Saxondale

Saxondale is right up there with the best of British comedies. Steve Coogan has created a fantastically original, well played, scripted comedy on a par with his other great Alan Partridge. All the characters are brilliant, even the small parts like angry man at the anger management sessions I thought were great. His expressions sheer class. Needless to say Tommy Saxondale's character is especially funny. His little nuances, expressions, and all round persona highly entertaining.

The second series I preferred to the first as it introduced even more interesting characters like angry man, annoying neighbour. The musical score is also top notch.

I'm disappointing that it ended in just 2 series, I think it could have gone on longer for maybe 3 to 4 series. The talent to create more episodes is there. 10 out of 10 for sheer comedic entertaining.

It amazes me that this flawless and innovative comedy seems to be all but forgotten and never mentioned when Steve Coogan's work is reviewed.

As I force myself to sit through increasing turgid and unsatisfactory incarcerations of Alan Partridge (he's even touring as him now!!) I can't help but wonder why this stone cold classic is not better known.

Coogan created a character of incredible comedic depth and constructed hilarious scenarios week after week.

For a long time after it's second and final series I hoped he would return to the character but alas he never did.

I suppose it is a case of the great classic UK comedies quitting whilst at their peak after series 2 (The Office, Fawlty Towers, I'm Alan Partridge, Dinner Ladies, Extras, Phoenix Nights etc)

I still really wish Mr Coogan would revisit Tommy Saxondale using his co-writer Neil MacLennon but I guess it's never going to happen now.

Maybe you have to be a similar age to Tommy Saxondale to really appreciate a lot of the humour. Well, I am and Steve Coogan has created one of the most unique comic creations ever seen on TV.

Look out for the subtle use of tics and mannerisms that make Saxodale such a watchable character. And fantastic support from all.

Rasmus H. is just right as Tommy's assistant, basically playing the same character he portrays in "Lead Balloon". Ruth Jones is dead sexy and Morwenna Banks is a treasure.

This is a multi-dimensional comedy. Always varied and not just playing on the idea of an ageing "hippy" out of place in the modern world. Poor old Tommys' encounters with some squatters was pure comic brilliance.

I love it.

I recently watched both seasons of Saxondale and remember thinking after completing series one that it was surprising that it got a second outing. I wasn't overly impressed with that first season at all, finding Steve Coogan's depiction of the central character too overdone, while his fake hair and beard offputtingly silly. So I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that the second season was so good. Not just better by comparison but actually very funny and better written. It was immediately improved by Coogan dispatching with the wig and going for a more natural look. It made him look a lot younger than in the first season which maybe doesn't make sense but was much preferable.

The set-up centres on an ageing 70's ex-roadie called Tommy Saxondale who still believes he is still fighting the system but who in reality is now a subcontracting pest exterminator. The character is more sympathetic than is typical of Coogan. He's a little more self-aware and intentionally humorous than the likes of Alan Partridge, although he does still share many of the facets of that character such as an arrogance and self-importance. Like Coogan creations in general Tommy Saxondale is a well observed character with lots of specific traits that make him seem quite believable and not too cartoonish. There are some good side characters to enjoy too. Some of the best of those are there essentially to antagonise Saxondale, such as Vicky the woman who gives him his work details played very well by Morwenna Banks; she consistently gets the upper hand on him, outwitting him mercilessly in a hilariously passive aggressive manner. I also enjoyed his neighbour who cringingly tries to talk to him on his level before bringing up some minor complaint.

All-in-all, this has to be considered a success. It definitely improved in various ways by season two and I would even daresay it had legs for a third season also. It certainly has to be considered one of Coogan's best creations outside of Partridge.

The Character that Steve Coogan has created, or rather perfected, of Tommy Saxondale is deeply, profoundly demented. But it's Coogan's mastery of the nuances of bitter, disillusioned, middle aged neurosis that makes his character so appealing, so universal. It's impossible not to identify with the short tempered, self centered, frustratingly inflexible, outrageously arrogant pest exterminator. And he's joined in his excellent performance by a rich constellation of equally quirky and brilliant supporting characters, such as the chatty, oddly attractive pest control company dispatcher so wonderfully played by Morwenna Banks. It's hilarious, the casual ease with which she presses his excruciatingly sensitive buttons - perhaps lovingly teasing him - and thus with a few sharp, well placed jabs utterly undermines his ruggedly assembled self-image. It's like watching a Medieval fortress collapse under the weight of a playful butterfly.

Saxondale's life is all behind him. He lives in the past where all his great heroes and great ideals were born and died along with his philosophy & references & hair style & car. Actually, the yellow fastback Mustang is quite fashionable and very cool, but that's about all he's got left to show for his former career as a professional rock band roadie where everything, understandably, was so much more exciting, outrageous, wonderful, vivid and meaningful. Tommy now finds himself nearly alone in an absurdly shallow & tedious world of crass, corny, crappy materialism overly populated by semi-intelligent optimists; his once noble passions increasingly doused by the conspiring encroaching forces of suburban mediocrity, or so he likes to believe.

His adoring and sweet but occasionally flustered wife, Magz, owns an alternative lifestyle shop in the mall where she conceives tee shirt slogans to shock and disgust the straight world which she does this with the casual innocence of a florist. Magz may sometimes test Tommy's brittle patience but somehow she avoids his fiery wrath because, well, he loves her. His rage unleashes at the most absurd inappropriate moments, usually after someone has failed to grasp the obviously stunning genius of one of his savagely witty if awkwardly esoteric quips.

Saxondale is a hostile hybrid of Ricky Gervais' "The Office" and any other show in the history of broadcast TV that features a misunderstood dreamer. It's an undervalued, criminally ignored treasure of a programme that has saved me from many a laugh-less evening. Series 2 actually surpasses the first. One of my all time favorites that grows more wonderful each time I climb aboard for another action packed adventure in the fast paced, wild & wacky world of commercial pest control.