Honey for Tea

The 90s were a time where Brits making fun of Yanks and vice versa was a comedy staple. In small doses it could be amusing, but when it's a show's crutch it's excruciating. And there we have Honey for Tea.

Felicity Kendall plays a British born American widow left penniless who moves to Cambridge to enroll her son in the college that her husband previously supported financially.

Kendall's American accent is perplexing and inconsistent, despite being married to an American at the time in real life. She has the acting and comedic chops to lead a sitcom, but the premise and writing of this show was so asinine not even she could save it. Not even if she dropped the accent...

Two out of touch spoiled (previously) nouveau riche Americans dropped in the stuffy, cold, antiquated world of British academics and the upper class with their traditions and prejudices. It truly is as unfunny as that sounds. Not one single character grounds this uninspired premise, nor does a single character elevate it through terrific comedic characterisation. It's a series of one dimensional, underdeveloped characters acting out the most anaemic script.

It is must see tv. You must see this for yourself to believe how awful it is.

American shows are notorious for including supposedly 'British' characters played by American actors making appalling attempts at an accent. (Think Anthony La Paglia in 'Frasier'...) TV pundit Victor Lewis-Smith once described Honey for Tea as 'Britain's revenge'. Felicity Kendal plays a pushy American mom desperate to get her son into a posh boarding school, and her accent is so bad it makes you want to cut your ears off. The woman sounds like she's never even heard of America, let alone come from there. The atrocity of Kendal's accent caused a critical slating, but it disguised the fact that the show itself was badly scripted and horribly unfunny. Not surprisingly, this didn't get a second series.