I'm now looking forward to seeing Billie Piper wearing a VERY short skirt in a remake of On The Buses.

It was ok. I'd watch it again, but I thought it would be a lot better

It reminded me a bit of Joe Orton's "Entertaining Mr. Sloane." What are the chances that Ash turns out to be bi and has an affair with 2 or 3 of the leading characters?

I appreciate that it's a first episode, but I do think the writer/s are trying too hard. Maybe they forgot they are writing for a Brit audience?
Overall it was fairly funny and I can only hope that ep 2 calms down a bit.

One noticeable fault was the comedy timing was bad. There was no space or breathing in between lines. It was very rushed.

If they 'represent' gay men does Victor Meldrew 'represent' me?

I thought it was excellent, it wasnt about representing anyone, its about a couple, well acted, it was old fashioned and I like that.

Jeez, it was worse than the infant school play.

"Heh heh heeeh.. dat's made my day Butler !!!!"


Regarding the show itself, I'd reckon it'd be much better if Johnathan Harvey (regular Corrie writer) had written 'Vicious' instead.

Brilliant acting combined with some funny lines made this sit-com very watchable.

Maybe the writing could have been a bit sharper, but overall the combination of McKellan and Jacobi (plus the ever-brilliant Frances de la Tour) sparkled.

We were really looking forward to this so disappointed, it should have been brilliant the actors are great, the writers are great but gosh it was so bad.

Struggled to the end of the first episode don't think we will bother with the second.

Audience laughter whether fake or real doesn't matter as it just ruined any chance we may have bothered to watch the next one to see if it got better.

the rape gag was pretty shocking , I remember this used to be a common gag in the 70's .

still - it was ok , but maybe I missed something - what was the reason the young lad kept coming in ?

Most of the gay men I have met in real life have been bitchy, very funny, and dare I say, a bit camp. The other side of the coin seems to be the too serious, humorless, militant/political type ones (and believe me I know, I worked with a few). I know which I prefer. Bar the OTT laughter I loved it. Like it or not gay men can be gloriously bitchy and I love them for it.

Complete and utter embarrassment. My other half insisted on having it on, and I warned him. I just knew.

Prehistoric style, completely over-the-top wooden performances (even for aged luvvies), pathetic sex-craved older woman character for De La Tour (yawn), "attractive" young guy who was anything but, terrible script. Not one shred of imagination.

Frankly, when my gang are out drinking (and we've known each other for around 30 years) we're about 5 times wittier. 5 times filthier too, before you say "why don't YOU write a script"

I'd rather eat my own arms than sit through another episode of that. The following Job Lot sitcom was actually funnier (marginally) and at least it had an attractive gay man playing a straight part in it.

Ratings are in - 5.87 million viewers (24.4% share of the total TV audience).

While that was ITV's best sitcom launch in seven years, according to Twitter it lost over a million viewers over the half hour. It'll be interesting to see how it bodes next week.

Oh purlease!
I know that gay men are as different as straight men. However, this show and Ian McKellen aren't saying 'all gay men are like this'. Just showing that some are. It certainly isn't a representation of all gay men. Llike it or not, a lot of gay men are camp and bitchy. That's a fact. Why shouldn't they be on tv?

Indeed

Overall a thumbs up from us.

We enjoyed it.

OMG, this sets the gay movement back years!!! It's like growing up in the 70's again, dreadful attempt at comedy, you should be ashamed Ian!!

Would it was that, that it was "representing anyone". But the fact is the comedy, its language and the actors' gestures kept on drawing attention to it was gay coupledom it on show - and then a particular type of gay coupledom. So IMO it wasn't just "anyone" it was representing, depicting or whatever.

I hope this episode was used to set the scene for the next five weeks. What I was hoping to see what a simple take on modern life from the perspective of an aging gay couple in a relationship who have see it all (or even better, an aging couple w/o referencing their sexuality because we can see it for ourselves that they are gay). I didn't get that. Instead it was an overt self-referential "look at us, look at us. We are sooo gay" act that's very old hat.


Didn't she already play a similar but younger version in Rising Damp? Back then she was funny and her character not in any way "pathetic".


Thanks for the ratings info. Hopefully, it will find its feet next week. I really would love to see why reviewers gave it such high praise. I barely chuckled

Mainly because it stops a lot of youngsters from coming out, I grew up at a time when the only gay role models were people like John Inman, it kept my closet foor firmly slammed shut for many years, it would help if there is a balance, most of the gay men I know including myself are not camp and bitchy, this type is not entertaining though so rarely found on TV, admittedly things are a lot better than when I grew up but there are stiill too many who think ALL gay men are the same.

It's more general attitude of the public that stops people from coming out. General consensus has changed a lot since the 70s. Yes there are still bigots and homophobes but society is largely more accepting now. I struggled to come out at 21, 7 years ago but that was because of the area I lived in and the fact I grew up in pubs, full of older men who were very set in their ways, opinionated and small minded. Younger people now are not as bad as that. Its usually the older generation that hold homophobic beliefs. Although saying that, my 86 year old Grandparents have never had an issue that I am gay. My Dad found it hard at first but he got over it. Mum never cared. I have yet to meet a single person (aside from in the pub I lived in) that had a genuine issue with being gay. This show isn't going to do any harm to the gay community. If anything the Catholic and CofE Churches are doing more harm. Look at their behaviour over the years and especially the last 12 months

100% agree. It's hard to describe what it was like growing up and having Mr Humphries as the only gay man on TV. I was mortified that people would think I was 'like that'. People say 'it doesn't matter' but it does matter when you're 13 or 14 and feeling like the biggest freak in the world.

I would suggest that the majority are not 'camp and bitchy' so why aren't there more of them on TV?

Can't wait for next week's! YES it's a massive throwback to the '70s, YES it's a lot of fun. It's exactly the sort of show we need right now. I was proper entertained for half-an-hour.