Drop the Dead Donkey

Being an ex-pat, the growing interest in downloading and viewing whole TV series has given me many hours of entertainment. I used to watch Drop the Dead Donkey live in the 1990s and liked it then, but re-watching it now, in 2015, I'm finding it pretty hilarious and it's now my daily accompaniment to breakfast, and the occasional episode when I simply want a laugh. The fact that the news items referred to are ancient now, doesn't matter one bit - the way that they are handled in DTDD are so funny because I think that news channels now are pathetic in their handling of the news, and they all appear to be run on the lines of Global News. Really!

The series is rich with really excellent journalist stereotypes, much mentioned in the other reviews here, so not needed to be repeated by me. I don't know where I will turn to when I finish all the series I have.

It is only dated because each episode tried very hard to include topical and amusing news items. All of the main characters are distinctive. George, the editor, is conscientious but seems totally out of place in the newsroom environment as he is a bit of a fragile eccentric. His boss Gus, a bit of a sad bachelor, is the king of Politically correct sound bites. Dave, who's job is a bit obscure, is the office 'stud' as well as being a chronic gambler. Henry, the aged newsreader, has clearly seen better days but is still convinced he is up to competing with Dave. The other newsreader, Sally, has a sex life which is mainly in Lorry parks and service stations. Joy,the officer gofer, is not a girl to be messed with and takes no prisoners. Damian, the young fearless reporter is totally obsessed with fame and has no regards for the feelings of others, particularly his on location staff. Helen, a lesbian, replaced Alex early on as Gerorges No 2. There is a bit of slapstick but the humour, which comes thick and fast, is mainly verbal.

Never having traveled abroad, I have no idea what the references to British media were about. Nonetheless, the episodes that ran on Comedy Central were still terrific! Perhaps it was a matter of which episodes out of the six year run were aired over here, but what I saw was an excellent ensemble cast with pithy writing that any "homegrown" sitcom would rightfully give an arm and leg to have.

I wish episodes were available in NTSC DVD form, 'cuz I'd like to see more...! :)

As an Irish observer, this comedy has to be one of the high points of 1990's comedy.

While the main talking point of the series initially was it's topicality (being written and filmed in the week before filming so as to include observations and jokes about breaking news stories), later series were far less dependent on the topicality angle and more on funny honest and sharp character development.

It was immeasurably superior both to other office based comedy (viz the overrated IMHO "office") and to the likes of other newsroom comedies viz Murphy Brown. DTDD's humour was sharp acidic and right on the money. No-one was spared it's barbs.

On reruns and DVD releases a brief voice-over identifies the week each particular episode was shown and what the major stories breaking that week were.

More interestingly a lot of what was clearly the target of DTDD's humour (the dumbing down and tabloidisation of news reporting promoted by TV newstations) are even more in evidence today 10-15 years later as witnessed by the likes of FOX News and Sky News I wonder who Sir Royten Merchant was really based on....

"Drop the Dead Donkey" ran in six series from 1990 to 1996. The bulk of the humour deals with then-topical British news, so the program doesn't really travel well, or last more than a week (a long time in politics). Best of all the episodes released on video was the award-winning "The Christmas Party", which had hardly any up-to-date content.

The central characters are all exaggerated caricatures of office and media stereotypes. Robert Duncan was good as jargon-spouting executive Gus Hedges, and Jeff Rawle as ineffectual editor George Dent. Haydn Gwynne played the cool, competent editor with a messy private life almost too well, so that the lighter Ingrid Lacey didn't have the same impact when she later filled the same role.

Stephen Tompkinson's acting was probably the best although he was mainly used for the slapstick scenes. (Listen for the inimitable voice of Andy Hamilton playing luckless cameraman Jerry, screaming "Damien!!!" as Tompkinson's suicidally reckless reporter leads them into imminent danger, in almost every episode.)

Susannah Doyle was a good "PA from Hell", but Sara Stewart's portrayal of a vapid blonde in the same slot in series 1 was also a delight.

David Swift's portrayal of a vain newsreader must have been uncomfortably close to some real life newsreaders, with his booming delivery, ruined liver, and his obvious "syrup of figs".

The series may have been killed off, but some of its highlights deserve to be remembered for a long time. Well done everybody, Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin in particular.