Hij & Julia

Hij & Julia was written by me and my writing partner Harm Edens. We had had a lot of succes with our series ' Zonnetje in Huis and SamSam. But both were based on a British concept and were only original after the original episodes were all remade. Hij & Julia was the first series we wrote and planned on our own. It was bought by the new network Fox, not the same as the Fox network we have now. We were very proud of this series, which featured a lot of strong characters, fresh storylines and a solid cast. Headed by Annette Barlo, who very ably played the innocent in the middle of all the madness. Apart from the previously mentioned Oda Spelbos, Edda Barends and Hans Somers, we were exstremely pleased with Han Oldigs, who played the boss-of-the-company-only -because-he-is-the brother-of-the-actual-founder-and-real-boss-who-is-always-away with Bill Nighy-like aloofness. The series was not cancelled after one season (in fact, we had started writing the second series) but the network was. Fox stopped broadcasting and their replacement Net 5 would have been very suited for Hij & Julia, but they only had (cheaper) foreign shows for the first three years or so.

The first series where Annette Barlo had the lead role (in Oppassen!!! she was 'one of the stars'), didn't get a second chance. After the first series of 13 episodes, there was decided to stop the show. And that's a shame, because the series wasn't so bad. In Dutch comedy's of the 90's it often happens that the actors in it are lousy comedians, but 'Hij en Julia' has actors with a talent for comedy. They don't play that they are funny, they ARE funny. Especially Hans Somers (he plays Gijs, the 'Hij' from the title), Oda Spelbos (she plays the college of Gijs, Lonneke) and Edda Barends (she plays the mother of Julia) do this very good. Unfortunately Annette Barlo doesn't control this skill 100% and that isn't always good for the credibility of the story.

The title referral to William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (in The Netherlands that is 'Romeo en Julia'), tells us that the two lead roles are lovers who have trouble 'finding' each other. That idea doesn't have to be bad (in the American series 'The Nanny' it is delicious to see Fran Fine and Maxwell Sheffield 'finding' each other, what takes years), but for some reason it doesn't really appear clearly in 'Hij en Julia'. Why is hard to tell, because the chemistry between Annette Barlo and Hans Somers is very close to perfect. Maybe it was just to obvious they would come together.>

The writing work from Ger Apeldoorn and Harm Edens (host of 'Dit was het nieuws') is always rather good and sometimes (but not enough to praise the duo for their writing) even terrific. Besides the title reference here is no surplus value what so ever. No cameo's, no music/title song that you can't get out of your mind, no background or inside jokes.

'Hij en Julia' is just a nice dutch comedy with good acting work and a few good laughs now and then. No more, and certainly no less.