La pire semaine de ma vie

I'd not seen the series at the time of its transmission and only caught it by accident 10 years later.

Like many I greatly admire Alison Steadman, here though she doesn't an opportunity for the grand grotesques with which she has graced the large and small screens, and on radio (in the form of the very obliging Mrs Naughtie). Here she is well meaning, motherly and tolerant of her sour, sarcastic and humourless husband - played by an actor who has honed this type of role to withering perfection - Geoffrey Whitehead.

Lovely comic actress Sarah Alexander once again plays to her strengths.

The format and some of the laughs are quite familiar - faux pas and foul-ups committed by new husband and soon to be new father played by Ben Miller. One comic situation was unfamiliar - in warmly hugging his mother in law to comfort her, a baby's rattle comes between them. Of all the nightmare misunderstandings, this must rate as one of the worst. So unspeakable that quite believably the Alison Steadman character runs away and locks herself in her bedroom - preventing her from hearing the innocent explanation until some while later. Had this been a big screen version, the Geoffrey Whitehead character would have reacted. This TV production would have benefited from some honing.

I live in the Netherlands, and I know not one tv-station that put this on tv. It was a pure coincidence that I saw a short fragment on the internet. And later also "The worst Christmass of my live". In the Netherlands it was never seen on tv. What a pitty. If you put it now, in this age, it will be stil a great succes. Every episode it's hilarious!! The "unlucky" guy is currently playing in "Death in paradice" as a English inspector to helping the "simple and small" Police force. In the series "the worst week of my live " he is very much in love and wanted to married his girlfriend. There is only one problem, the Girls parents. It's always with the best intensions, but the guy have a aura that says "Keep your distance for your own health".

Without doubt the funniest comedy of this millennium, just ahead of the very different but also superb "Inbetweeners". The cast led by Ben Miller and Sarah Alexander are wonderful as is the hysterical script. Scene upon scene in each episode leaves the viewer wanting more, and the empathy felt in the light of the disasters that befall Miller's character add to the hope that all will be well in the end. So underrated and for me a rare 10 out of 10.

Okay, so you could almost describe it as Britain's answer to 'Meet the Parents', but that is doing this fantastic sitcom a huge disservice. Ben Miller and Sarah Alexander do a fantastic job as an uptight, very much in love and very middle class couple, desperate to get through their pre-wedding week, and the casting of Alison Steadman as the hysterical perfectionist seating plan obsessed mother is a masterstroke. The comedy is constantly farcical and slapstick, but without becoming gross-out (i.e.Farrelly brothers). Do not let claims of tired ideas being rehashed put you off this fantastic britcom, because yes, the basis of the sitcom has been visited a few times before, but this is a fresh take, and the result is an invigorating and exciting exercise in programming. Highly recommended!

I'm a hard person to get to laugh at any show. I don't know if it was just stupid enough, or actually funny. How can anyone be as clumsy and accident prone? It's good for a laugh, if you need it.