Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps

I was fifteen when "Hollyoaks" first reared its painfully unimpressive head. The thing that disappointed me most about that terrible show was that it had so much potential. "Two Pints... ", another waste of a good concept, has in its cast two actors from that show - Natalie Casey and Will Mellor, both acted as comic relief in "Hollyoaks".

The episode I saw today featured Janet (Sheridan Smith) thinking about becoming a student. I was watching, getting annoyed at the portrayal of students as ridiculously upper-class muppets, when somebody asked Janet if she knew what an NVQ was. "Not Very Qualified?" interrupted Donna (Natalie Casey). That isn't simply a poor joke. That is a poor joke which I have heard used to describe NVQs since I was sixteen. And they stole it from common use and slapped it in the middle of a sitcom as if they wrote it - and it was still the best line in the show.

The nadir of the episode came at the end (yes, it was downhill all the way). Donna had spent the episode trying to prove that she could remain calm in the face of any provocation. By the end, Donna and Gaz (Mellor), her boyfriend, were walking by a canal, while she tried to remain calm as he admitted to trying to cheat on her, and recommended she dress more sleazily. Wouldn't you know it, she pushed him in the canal! Did the writers actually sit around thinking "I know, what if she pushes him in - they won't be expecting that!" It was one of the laziest punchlines I've ever seen.

Yet I'll carry on watching "Two Pints... ", because part of me still hopes that one day they'll write a good episode, and that the post-school, pre-"adult" demographic will have found a voice.

I never watched this on its first airing but have done so on UK Gold re-runs. I found this to be extremely funny with a talented cast.

You either love it or hate it, but its classic, a sort of cross between Men Behaving badly and Coupling. Honestly give it a try, like coupling we can all relate to the storylines.

A realistic comedy

I missed the first two series of this but luckily, I was tempted to watch it and did so when the third series started recently on Digital TV.

I have to say, I was quite impressed. Each character has their own unique sense of humor and are all funny in their own little way. Louise can be pretty annoying at times but it is quite amusing listening to her way of thinking. Janet is hilarious, especially when she hasn't had a cigarette, Donna is very sarcastic and extremely funny (my kind of humor, hehehe), Johnny is dense beyond belief (you only had to listen to his story about Janet's Mud Pack to figure that one out), Gaz is just Gaz and Munch.... well what can I say apart from "HIYYYAAA."

But the best character out of them has to be Flo... I just love the way she's been there and done everything and is quite proud to shout about it too. Although I am intrigued what happened with uncle Joey and the Kangaroo....

I have heard that Will Mellor is now working on the fourth series of two pints so perhaps we should see some DVD's being released soon as it is obviously doing very well and quite rightly so.

I can't understand why people have criticised this show so heavily because it's absolutely hilarious.

I missed the show the first time around and only recently caught a few episodes on UKTV. The very first episode I saw had me laughing so hard, I cried! I was immediately hooked and bought the first two seasons on DVD.

One of the reasons the show is so funny is that most people can identify with the basic situations the writer, Susan Nickson, looks at. In addition, the characters are all human, complete with some pretty awful flaws. Even the actors fit their parts perfectly. They're not all staggeringly beautiful and they're not the world's greatest thespians - most of them are newcomers to TV or have relatively little experience. Having said that, the main characters Donna (Natalie Casey), Janet (Sheridan Smith), Johnny (Ralf Little) and Gaz (Will Mellor) are all played brilliantly ...with perfect delivery and comic timing.

The humour is often very crude (lots of jokes about "bum love") and some of the "issues" looked at are a little tasteless (one of the newest characters has learning difficulties) but isn't this how real life is? How likely is the man in the pub - who's just sunk six pints - to hold back from telling a joke that is a little racist or sexist? How many people do we meet day-to-day that have old-fashioned views about people with learning difficulties, or hold weird misconceptions? The important thing to remember is that the show always treats its characters/situations affectionately in the end. The character with learning difficulties (Munch), for example, always ends up on top or always gets the care and attention he needs from his brother (Gaz) or other people.

If you're not easily offended and are reasonably up to date with youth culture, give it a try!

The script is often shoddy, the acting sometimes atrocious, but if you are willing to look beyond these things, you might just find an intense, comedic rollercoaster charting the ups and downs of five twenty-somethings.

Starring Ralf Little (Perhaps the most famous of the five, due to the success of The Royle Family), Sheridan Smith (Reprising her role as Little's love interest), Will Mellor and Natalie Casey (Hollyoaks) and Kathryn Drysdale, a previously unknown face somewhat, we have a promising cast, who while may not have hit the mark quite yet, are certainly in line for a promising future.

Two Pints has a great variety of characters, some tedious, while others eerily humourous, the image of Donna's mother will forever haunt me.

"Have you ever experienced an older woman?"

Ugh, so in summary, while obviously not a frontrunner for many academic awards, Two pints has many golden moments, and perhaps in a few years, when the cast having been famed or forgotten, this show might get the recognition it deserves.