User reviews

Being an ex-pat, the growing interest in downloading and viewing whole TV series has given me many hours of entertainment. I used to watch Drop the Dead Donkey live in the 1990s and liked it then, but re-watching it now, in 2015, I'm finding it pretty hilarious and it's now my daily accompaniment to breakfast, and the occasional episode when I simply want a laugh. The fact that the news items referred to are ancient now, doesn't matter one bit - the way that they are handled in DTDD are so funny because I think that news channels now are pathetic in their handling of the news, and they all appear to be run on the lines of Global News. Really!

The series is rich with really excellent journalist stereotypes, much mentioned in the other reviews here, so not needed to be repeated by me. I don't know where I will turn to when I finish all the series I have.

This was my favourite show back in the late 80's and early 90's. I still watch the occasional episode on the original channels' (UK Channel 4) online archive and end up watching 3 or 4 more. Damien's tabloid/sensationalist "journalism", Henry Davenport, the grand old curmudgeon/geriatric ladykiller, Sally, the original faux-celeb, with her lapses into born again evangelical christianity and the pleasures of lorry driver cabs, Gus, well sometimes I would laugh the second when he walked on set, poor, put upon George the luckless hypochondriac and most of all, the psychotic office admin, Joy, who Id love to believe was the inspiration for Ruth in Ozark. Give it a try if you can, especially the awards ceremony episode if you want to get off to a flyer. Genius stuff.

Just started watching this again and forgot how good it was. Set in a television newsroom. Brilliant characters George and Gus especially. Good references to the news at the time. The Christmas party episode especially is brilliant.

As an Irish observer, this comedy has to be one of the high points of 1990's comedy.

While the main talking point of the series initially was it's topicality (being written and filmed in the week before filming so as to include observations and jokes about breaking news stories), later series were far less dependent on the topicality angle and more on funny honest and sharp character development.

It was immeasurably superior both to other office based comedy (viz the overrated IMHO "office") and to the likes of other newsroom comedies viz Murphy Brown. DTDD's humour was sharp acidic and right on the money. No-one was spared it's barbs.

On reruns and DVD releases a brief voice-over identifies the week each particular episode was shown and what the major stories breaking that week were.

More interestingly a lot of what was clearly the target of DTDD's humour (the dumbing down and tabloidisation of news reporting promoted by TV newstations) are even more in evidence today 10-15 years later as witnessed by the likes of FOX News and Sky News I wonder who Sir Royten Merchant was really based on....

"Drop the Dead Donkey" ran in six series from 1990 to 1996. The bulk of the humour deals with then-topical British news, so the program doesn't really travel well, or last more than a week (a long time in politics). Best of all the episodes released on video was the award-winning "The Christmas Party", which had hardly any up-to-date content.

The central characters are all exaggerated caricatures of office and media stereotypes. Robert Duncan was good as jargon-spouting executive Gus Hedges, and Jeff Rawle as ineffectual editor George Dent. Haydn Gwynne played the cool, competent editor with a messy private life almost too well, so that the lighter Ingrid Lacey didn't have the same impact when she later filled the same role.

Stephen Tompkinson's acting was probably the best although he was mainly used for the slapstick scenes. (Listen for the inimitable voice of Andy Hamilton playing luckless cameraman Jerry, screaming "Damien!!!" as Tompkinson's suicidally reckless reporter leads them into imminent danger, in almost every episode.)

Susannah Doyle was a good "PA from Hell", but Sara Stewart's portrayal of a vapid blonde in the same slot in series 1 was also a delight.

David Swift's portrayal of a vain newsreader must have been uncomfortably close to some real life newsreaders, with his booming delivery, ruined liver, and his obvious "syrup of figs".

The series may have been killed off, but some of its highlights deserve to be remembered for a long time. Well done everybody, Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin in particular.

Hilarious show, the humour still holds up and I should know I wasn't alive for any of the topical jokes

Easily one of my all time favourite shows. The British know how to do comedy & this is a classic example.

Brilliantly cast & fantastic writing make each episode hilarious. You can't help but love & loathe at the same time all the characters.

Cheeky, satirical & relevant stories to its time make this a fantastic comedy that will delight & surprise.

Ordered the dvd set all the way from the UK as I loved it so much & have introduced many friends to this entertaining British gem. I've watched it on repeat & it still never fails to make me laugh.

