Mandy

I've been enjoying Morgan's sharp characterful grotesquery since the creation of the curiously stupid (or stupidly curious) Philomena Cunk - intended as another fake "dumb general public view" talking head alongside Al Campbell's Barry Sh**peas on Charlie Brooker's evergreen Wipe cultural commentary shows. In this she creates her own surreal (but strangely believable) British figure - a sloppy ignorant buffoon called Mandy Carter.

Unlike Cunk (and the works of Cunk) this is a pure creation by Morgan who writes the entire thing and it's... a mixed bag really but admirably surreal. In the short episodes the plots are fairly perfunctory but the situations and the wildly inspired cast shines through. Watching Mandy interact with people like David Bradley, Sean Lock or Maxine Peake is a pure joy but to spotlight extremely specific people like Natalie Cassidy or the great Mark Silcox (the latter in multiple roles no less) is almost poetry.

Essentially, Mandy is a willfully strange bit of comedy frippery with a who's who of British oddbods. It's not doing anything particularly revolutionary but like Mandy herself it has a curious charm all of its own.

The entire show is beautiful in its simplicity, broad comedic strokes delivered with an element of sadness and the result is stunning to watch. From the wacky situations to Diane Morgan's stunning portrayal of Mandy. It was perfect. I also enjoyed the abrupt editing and the perfunctory use of music. The cinematography, while simple in parts, felt like it had purpose. Every shot felt meaningful and impactful, compared to some shows where the camerawork is utilised to fill time.

Overall I want to see more of this, but I don't want the format to change. The reason being that the 15 minute format forces the show to be as concise as possible which I think really benefits the show.

BBC, make more please!

She is brilliant as a comedy actress, but I just can't get on with Mandy. Too much face pulling gets a bit annoying. 🙄 Her other roles are fantastic, like After Life and Cunkt she's amazing.

Diane Morgan absolutely brilliant as the hapless Mandy. Funniest comedy I've seen for a long time. Poor Mandy always has good intentions and ends up getting it spectacularly wrong. She's like a cross between Frank Spencer and Grumio. I do hope there'll be another series.

If you like your comedy broad, short and simple then this may be the answer. Mandy runs through her confused life creating surreal chaos in short 22 minute episodes. Loved the poisonous spiders sneaking through on the banana shipments. Worth a watch to see if it your cup of tea