Coogan's Run

This should've got a second series. With Coogans genius for creating characters it would still work today (2019). Duncan Thickit would have made a great episode.

FACT!

Obsessive fans of 'The Office' should seek out the 'Dearth of a Salesman' episode and meet the monstrously cringe-inducing Gareth Cheeseman. Like David Brent, anyone who has worked in an office and attended sales conferences will recognise Coogan's salesman from hell. As with Alan Partridge, he is rude, sexist and bigoted... and absolutely hilarious. And, as always with Coogan, we are left with some excellently quotable catch phrases.

'Is that just for Junior, or can we all have some?'

STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All Costs

Steve Coogan has brilliantly captured the essence of six distinguishable stereotypes and worked them to successful effect.The best episodes are Dearth of a Salesman,Get Calf and The Curator,which are all side-splitting.Handyman for all Seasons and Thursday Night Fever are certainly very good,but the series is let down by the irritating and very unfunny Natural Born Quizzers.Still,in something this good ,there'll invariably be one rotten egg ,and other than that,it's must see stuff.Coogan's a genius.****

Coogan's Run has only one good episode, and that is "Handyman for all Seasons". This is an absolute classic, filmed entirely in black and white and set in the 60s. It did a great job of recapturing the era, and was also very funny. This episode was like "Schindler's List" - the black and white colour only made it even more authentic, original and memorable. Coogan's Run could have been a classic if all of the episodes had been done like this. However, what we get are just watered-down versions of Phoenix Nights, which is far funnier. Thursday Night Fever is bloody awful, and the rest are just generally forgettable. That may explain why hardly anybody has heard of this comedy series - it is just plain boring, even though it precedes most others of its kind. But "Handyman for all Seasons" is more than just good - it is a breakthrough in comedy, and should be seen by any comedy fan, including fans of Steve Coogan, who has since moved on.

Buy the video for "Handyman for all Seasons" alone. It gets a 10, and the rest get 4 on average, only for inspiring future comedy series which are, generally speaking, far better. 7/10 av.