor
well known from shows such as the inbetweeners. He is a failed musician who
makes a living by creating jingles, and quite often is the victim of mishap.
The younger son, Jonny, played by Tom Rosenthal, is always trying to play
practical jokes on Adam and start fights with him as he knows he will
retaliate. Jonny works as an estate agent for ‘Garvins’.
The Families neighbour, Jim often makes a few appearances
during the course of each episode. He is extremely awkward and is always
leaving gaps in conversation, as well as being terrified of his own dog. His
character is rather ironic as the audience want to see more of him whilst the
family do not want to see him at all. Jim is played by Mark Heap. Bonus
characters that appear in some episodes include the Gran who is Jackie’s
Mother, her boyfriend Mr Morris and Val who is Jackie’s best friend.
The overall appearance of the characters is very similar to
how a traditional family would look; this makes them more relatable to the
viewers because it is much easier to connect with them and their way of life,
also many similarities can then be found between the viewers and certain
characters.
In my opinion, Friday Night Dinner creates the feel of
family life very well and the chemistry between the cast is flawless. Each
individual character is hilarious in their own way, meaning that everyone will
find something to relate to. The writing of this show is impeccable, providing
us with excellent dialogue as well as fantastic humour.
Friday night dinner is created and written by Robert Popper,
and directed by Steve Bendelack and Martin Dennis. There are three series and
nineteen episodes in total with a running time of approximately twenty five
minutes per episode. This programme is intended for teenagers and above due to
the adult humour which is frequently used. It can be found on channel 4 and is
definitely worth watching, it will have you laughing in moments.
No comments:
Post a Comment