Mutual Friends

'Mutual Friends', BBC1's latest drama, tells the story of Marc Warren's terminally useless solicitor Martin, whose life is thrown into turmoil as a consequence of his friends' various mid-life crises, most notably that of suave chancer Patrick (played with a certain verve by Antony Armstrong). The series is fitfully amusing, but suffers in comparison with BBC3's recent relationship comedies, the true-to-life 'Gavin and Stacey' and the splendidly acerbic 'Pulling': only Martin feels real, there's certainly no-one else remotely sympathetic and Patrick's outrageousness isn't quite entertaining enough when set against the rest of the thinly drawn and unlikeable dramatis personae. Each episode is quite good fun, but there's little new after the first couple of parts. It's a shame, because there are some good ideas in the scripts; but they never altogether leave behind their more obvious companions.

The story essentially revolves around the events that follow the suicide of one member of a group of friends and the subsequent revelations that come to light about his true self and the other members of the group as the story unfolds.

At face value this is a reasonable BBC production which attempts to be a comedy with a conscience about youngish Brits living in the South east of England (the series was filmed in Henley on Thames.) I certainly found quite a bit to laugh at whilst watching this show but also a lot to find quite irritating. The problem with the majority of BBC shows such as this, is that there are so many stereo types and "Politically correct" characters and situations in the script. From the hopeless wimpy lawyer with a wife far sexier than he deserves to the token black family to the brain dead widow removed from reality in every sense. It all adds up to a "hotch-potch" of what the writers think is the norm these days.

The saving grace in the whole proceedings is Alexander Armstrong who does a great job as Patrick the entrepreneur / Lothario of the gang. He is concerned mostly with losing his business "cucumber" which acts as a media agency to his arch rival ( the rival also happens to be after his girlfriend Liz.) As animated as his character is, his reactions to the issues faced come across as the more realistic and he alone keeps the show fun.

The best jokes and ideas come in the first half of the series after which you noticeably see the script and story run out of steam. The finale, which is largely concerned with which of the two suitors Liz will choose (Patrick or his business and personal rival Harry) is not particularly satisfying and whilst it provides you with a resolution of events, it isn't the fireworks that you'd hoped for.

I'd be surprised if the show is renewed for a second series.

(21/10/09 - "The show was not recommissioned by the BBC due to low ratings. Anil Gupta also attributed the demise of the series to the departure of Peter Fincham, the controller of BBC One, in 2008." - Wikipedia.)