Don't Forget the Driver

Have just watched all six episodes of this .so good I want to share how much I enjoyed...some dark eery moments along with laugh out loud chaos...throw in some emotional moments ...with the background of what's going on with immigration in today's world made for a funny touching and thought provoking three hours of fun

Written and starring Toby Jones and very much in the mould of the successful "Detecterists" in which Jones co starred. Don't forget the driver is a charming sometimes moving piece on the daly life of a day trip coach driver. The humour mostly comes in the shape of the diverse coach trips, the driver engages whilst trying to cope with a hectic home life of being a single parent to a teenage girl, a mother with dementia a will he or won't he relationship with a women who has a severely disabled son. If you enjoyed Detectorists or Ricky Gervais After Life then this will be for you. 8/10

I really enjoyed seeing Toby Jones play this character, wimpy, but good natured, underdog type. Similar to the character he plays in the Detectorists.While at work, Peter witnesses something he recognises as wrong but is reluctant to become involved with. The story utilises this situation to highlight the larger issue of illegal immigration and human trafficking. It is done well, with working class Britain as the backdrop.

Toby Jones plays a set of twins - Peter, coach driver in Bognor Regis, England, father to Kyla, stroppy young adult still-at-home daughter. Peter's one of nature's heroic cowards, fighting against his natural timidness to savee an illegal Eritean immigrant 19 yr old woman from human traffickers - rather hapless traffickers as it happens... And Barry, Peter's twin, - who is rather predictably the complete opposite of Peter. Brash, matey, know-it-all ex- pat living in Australia - who we get to see through Skype sessions.

All the supporting class keep pace with the masterful Toby Jones, but highlights include Marcia Warren, who plays Peter and Barry's mother, Joy, who's at the start of dementia, and who, in Peter's eyes, refuses to accept that Barry (her obvious favourite) has abandoned her and gone off to Oz. Joy rather cruelly always 'mistakenly' calls Peter, Barry;

And Fran (Claire Rushbrook) , not unattractive but generously proportioned middle-aged woman, mother to Kieran, her son with Cerebral Palsy, whom she adores... She has an unfailing optimistic view of everything. Somehow, Peter has unwittingly and inexplicably attracted her amorous attentions....

Very gentle, bitter-sweet comedy throughout. Some have called it dark, even black comedy because of the subject matter involved, but not me. My tolerances might be higher than the average, though. Worth a binge watch. as it's only 6 x 30mins episodes.

Dark comedy yes, but more a contemporary piece on the state of the nation. Casts a great sense of shame on the way society often treats those marginalised and cast out by society, including immigrants, those with disability, single parent families, trans and non-binary and dementia. It has moments of sympathetic laughter and many moments of tears, some of sadness and despair but also of joy. Cinematography, lighting and editing all thoughtful and beautiful. Very powerful and highly recommended.