Men Behaving Badly

This is the best show the BBC has to offer and the best English comedy series besides Fawlty Towers, so I feel and lucky a Dutch TV station finally picked this one up last year (I hope they'll also broadcast them following season).

The show is about Tony (Neil Morrissey) and Gary (Martin Clunes, whom some of you might remember as Richard Burbage in Shakespeare in Love) who live together and as the title of this show suggests they behave badly, actually they are pigs. They are dumb, filthy, insensitive, asocial and they drink a lot. But most of all they are believable, never have I seen a show that is so believable with such ‘extraordinary' people in it. Then of course these two are not alone, they are joint by Gary's and Tony's upstairs neighbour Deborah (Leslie Ash) and Gary's girlfriend Dorothy (Caroline Quentin), who can actually be just as filthy as Gary but only if she feels like it.

This really is a very good show, because the actors are great and it is funny (if you have got the right sense of humour, cause if you don't you might be offended). This a 30 minute gross-out session I just MUST attend every week.

I wish it had carried on longer but all good things must come to an end sometime. Another classic Uk sitcom and going by the 90's standards of crappy comedy this definately is the best one of the decade (except maybe Bottom and Vicar of Dibley). Watch this show its worth it.

Brilliant, hilarious, crude, and did I say brilliant!!! Neil is great in these series, as is Martin, Caroline and Leslie. The look at their hum-drum lives couldn't be funnier and yet so close to the heart of so many of us out there!!! These two unlikely house-mates (Clunes and Morrisey) somehow make a fantastic coupling of characters which tug at the funny-bones, and even a little at the heartstrings, as they try to impress (but often insult) the patient and persevering Deborah and Dorothy. Not to mention their less than impressive career moves. Leaves a certain American series starring a certain American comedian for dead!!!

The reason I bought my DVD player was so that I could play the DVD's in the Men behaving Badly box set that I was fortunate enough to buy back in 2001.

It was a hefty investment at the time but it has been worth it in repeated laughs since then.

Having shared flats in my youth with friends, I found it easy to relate to the situations that Tony and Gary found themselves in. Work problems, girl problems, hygiene problems - oh how the memories come flooding back!

Who can forget Gary's antics at the all-night rave-party, or Tony's attempts to tattoo himself on the cheap. Even the first series with Dermott (Harry Enfield), though not as good as later series, had many good moments. Just how hard is it to assemble a book-case?

Simon Nye deserves a medal for this stuff!

This is the only comedy series I have ever watched that whether you are male or female you can absolutely relate to.

Either you have done or experienced first hand everything that happens in each episode.

Series 1 with Harry Enfield was fantastic, but when Neil Morrisey replaced him in Series 2 things only got better!

If you have the DVD set (a great investment) then don't forget to check out the outtakes (via the Pub Quiz) - Very funny!

Having read comments from others and external reviews, decided to add a bit more to my comments...

Men Behaving Badly was interesting because it was a show that jumped channels. It started on ITV (only Series 1 I think) and then moved to the BBC. However it was still Pearson TV that were behind it so I'm not sure if the change of channel contributed to the fact that Series 2-6 and Last Orders were better (not only my opinion) than Series 1 or if it was purely better chemistry between the leads plus the public becoming more and more comfortable with them that gave this impression.

In any case, I am only happy that I have never been subjected to the US version of this and I can remember it in its original mode!