Marion & Geoff

This is the funniest programme in ages, was kind of over shadowed by the Office, but its just as good. Rob Brydon plays divorced mini cab driver Keith Barret. Its a one man narative, the whole show involves him talking to a camera in his minicab. He talks about his life and (mainly) about his ex-wife Marion who is living with her new Partner Geoff. Brydons performance is great and the script is hilarious. Its not only funny, it also pulls at the hearts strings as you really feel for the niaeve, gormless Barret. If you like Partridge and Brent you WILL love this. Trust me. Go buy on DVD. Now.

A fantastic comedy series from the BBC. Rob Brydon stars as Keith, who is the only character that performs. In each episode, he talks to us in his taxi, via the use of a camera on his dashboard. Throughout the series, he tells us the story of how his wife Marion had an affair & ran off with her work colleague Geoff (hence the title).

Rob Brydon is brilliant in this as he is the sole actor & creator. By using the same familiar surroundings in each episode & with Keith being the only character that talks to us, we manage to feel empathy & emotion with him. The main flaw of Keith is that he can't accept the situation he is in (his wife having left and his attempts for custody of his children) and can never say a bad word about anyone, displayed by his lack of anger & bitterness against Geoff.

A fantastic series that will go far.

Having watched the show in 2020, it is surprising to see a show aired on TV in 2000 that forsaw vlogging long ago.

Now it seems quite normal for everyone to vlog, but as a therapy for a character (Keith) back then hits the bull's eye especially watching it now. As audience we can see the therapeutic effect recording your day in our ordinary lives.

Both fun and sad at the same time, the show makes you invest in Keith; as the name of the show perfectly suggests, Keith places Marion (his ex-wife) and Geoff (her lover) and his children in the centre of his life, and you cannot help investing in the everyday life of Keith's.

Keith is a minicab driver who, between fares, relates how his marriage broke down and his wife, Marion ran off with a work colleague, Geoff. Later he is employed as a chauffeur for a movie producer (of sorts) who's wife is rich and he continues to try and see his children and be friendly with Marion.

The reason for the two separate plot strands is simply that the series started life (on TV) as a series of 10 minutes shows but then was given half an hour per show later. The strength of the show is that it easily fills 30 minutes or 10 or even an hour. The show takes place entirely in the front of Keith's car from a single camera mounted on the dashboard. We never see anyone else apart from Keith, we only hear about them. This sounds boring – why in the age of gross out comedy and high speed shows like 24 etc would anyone want to watch what is essentially a monologue?

Well, simply because the writing is superb. We only have Keith's point of view but we get to find out what is really happening. Keith is kind to everyone and totally naive – he tells things in the best light he can, which is funny because we are able to read between the lines and see what is really going on. Once Keith begins to tell his tragic tales of the mundane you can't turn off, I am always hooked to the end and never get bored. Like all good British comedy this has an air of despair about it and it is quite depressing, I would be lying if I said it was hilarious, because the dark side off sets this quite often. However just like Basil Fawlty and David Brent are funny and sad little men at the same time, so the comedy is here – not over-confident, brash `don't go there' type humour like the US can do so well, but low key, tragic comedy.

Brydon is fantastic in the character he has created over years. If you see him interviewed he is so the opposite of Keith it's hard to believe – when watching the show it is so easy to forget he is acting at all. Few people could hold the attention of an audience when they are the only thing onscreen for the whole show and it is a credit to both the writing and Brydon's delivery that he can do it.

Overall this show is very hard to describe and it is NOT a laugh a minute, hilarious comedy. Rather it is a tragic comedy where the whole thing feels funny and sad at the same time and, as a result, you will be amused but not roaring with laughter all the time – it is more than that. If you can see it on TV then do so, but otherwise it is well worth finding on DVD.