Cheers. Looks as that could fit.

I like how in the series that Pemberton and Shearsmith sometimes take the back seat and let other well known or somethimes lesser known actors take the limelight. Sometimes just a cameo from themselves.

Thank you.

Wow, that episode made me cry ... I lost it at the touch of her son being dressed as a nativity play angel at the end. (Like that road safety ad where the guy's family acting as his "seatbelt" and the little girl is dressed up in angel wings)

I did guess that she'd turn out to be dead but that's because the poster for the episode usually contains a clue as to the ending, and this one showed half of Sheridan's face shadowed out making her look like a ghost ...

Gosh, yes ! I didn't think of that but you are so right.

I love that advert - it's beautiful

What an incredible piece of television.

I saw the last 15 minutes on Thursday night just as I was falling asleep on the sofa and I didn't see the ending coming at all. In some ways, this makes the emotional impact even greater and I spent the next 30 minutes sobbing my heart out.

I've just watched it again on IPlayer and it is one of the best programmes I have ever seen. Brilliant writing and acting and it still made me cry.

Bit of a blast from the past but I remember him best as Egg's Dad in This Life.

Really cleverly constructed, gripping episode . Sheridan has such a gift for making you feel for her, quite traumatised by the end especially as we were expecting a comedy.

It reminded me of the famous Ambrose Bierce story An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Its Wikipedia entry mentions a few other stories and films with a similar idea.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Occu...l_Creek_Bridge

A note also about their writing;

The sheer economy of their storytelling is wonderful. I felt I knew Christine and cared about her more after half an hour than I have about many (most) characters in a 2 hour film. Hell, even a 10 hour series.

Thanks for that.
My memory has also been jogged by an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, called 'Inner Light'. Where Picard imagines that he lives an entire life as a different person.

Also the Red Dwarf episode 'Back to Reality' where the crew hallucinate that they are living in a dystopian future on earth and believe that this is the real reality.

I've watched this amazing episode several times now, and you really do gain something extra with each watch. Although it did take me three viewings to realise the significance of the line 'I don't want the present', so I'm obviously not the sharpest tool in the box!

Twilight Zone filmed a version of the Bierce story. It's a terrific story, would urge folks to read it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7n4LeRB6js

Me too

I think some of the credit for that has to go to Sheridan Smith too.
She has a remarkable talent for making you feel like you've known her for years after watching her for 5 minutes.

True, I've liked her since I saw her as 'R Anthony's girlfriend in The Royle Family. I still remember the awful up and down dismissive look that Denise gave her when they met.

She's one of those actors whose natural warmth really shows through any of her work. She was excellent in this. Anyway. her story in this will stay with me for a long time. I even keep thinking of 'Time to Say Goodbye'at odd moments and it makes me sad again!

I've just got round to watching the second episode of this series - and I agree it was very touching and very well done. I just wish, what with it being sold as a comedy, that there had been some actual jokes in it...

I have to admit I thought it was a great drama but comedy it most certainly wasnt

I agree!

I only just got round to watching this. Wow ! One of the finest pieces of television I've seen in a very long time. Deserves a sackful of awards for all involved.

Deleted.

Very good, but not very funny. It should not be billed as comedy if it isnt

It's not billed as a comedy but "darkly comic twisted tales". Which it is. This was just much darker than usual but still had the comedy asides of the gay fella played by Pemberton for example.

Outstanding television anyway, whatever genre it falls under. Shearsmith and Pemberton (along with Gatiss and Dyson) really are the comedy greats of our time as far as I'm concerned, and any other in fact. Almost two decades of consistently astonishing writing and character portrayal, across multiple vehicles. A portfolio to rival any other.

It had no comedy whatsoever. I don't count a camp gay man making something into a comedy.
If that's the basis of comedy then any soap or gritty drama that has a camp gay man in it can then be classed as a comedy?
Even someone cracking a joke as if they would in real life doesn't make a show a comedy.

I really enjoyed the episode but it definitely wasn't a comedy/comedy drama/dramdy.

Same here. It's the first thing I remember seeing him in.

Miranda is billed as a comedy and it is neither of those.

One really should have a feel for what to expect from a show written by two people from League of Gentlemen.

Darkly quirky is what most of them are. Although "A Quiet Night In" is just sheer genius comedy writing.