The Kennedys

This is one of the funnier sitcoms I have seen in quite some time. Post Covid, I started to run out of series to watch and found The Kennedys. I'm glad I did! One season, still worth the watch and some good belly laughs. It's a shame it only ran for one season. I hope it gets a reboot with added seasons but I have to say, the chemistry of the acting team will be tough to beat.

I can't believe The Kennedys didn't get a second series commissioned! It felt unique and was laugh-out-loud funny each episode.

It has made me want to read the source material its loosely based on - The Tent, The Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy. The first episode in particular had us laughing until we cried and excited that we had somehow stumbled upon a hidden gem.

Things were just as funny when 'the bucket' itself makes an appearance. Glad I never went camping with them. In fact, I don't think I'll go camping in a tent ever again now! It's the kind of show that makes you smile while reminiscing about it.

Not every episode was a winner though. Some fell flat, and even though it wasn't a long series, it did somehow manage to lose momentum. Still, the acting was all great and the lines delivered with excellent comedic timing. Will definitely watch again, especially when needing some laughter medicine!

It's simple silly lighthearted family fun, I just don't get why something like this gets just one season and some trashy mind-numbing junk gets more playtime. There should be a rule where a minimum of two seasons are commissioned, this series leaves off with a bit of a cliff-hanger that will never see the light of day, just a bit frustrating. I really like Katherine Parkinson so I'm biased, but I liked the other characters as well, they all had their own quirks, and were fun to watch, maybe just the little girls role was a bit too side-lined for a show that was supposedly based around her life. Watching some episodes it's almost like I forget she's even part of the plot. Her character twist is she loves Star Wars and is a tomboy, I guess it was odd for a girl at that time to be so enthusiastic about Sci-Fi, but with modern tastes it doesn't seam so odd or out of the ordinary. And anytime it's brought up in the series it's like a "so what" moment. Since it was just loosely based on a life story, it really did have a fairly blank slate to work with, so in the end it was a waste of a good setting and pliable characters. I did really like it overall and if anything fans of Katherine Parkinson should enjoy seeing more of her.

Terrific show that deserved a much better fate than it got. Parkinson and Peacock(real-life husband and wife) are outstanding as is the entire cast. If only the BBC would have given this gem another time slot or moved it to BBC 2. Such a shame we only have six episodes.

The Kennedys is loosely based on The Tent, The Bucket and Me by Emma Kennedy and is set in Stevenage in the late seventies.

I was born in 1979, so the nostalgia for me in this show is minimal. That said, it does remind me of my eighties childhood a little. I have seen some criticism of the show's anachronisms, something I'll admit to not noticing. I'm sure that could be irritating, but this isn't a documentary and shouldn't detract from the show's strengths.

The show focuses on the Kennedys and their friends Jenny and Tim, two young families grappling with the challenges of their era. Trying to be modern and fashionable at a time when lasagne is considered exotic.

Putting the past under the spotlight could easily descend into laughing at their ignorance and feel very mean spirited. Fortunately, Emma Kennedy's writing is much fairer than that. The characters' charm shines through and gives warmth to the humour that allows it to be absurd with out seeming ridiculous. While there are appeals to a sense of nostalgia, The Kennedys doesn't rely on it and allows it's humour to work in it's own right giving it appeal to me in my thirties and my parents who were in their twenties when this show is set.

The cast are fantastic. They manage to use the quirks of their characters to full comedic effect while keeping them grounded and believable as friends and family. This level of quality from the older actors is impressive, the fact that Lucy Hutchinson is up there too is astonishing.

I haven't read the book the show is based on, but the strength of the writing here really does recommend it.