All About Me

It says a lot about the United Kingdom when television programmes like this not only get made but also run for three series. Unfunny, politically correct to the point of sickening and poorly acted and written. Meera Syal has not been funny or accomplished in anything that she has been in, go on tell me I am wrong, and Jasper Carrott, funny guy as he is, is well past his eighties prime. This is such a bad comedy that it could have been made by ITV but even stinkers like The Upper Hand and the one with James Bolam as a car park attendant look like Fawlty Towers compared to this rubbish. I would love to sit down with the writer/director of this show so that they can point out the humour in this programme. Admittedly the majority of the UK's population is made up of poorly educated chavs but this would not tickle their funny bones. That's if they could tear themselves away from Big Brother or from their mobile phones but that's another story. Complete and utter dirt!

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

I was interested in giving this show a glance 'cos it's set in my home city of Birmingham and,of course,who better to headbill it than that legendary stelwart of our comedic prowess,Jasper Carrott.But I have to say,the results are certainly not very encouraging.Jasper was fantastic in The Detectives,which I happen to regard as one of the finest comedy series ever created by the BBC,but here he just can't seem to help matters at all.

The premise rests around Colin the Builder (Carrott),his three children from his previous marriage,new wife Rupinder (Nina Wadia) and her disabled son (Jamil Dhillon) and the various mis-adventures they get up to in each weekly episode.

It opens to various shots around Birmingham (i.e.,the BT tower,the Brindley Place canals) shot in a cheap,almost camcorder esque fashion,which plays to a rather unappealing opening soundtrack.It also sets the tone for the rest of the series.Indeed,as one IMDB reviewer already pointed out,it feels more like one of those videos they might have played to you as a class back at primary school as opposed to a professionally made BBC production.Such shoddy,see through production values are complimented by poorly executed gags,with dire delivery and almost non-existent comic timing from the mainly inexperienced younger cast members.Jasper merely seems trapped by such a witless,dire script that even the greatest comedic expertise in the world probably could not save.It's no wonder,in fact,that Meera Syal appeared to have walked out by the second series.

The high notes lie in it's ingenuitive plot angles,that of the problems and adversities that may lie in a mixed-race family,and of having a child with a disability as one of it's main characters.These are certainly very inspired angles to explore.Unfortunately,this dismal series is never able to exploit them to their full potential,and ultimately emerges as a waste not only of some creative ideas,but of the talents of one of our finest funnymen ever to hit the big time.*

This show is like one of those cheap videos that they would show at school to try and inform you about racial awareness and people with disabilities while trying to add some cheap jokes to keep your attention. It's a nice idea using the kid who can't speak as a narrator though he is hardly ever used and only speaks about 5 or 6 times per show. You will smile, at the most, about 3 times during the half hour and cringe a lot more wondering how Jasper Carrot ever got lumbered with this pile of tree-hugging crap.

Jasper Carrott is a brilliant stand up comic and always makes me laugh (Back to the front is evidence enough) but hes only in this disappointment of a sitcom because the producers wanted to get more people to watch it. Its not something anyone will remember in years to come but Jasper Carrott will. Don't watch this show if you want to see Jasper. Watch the show i recommended earlier. This sitcom does him no justice and i tend to find this is the BBC trying to be politically correct as most shows on British TV seem to be trying to do these days. Its also generally not very funny and tends to be too predictable in terms of Joke execution.

It seems to me that for a lot of people writing reviews on this show on here are upset about the representation of Asian and people , and those with disabilities representation rather then the apparent poorly written , and executed script.

I commend the show for such representation , however I feel that the subpar comedic punchlines, the emphasis on race at every point in turn , and the overall poorly written storylines that stem away from the characters personalities made this show somewhat painful to watch .

Do more diverse shows need to exist ? Yes absolutely; especially as you will see from the below reviews, views about political correctness seemed to be more geared towards the fact that they did this . However I think the way to go about this for such shows , is represent a formula consisting of about 60 to 70 percent familiarity with white and able bodied audiences, and 30 and 40 percent representation of cultural practices and behaviours specific to such minorities .In other words, rather then have such shows represent showcase something 'exotic' and alien to the majority, being the main point of interest , use it as a subplot.