Hope It Rains

I fondly remember this series. Holly Aird's talent was evident in her sassy interplay with the world weary Tom Bell. The godfather role giving somewhat more of a May/December sexual tension than a kindly uncle would have. The writing team of Esmonde and Larby are legendary in British TV comedy probably best known for "The Good Life". In "Hope it Rains" they effectively captured the claustrophobic atmosphere of a rundown British seaside town bringing black humour through the interplay of age v. youth and hopefulness v. despair. They went on to write "Mulberry" another series with darkly brooding themes. A form of comedy perhaps only appreciated by those with those at ease with the melancholic, cf. Rising Damp, Steptoe & Son.

This really was a poor series. Despite having two great leads, (Holly Aird & Tom Bell) it completely failed to deliver any laughs. The show relied on very few characters and little change of scenery. While this worked well in classics such as Steptoe & Son, here it only helped to expose weak scripts. Ultimately, it only had a short run. And in my view, rightly so.

This series was not to everyone's taste. It was not a laugh-out-loud comedy. Instead it was an interesting and bravely-written piece, with some dry, rather melancholic humour in it. On a number of occasions, the script-writers could have gone for a warm fuzzy moment with the Tom Bell character coming out of his grumpy shell, but they went for integrity of character instead of the cheap feel-good moment. This in turn enabled them to show the vulnerability of the outwardly quite angry and hard Holly Aird character.

In showing his loneliness and her vulnerability, it was quite moving at times, and deserves more respect than your average sitcom.