My Family

Robert Lindsay on our TV screens at present in two roles so vastly different from each other- Captain Pellew of Hornblower fame and as the "insane" dentist - father - family man of My Family! I am a great fan of RL ever since first seeing him in Nightingales, another quite insane comedy of quite a different calibre.

After last seeing Zoe Wannamaker as the love of Adam Faith it makes a change to see her as less 'Ms' Prim and Proper and more as 'Mrs' Avant Gard Dentist's wife. She does both so well in my opinion.

Anyway, I love My Family, it will appeal to an audience who likes the humour of Seinfeld mixed with the madness of someone of the ilk of Lenny Henry and it does really work. The wit is very clever, very in your face and not as subtle as english humour can be at times but nevertheless it is great fun.

"My Family" follows the day-to-day foibles of the Harpers, a British family of five. There's Ben (Robert Lindsay), the dentist who seems to loathe his life and family. Susan (Zoë Wanamaker), his tour-guide wife who prides herself on her open mind and is an awful cook but doesn't let it hinder her culinary style. Janey (Daniela Denby-Ashe) is the fashion magazine-reading, self-admittedly shallow teenaged daughter. (In season 4, Janey goes to college and is replaced by the vacuous Abi (Siobhan Hayes), Ben's cousin's daughter, for just as much fun). Michael (Gabriel Thomson) is the youngest son, who seems to be the brightest of the bunch. All of them are funny but the character who really shines, is the oldest son, Nick (Kris Marshall). Every scene with Nick is comic genius; from his quest to make money through various schemes and an assortment of jobs to his seeming inability to be troubled by anything.

The writing is good, with a variety of entertaining stories. I'm watching re-runs so there are many I have yet to see but I've found every episode that I have seen amusing. The actors are well-suited to their roles and all do a fantastic job. There are a few running gags as well, including Nick's quest for the perfect job, as mentioned, and some Harry Potter references that have popped up since Zoë Wanamaker appeared in the first Potter film. Since I've mentioned it, I might add that under other circumstances, Gabriel Thomson could easily have played Harry himself.

I'd highly recommend checking it out if you can. The show's episodic enough that one can start watching at any point.

A great British sit com series that has evolved with the aging of its stars. The series is based on traditional British slapstick humor revolving around the relationship of family members and their close friends and work colleague's. Basically great humor that can be watched as repeats and still enjoyed by the wider family group. One thing to note is how some of the cast members, including family members just suddenly disappear. Nick the eldest son is one of the key characters in the early episodes and plays a brilliant character who drives his father Ben quite insane with his poorly thought out schemes. Nick suddenly disappears as the series progress and unfortunately it is a loss that affects the program as a whole.

Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker star as the parents of Kris Marshall, Daniela Denby-Ashe, and Gabriel Thomson in "My Family," a very successful British television series that lasted 11 years.

Unfortunately only the first few seasons are available on disk thus far, but it is a very funny and lively series. Lindsay and Wanamaker are terrific pros as the head of the Harper household. The beleaguered Ben Harper is a dentist and iffy housewife Susan, who definitely can't cook, is a tour guide. Nick (Marshall) has a new job every episode. I think the funniest episode was when Susan's boss stayed overnight and the next morning, Nick tried to take some bacon and Susan told him it was for their house guest. Then Ben finds Susan's boss dead. When he announces it, Nick asks, "Can I have his bacon?" Michael (Thomson) grows up on the show, and when the disks stop, he is developing an interesting life as a chick magnet and a wheeler dealer. Janey is in college, and the situation is not without problems.

Kris Marshall is still in the show when the disks leave off, but I can imagine it was rough going without him. He added so much humor to the show. The writers must have had a blast with that outrageous character.

Highly recommended. Not every episode is spectacular, but it's still a wonderful and well-acted series.

My Family is a great comedy. It's rare these days that a sitcom can stand the test of time but this has lasted 4 years all ready ad is still as funny as it was to start with, and it was funny to start with which is also important. It's very exaggerated but very much based in real life and everyone can see trademarks of their own families in the Harpers.

The characters are excellent and well portrayed. Firstly there's the mother played by Zoe Wannamaker, who as Jonathan Ross once said, has a strange kind of sexiness. She's the woman with the mad hair and a kind of Witch like, everything in the pot, attitude to cooking, with each episode having her come up with new disgusting recipes like Roast Chicken with chocolate topping. Then there's Ben Harper the father but not head of the household it must be said. Played superbly by another comedic veteran, Robert Lindsey. His sarcastic and biting delivery to everything is hilarious and the banter between him and Wannamaker is the centre piece of the show. Also superb is Kris Marshall as the eldest son Nick, the gormless, unemployable idiot who is the bane of his father's existence. Marshall plays him superbly and generally Nick has had some of the best scenes in the whole of the run. The most recent series was unfortunate as Marshall has reduced his role to an occasional cameo because essentially he is becoming too old to play the part. Marshall is 31 and Nick is only in his early 20's. Marshall can pass for that because I thought he was Nick's age but also at some point it is inevitable someone aspiring to be a respected actor would not want to become to related to a certain part and become typecast. Gabriel Thompson is also very good as the youngest Harper, the geeky Michael who throughout the series has grown into a sort of amoral shady businessmen, taking friends and family for mugs and making money off them. Daniella Denby Ashe plays the daughter and like Marshall is now an extended cameo. She's the bitchy, spoilt little IT girl who wants things for nothing and is now a mother herself. The newest family member is Abby played excellently by Siobhan Hayes who is another gormless idiot.

This is one of the finest examples of recent British sitcom and certainly relatable worldwide. Excellent stuff!