Its being around 22 years since the show first aired seems a long time. But we haven't forgotten tight arsed sally Smedley, anchor man Henry Davenport and general shag merchant Dave Charnley. We remember Alex paites who buggered off to the 'high classed' beeb and Helen Cooper and no one can forget the one man chemist which is George Dent and the jargon talking bullock brain hands off executive which is Gus Hedges and we will not forget Joy Merry-weather ( That is what she told me to put BEWARE) and they are all under the watchful eye of their megalomaniac Proprietor Sir Royston Merchant Best mates with Rupert Murdoch and the human torpedo Robert Maxwell

When I was a kid I was so mad that some stupid news show got an award over the genius that was Red Dwarf's Backwards, and for a Christmas episode too? Clearly this was the most outrageous robbery of all time.

Then I actually watched that Christmas episode and was forced to concede that whoever had been in charge of determining who would get that award had known exactly what they were doing.

Andy Hamilton is most known for Outnumbered, and appearing on pretty much every UK panel show going these days. To some he's the guy who did radio 4 comedies like Old Harry's Game. This though is easily his finest work.

It is a real shame though about that last series which is just not anywhere as good as the rest of the show. Yes, it has it's moments but generally it is just not worth watching in the slightest.

This was like the one thing that ever thrived under Tory rule, and it just couldn't cope in Blair's Britain which would require much more spin based parody shows like Absolute Power and The Thick of It for there to be decent comedic political commentary.

What bothers me most about it is how nasty the finale is to the characters that even now decades later still gets me down. We've grown to like and sypathise with these characters, yes even Gus, and so what happens to most of them is just kind of miserable. I'd argue that there's a really blatant retcon too just to set up a wham joke. Even the 'happier' endings for some of the other charactersare rather hollow.

Leaving aside the last season the rest still holds up. I was too young to remember most of the events happening at the time, but with the opening recaps of the week news I could always follow along enough to get the jokes. The one about Robert Maxwell's death is truly an absolute all timer that still makes me laugh at the absurdity of the official story.

During my 2 year stay in the UK, I grew addicted to this show. To a newcomer, the satirical bite to this show gave me the "real" feel of how the dry news of the day was perceived by the public. The writing was great and was brought to life by a brilliant cast! I was elated when I found this show was to be shown on Comedy Central in the US, but it took one viewing to realize that without the daily access to the british news, this show was lost here. Too bad! It was extremely funny! BTW, can someone please tell me what happened to that poor chap, Jerry the camera man?

It is only dated because each episode tried very hard to include topical and amusing news items. All of the main characters are distinctive. George, the editor, is conscientious but seems totally out of place in the newsroom environment as he is a bit of a fragile eccentric. His boss Gus, a bit of a sad bachelor, is the king of Politically correct sound bites. Dave, who's job is a bit obscure, is the office 'stud' as well as being a chronic gambler. Henry, the aged newsreader, has clearly seen better days but is still convinced he is up to competing with Dave. The other newsreader, Sally, has a sex life which is mainly in Lorry parks and service stations. Joy,the officer gofer, is not a girl to be messed with and takes no prisoners. Damian, the young fearless reporter is totally obsessed with fame and has no regards for the feelings of others, particularly his on location staff. Helen, a lesbian, replaced Alex early on as Gerorges No 2. There is a bit of slapstick but the humour, which comes thick and fast, is mainly verbal.

Never having traveled abroad, I have no idea what the references to British media were about. Nonetheless, the episodes that ran on Comedy Central were still terrific! Perhaps it was a matter of which episodes out of the six year run were aired over here, but what I saw was an excellent ensemble cast with pithy writing that any "homegrown" sitcom would rightfully give an arm and leg to have.

I wish episodes were available in NTSC DVD form, 'cuz I'd like to see more...! :)

i have been watching the re-runs of drop the dead donkey on cable and had forgotten just how good it was. it is based in globelink newsroom and recent (usually political) events are incorporated into it each weeks episode. in short, all the characters are played very well and are extremely funny. i would like to add that neil pearson, who plays the devilishly handsome dave charnley, is a highlight each episode and is definately one to stare at. oh sorry i have digressed. anyway i have little else to say really apart from this was a very funny program and anyone who gets the chance should watch it. pure class.