Early Doors

Caught this by chance when first on BBC2 ages ago and now have become Eddiesque with my non stop quotes. The beauty is its simplicity, a pub full of half wits and cretins talking rubbish about things of no consequence i.e exactly what a good pub should be! Ken topping the branded spirits up with cheap tat, Duffy with his Polaroids, Eddie and his jury service and perhaps my favourite Tommy during Melanies 21st birthday with his table in the toilets, Ken; Are you coming out when she cuts the cake, or do you want her to bring it in here? Tommy; P*** off!Possibly only modern comedy (Gervais being a possible exception) that can make me cry laughing. Heard rumours of a third series with the second being shown on BBC1 in August 06, I wait for more tales of temporary traffic lights at the junction of Burdall Lane, by McVities. Sheer 100% genius

This show is just about as good as TV gets. To watch it and suddenly realize 30 minutes have elapsed invariably surprises me. It is just about the most relaxing TV I have ever seen.

The Grapes is typical of the back street pub close to extinction in the north west of England. Especially one that serves cask conditioned beer. It's a celebration of it's gentle goings on and a sad obituary to their passing.

The latest series has just started and Ken realises the men in suits from the PubCo are round the corner, waiting to do what men in suits are consistently good at. Close the pub.

In the second episode, Ken soldiers on stoically, he has a cold, his bone idle fat arsed mother asks how the kettle works, the degenerate bobby's Phil and Nige are passing the dutchie in the back room and in the front room, the sparse customers expose their lives unashamedly because that's what you do in The Grapes.

After an episode packed with one liners, Ken finds himself propositioned by his barmaid. I only hope we don't have a storyline coming on. God forbid it. Early Doors is The Grapes not The Rovers Return.

Set solely in a Northern Boozer in Manchester, Early Doors is a sitcom with a small selection of witty characters. It is a fly on the wall type show which is packed full with realism, witty dialogue and lovable, complete characters who all add something special to the show. It is one of the most relaxing shows I have ever seen and at 3 hours per season, time will fly by without you noticing whatsoever.

The assemble of characters is what makes this show so memorable as they are all perfectly created and the actors/actresses are selected with faultless precision. You have the barman Ken with his adopted daughter Mel and his Mother, his Mothers cleaner and friend, the old miserable man who doesn't like conversation or to be involved in anything and who is angry at the world. The best friend men in dead end jobs who have marriage problems, the table of gossiping women, out for free drinks, looking to cop off and the oddball couple who have a heart of gold but are ultimately social outcasts, although they are still loved by everybody! There are also a couple of on- duty bent coppers who regularly appear for free drinks in return for 'law enforcement'. Other characters come and go but that is your main group and it works perfectly!

Early Doors taps in to the concept that the average person who is working class, visits the boozer night after night to drink the cheapest beer they can find and smoke their nights away, is more than happy to see the same people every night and talk about unimportant things, often repeated daily. Runnings jokes are common in this show and they make it all the funnier, it doesn't get boring or repetitive, it's simply realistic and hilarious. The temporary traffic light joke is a prime example of this!

Craig Cash writes and stars in this and he does it in complete comedy gold. Not much happens in each episode, nothing needs to happen really. All you need is good dialogue, witty sarcastic banter and a sense of working class realism to make it feel authentic and special. Craig Cash masters this perfectly. You could say it's the Royle Family in a pub, or Phoenix Nights without Peter Kay. I would say it's neither as it has its own style and is strong enough to stand on its own as a British Classic, an overlooked gem which sadly doesn't get the recognition that it truly deserves.

10/10

Why is it that every comedy now has to either have some "incredibly original" gimmick, or be extremely vulgar, or both, to hit it big? This consigns near-masterpieces like Early Doors to the slops bucket of TV history. Yes, as many observe, little happens in the course of the half hour, but you certainly don't even think about that when you're watching it. Cash and Mealey's genius is to realise that everybody's lives are generally repetitive, and so they are likely to have the same discussion in the same refuge every day. This is never treated with a hint of irony, but genuine warmth for the old school pubs that Ken and his lost bretheren run. Lacklustre shows like The Smoking Room and Little Britain, so pleased with themselves and determined to run down the losers, halfwits and layabouts of this world, would do well to learn from this and find that happiness is in whatever routine you, not society, carves out for you.

I love Early Doors! Every character is so complete and every one of them each have their moment of the comic genius. Some of my favourites are of the cleaner, Winnie, winding up Jean - especially the scene where she's winding Jean up about her husband going to court for 'allegedly' being too familiar with the barmaids.

Scenes that absolutely kill me are: 'Do you like circuses?' 'And all the kids shout out 'where's dopey?'' There are just too many moments of comic genius and this is the only comedy (other than The Royale Family) that I can watch over and over again and never get bored of it.

Please, please, Craig Cash, if you read this, do a third series! I know you can do it. Save us from crap like 'My Family'! You're the best.