Chalk

Chalk is one of the most underrated British sitcoms. I'm not pretending it's one of the best, but it deserved attention and recognition and admiration. It WAS just farce, but it was funny, well constructed, and beautifully acted. What lifted the programme above the norm, though, was the love affair, which was handled terrifically. The difference between British and American sitcoms, what makes the US ones so popular, is they're good at building on-going unconsummated love affairs into the plots - Ross and Rachel, Frasier and Niles, Caroline and Richard. They make you want to keep watching. Although the complicit insanity of David Bamber and Nicola Walker was very understated throughout the first series, it was there. In the next series, it began to come to life - this was perfect pacing, and the episode where they both draw diagrams to show how they're not compatible was nearly brilliant.

It's not as good as Press Gang, of course - nothing is (and I'm not crazy, I'm sensible and clever in real life) but it's clear that Moffat is our best hope for producing a sit com full of great lines and a romance you care about. I wish he'd write something new now. How about a return to Spike and Lynda - they must both want to do it, if it's as good as Press Gang. She could be working her way up a ghastly tabloid, or the editor of a local paper, or well, I am getting into crazy territory now. But he should do it.

I watched this series when it was first released and it's even better now than it was then. With all the over dramatic, totally unrealistic scenarios in current comedy series some good clean silliness is a welcome break.

Having gone through the British school system the personality defects and odd behaviour of the staff is completely believable and very funny.

I just wish there was more of it. 2 series of 6 episodes is not enough, I wish I knew why it ended.

I can only assume the bad reviews are from Americans who have never met a British person, let alone been here and don't get our humour. No-one is comparing this series to the predictable American sitcoms and nobody who has seen this ever would.

I mean one reviewer actually gets on their high horse about a married man "carrying on" (which would never happen in an American show!), a veiw that can only be explained if the reviewer has only seen a 10 second dream sequence in an episode titled The Dream and not watched anything else.

This was also never touted as the new Fawlty Towers. I wouldn't have watched it if it had been.

I can't understand other IMDB members' criticism of this very funny show. If you like Steven Moffat's other shows, how can you fail to be amused by this? Very much in the same vein as the previous "Joking Apart" and the latter "Coupling," "Chalk" puts its characters into farcical situations from which they have to find their way out of -- and suffer a world of embarrassment while doing so.

The writing sparkles, and the acting is superb. The cast understand the meaning of the words "comic timing." And no, I did not find the performance of David Bamber, as Mr. Slatt, "over the top."

Speaking of Mr. Slatt, you've got to love that the character starts out -- to use the British vernacular -- a total w****r. But then, in the episode where Mrs. Trippley meets her online sex partner (who goes by the screen name "Meat Helmet," while the dowdy, middle-aged teacher is "Hot Bitch" C'mon, tell me that that alone isn't already making you chuckle), Slatt is actually allowed to be heroic! This is akin to having M*A*S*H*'s Frank Burns turn around and do something noble at the end of an episode. Slatt's honorable action is totally unexpected, but a nice bit of character development nonetheless.

All-in-all I'd say don't be put off by a couple of negative reviews. If you like Steven Moffat, or you like farce, watch this show! Meanwhile, I wish someone would put out a Region 1 DVD of "Chalk" so that I can see the episodes that I missed when it ran on our local PBS station, and re-watch some of my favorite episode, such as the one mentioned above.

This one of the best and funniest comedy series i have ever seen! All characters are brilliant.

Mr. Slatt (David Bamber) is a very very irritated man, irritated by everything and anyone.

He wants to do things and handle situations as best as he possibly can, but he never gets it right and only gets himself deeper and deeper in trouble. Not supported by his wife Janet, who only tries to get him deeper and deeper into the trouble he is getting himself into (and really does not need the help at all!).

All characters are played/portrayed brilliantly. Just imagine sending your kid(s) to a school like this.

It is unbelievable that people do not like it (maybe some don not get the many many plays on words, that are featured many times per episode).

It is also unbelievable that there is still no DVD release of it. There are only 2 series!

So please, release it, let it go! So the fans can and will enjoy it!

Try it, you might just like it!!!

Just some names & words from the series: Pumpman, Man Helmet, Hot Bitch, Mount Suzy, Travis Fellatio, Cockfoster, Arshead (and many many more).

My friend watched Chalk. He saw David Bamber and said that he had nightmares. The show was that bad.

Although David Bamber didn't do it alone. The entire show was a complete failure. Saying that the fact that it had an ongoing understated and unconsummated love affair going on made it like an American sitcom is hogwash! American sitcoms would never have a married man carry on so unless his wife was insane and never actually appeared on-screen. Even if they did, the fact that David Bamber was one half of this couple makes it highly implausible. We were already asked to transcend the lines of plausible reality when we were asked to believe that any woman would marry him. To think that another female would be attracted to him is impossible to swallow.

If anyone else had been in the role of Slatt, this show might have been palatable. However, it was not to be. I conclude by saying that this show should carry a warning label- avoid at all costs!