The Fattest Man in Britain

Reliable, solid performance as usual from Timothy Spall. As one who looks forward to uplifting dramas especially during these current times of economic recession, I found the last 2 minutes of what was billed as a comedy drama very uplifting – particularly after sitting through 2 hours of this. A word of congratulations must go to Jeff Pope and Caroline Aherne who seemed to have managed with ease to release Bobby Ball from his Christian beliefs by prolonged use of his foul language - quite a contrast from an earlier appearance he made on 'Songs of Praise.' It was billed as a comedy drama. I missed the comedy part. Is this what we really want on weekend prime time television in the UK?

The story evolves around the true story of heavyweight man Jack Taylor. A miracle man's story of someone who would eat enough for a medium sized family daily; he also used his habits to create fame involving using his home as a seeing gallery for tourists and locals wanting to pay for his time. The movie epitomizes the real life story with its own cast making a adaptation by changing the names of the people and locations and background story. Unfortunately the real life character dies of a heart attack one night alone in his home, and this story is a homage to his death as one of the largest person's in history, also it pays respect to his own life as a well loved individual in his own society. The film was a TV movie for ITV UK, and made a very good first impression to the home audience.

I saw this production after reading the synopsis, and seeing familiar names in the cast, I was expecting a riveting and well written comedy, but apart from a couple of lines, I didn't find it funny.

They basically made comedy from bad language and abuse, unfunny stereotyping, and the whole concept wasn't a particularly great one.

So if you think that abuse towards overweight people is funny and like the occasional bit of bad language and toilet humour, it might be up your street. But this wasn't a film which I particularly liked.

The Fattest Man in Britain(2009) (YouTube, full film ) It centres on the life of Georgie Godwin (Timothy Spall) , housebound for 23 years Georgie is the fattest man in Britain, and is loosely based on a real life fatty. Featuring lots of TV faces, namely Bobby Ball and written by Caroline Ahearne. It does plod the same path as The Royal Family in that the sentimentality does overwhelm what could have been a very dark story, playing it for laughs when the reality could and I presume would have been far too glum. It being comedic drama this sort of programme would no longer be made, Channel 5 and the like would now have a reality TV series for us to gawp at the fatties (I'm paraphrasing any potential sales pitch) Its worth a watch, but only to see how our collective taste have changed and not necessarily for the better. A timepiece. 4/10.

The story of Britain's fattest man Georgie Godwin, inspired by real life events. A man who's seemingly proud of his huge stature, but totally taken advantage of

I have had weight issues personally, so this drama is very special to me, when it first aired, I had lost a massive amount of weight, it all went back on, having lost the bulk of it again, I felt able to watch this again.

This is a magical one off drama, it's funny, it's heartfelt, it's moving, and it's fairly motivational to the right person as well.

Tommy from Burnley's funeral is one of the funniest things I have ever seen, and the scene between Joyce and The Vicar is an absolute scream fest, it is always wonderful to see Mrs Brown out of uniform.

The acting is sublime, Timothy Spall can do no wrong in my eyes, he is quite literally one of the best there is, he is fabulous, as is the makeup he's in, quite remarkable. Bobby Ball, the late legend is also on the top of his game, throw in the gorgeous Frances Barber, and you get something this good.

The music is tremendous here too.

Fabulous, 10/10.