The Thin Blue Line

This series was a bit of a step back for Elton and Atkinson after the audaciously original Blackadder and Mr. Bean series. The Thin Blue Line is an old-fashioned farce set in a city police station. That's not to say it's bad--it's actually very funny, just not anything groundbreaking. A lot of the humor derives from playing stereotypes against themselves: our heroes are bumbling cops who manage to make fools of themselves while eventually solving the crimes and making fools of the bad guys (not to mention the detective division) in the end. Goody, who could be described as a flaming heterosexual, manages to combine a full repertoire of "nelly" mannerisms with a hopeless crush on Habib. Habib herself is both a stereotype (attractive young female character constantly pursued by almost every male character) and a skewerer of stereotypes. This show has its cake and eats it too, but the viewer is too busy laughing to question any of it. And in the tradition of the best British farces, it goes to unbelievable lengths to track down and hammer home every conceivable double entendre and smutty one-liner. When one finishes groaning and/or laughing, one can't help but admire such perseverance in the pursuit of craft.

I just got the series from Netflix after reading about it in one of my Brit-com books. I was sorry when the two discs were done. It is laugh out loud funny. Atkinson as Fowler is right on form and the rest of the ensemble cast matches him. Haig as Grimm is amazing he never falters even in his most tongue twisting lines ! Constable Goody is amazing the facial expressions alone are worth the rental cost. If you love Brit-coms this is a must see ! This is also one where you don't want to miss a word of the dialog. Sharp and witty. I noticed that in almost each episode there appear to be two- three distinct plot lines and how they do it is a mystery but everything comes together and is shown to be interconnected by the final fade out.

The best characters in this sitcom have to be Inspector Fowler and Inspector Grimm. Grimm cracks me up everytime with his bad use of speech and his catchphrase "No Fannying about". I like the idea of the CID and the Police officers not wanting to accept help from each other. Goody is also very funny as is Constable Kray (Series 1). A rare find in the 90's sitcom era thats actually good (Bottom, Vicar of Dibley and Men Behaving badly are the only other good comedies from the decade). British comedy at its best as always.

I had all the episodes of TTBL on tape at one stage. The whole family watched them over and over. Ben Elton must be one of the best writers going. To spoof a police station and have such a variety of characters is fantastic. Each episode a comic delight. This show suits just about any age group too.

I saw this on TV in 1995/96 and just loved it! The storylines and gags cackle with invention and are simply sheer genius. Ben Elton did a very good job here. The stars in this show are perfectly cast and hilirious to watch, particularly James Dreyfuss, Rowan Atkinson and also David Haig who plays D.I Grim is hilirious! There's a good range of personalities embedded into each character and it's great the way they interact so well. Some great double meanings and even some toilet humour gags will keep you more than satisfied while watching this. :-) 9/10