Grandma's House

This series is so spectacularly bad on almost - actually strike that - every level, it's almost worth watching just to soak up its sheer awfulness.

And I'm not just deliberately hating on it out of badness.

Simon Amstell - the real-life Simon Amstell - is a charismatic, likable, ferociously witty young man who manages to stay on the right side of smugness.

And Rebecca Front is one of my favourite comic actresses - glorious as a foil to Alan Partridge in the Knowing Me Knowing You days.

But, goodness, do they sink to the depths in Grandma's House.

I sometimes wonder during the process of making a show as execrable as this, why a friend or a colleague of the makers doesn't point out - politely - how bad it is.

Does no-one notice when they watch the rushes how painfully inept it is.

So what's so bad? Well, the acting for starters. For someone so effortlessly relaxed with pithy putdowns on Buzzcocks, Amstell is surprisingly uncomfortable in front of the cameras.

It's like watching a particularly stilted sixth former during am dram.

And, Jesus wept, the script. The second episode seems to have endless scenes of Amstell's character arguing with his aunt: "You shut up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"No you..."

That's not direct quotes but that's the gist of that 'plotline'.

It 'climaxes' in a scene where Amstell's mum and various family members act out a new play he has been working on about - sighs - talking eggs.

Can't bring myself to elaborate on that one.

In fact, I've whinged on enough about this.

Devoid of laughs, it's kind of worth catching in a cringeworthy sort of way.

This is a truly brilliant piece of writing and an excellent example of British comedy. The brilliance lies in the interactions within Simon's family, which are probably familiar scenario's and characters to all of us. The Clive character is just awful and is so wonderful to watch.It's a very self-aware and post-modern piece of TV that seems to meld real life (Amstel having left Buzzcocks) with a fictional family - you do tend to wonder what Amstel's real family is like and how much of this might be based on true events? There are obvious comparisons with The Royal Family and perhaps The Office but I don't think these bear more than a superficial resemblance. I am very much looking forward to the next four episodes to see where this all leads!

I am fairly obsessed with this show and think it is sheer brilliance. I have watched both sessions more times than I care to admit, and each time I find something else that I didn't notice the first time. The show is not only funny, but poignant on many levels and has deep meaning , especially the last three episodes if you pay very close attention. I find the house, itself, fascinating----the room in which they all congregate always has that certain slant of light coming through and it is never night time, always day.

I can't imagine there will ever be a show that I like as much as this one.

If this quote doesn't persuade you to watch Grandma's House hopefully the following will: I found the first two episodes (as a LOT of viewers it turns out) ungainly and not quite what I thought the show would be, maybe because of the Simon Amstell's semi-comedic performance of himself, I'm still not sure. But after a two week break a I watched the third episode and it made double over with laughter a number of times BECAUSE of Simon Amstell's performance and the writing. The show's quirky, uncomfortable and pop culture based - much like all the things that Amstell did before and I loved( and that everyone decided to suddenly hate him for). It's also at times very honest and touching (and surprise surprise even more uncomfortable), with characters that are at once caricatured and hyper real and deliver lines that make you want to quote them the next day. So don't let people's sudden hatred of Simon Amstell discourage you from watching this great bit of British comedy!

When I first watched this series when it came out I already found it funny, witty and at times I could really see some of my own family life in the interactions between the actors. But now that I've watched the show a second time I'm only now starting to begin to realise its sheer brilliance. The characters became that more real to me, Simon's awkwardness is at times (all the time actually) really endearing, the way the grandmother just tries to keep everyone happy reminds me a lot of my own grandmother... It's definitely worth your time to watch it and then maybe let it sink in and watch it again some time later and come to the same realisation as me: Grandma's house is a magnificent series and it just keeps getting better as the episodes progress!