La double vie de Tommy Cooper

There have been a raft of biopics of bygone British comedians over the last ten years, some excellent. Many forget to, or fail to, impart the humour and joy that the subjects brought in the first place. Sometimes there seems to a keenness to deliver the 'dark side' of the jester too bluntly.

'Not Like That, Like This' tells a strong story that isn't at all diluted by the prominence of the daft and delightful comedy of the man in the centre of it, Tommy Cooper. It's clear all the way along why audiences loved the man who could come on, say nothing and have them collapsing with laughter. He had a complicated life and it's well told through a brilliant performance by David Threlfall, who grasps the physicality of the six-foot-four comic as well as his mannerisms and captivating delivery. The rest of the cast, fronted by Amanda Redman as his strong-headed and driven wife Dove and Helen McCrory as his mild-but-adoring mistress Mary, fill it out to a very solid programme.

Obviously it'll be a little less relevant to those who didn't know of Tommy Cooper but the story doesn't rely on prior knowledge so you'll lose nothing from it if you're coming into it cold.

As someone who was born after Tommy Cooper passed away I never had the opportunity to appreciate him while he was alive. I have always heard my parents and others rave about how funny he was so I thought this was definitely worth a watch.

I was not disappointed. David Threlfalls portrayal of Tommy Cooper is absolutely amazing. Due to the effort the production crew put in to making him actually look like Tommy Cooper and plus the fact that Threlfall is an outstanding actor I didn't even realize it was him playing the part, in fact I even had to IMDb it part way through to realize it was him. He genuinely brought the part to life.

I loved all the one liners throughout this film and immediately got to appreciate Tommy Cooper as a comedian and as a man. One criticism I've heard is how Tommy Cooper comes across as a chain smoking drunk. At the end of the day yes he may have had a drink problem but these things often come with the entertainment industry, but its not like he was ever violent to anybody and at the end of the day Tommy Cooper was a human with faults just like everybody else.

Overall I believe this film educated people like me and the next generation just who Tommy Cooper was and through this film and an amazing performance from David Threlfall, Tommy Cooper can live on and continue to be apriciated.

This is the latest example of British television dramatising the life (or, as on this occasion, part of it) of a familiar TV or film star from the golden age 50's and 60's, in fact just of the top of my head I can recall seeing programmes on Tony Hancock, Sid James, William "Dr Who" Hartnell, Hughie Green, Hattie Jacques, Shirley Bassey, Morecambe and Wise and most recently Cilla Black. In fact, I'm willing to bet someone's already waiting in the wings to give us the Bruce Forsyth story! It's probably fair to say that there was no more identifiable TV personality of the time than the gentle giant Tommy Cooper, certainly he was the most impersonated man on TV at the time and everybody knew his "Just like that" catchphrase.

Of course the key to making a drama out of such a familiar figure's life, as opposed to another typically fawning documentary with loads of clips and all-star tributes is to highlight some human interest aspect of their life to give it that "soap-opera" element and they didn't have far to look with Cooper. On the surface, a happy husband and devoted family man, in 1967 he hooked up with a younger, also married, female assistant, Mary Fairfield and for the last 17 years of his life, conducted an affair with her, never letting in to his devoted but combative wife, Dove.

Simon Nye doesn't pull his punches in this portrayal of the popular Cooper, showing his miserliness, alcoholism, ill-health and ultimately of course his infidelity but this latter trait isn't portrayed as arising from selfishness or nastiness but more from need. At no point did Cooper apparently ever consider abandoning his family but in order to continue his tireless life on the road and on TV shoots to have required the female companionship his stay at- home was denying him. I'm not sure though that I sympathise too much with the comic's actions, indeed I would say that he was acting selfishly in deceiving so many people so that again we're asked to excuse him purely because he was a comic genius which gives him licence to live differently from the rest of us.

I felt some of the scenes looked apocryphal, none more than the big final scene where the two women in his life pass by each other at the hospital where he's just famously expired on live TV, plus I'm not sure from what I've read that Cooper's son, shown as replacing Mary on the road as his assistant after the affair became known, was so accepting of his father's lover when she came back to assist his shambling efforts.

David Threlfall tries hard to inhabit Cooper's massive boots but it was always going to be difficult to cast a physical lookalike with the talent for imitation and interpretation. The supporting cast, especially Helen McCrory and Amanda Redman as the women in his life, come over better, partly because their unfamiliarity with the viewer makes their characters seem more real. The depiction of the northern club circuit, cheap bed and breakfasts and backstage of television shows were all well drawn, particularly the extended sequence leading up to his death "on-air".

Of course there's always an abiding interest in the tears of a clown as we see behind the facade of another giant TV funny-man and this well-written and well-acted show catered to that even if ultimately it didn't quite answer all the questions about Tommy Cooper's complicated life.

This depiction wasn't very good,very strained acting from all the cast.The one playing Tommy was stretching a,short not funny comic impression to the point of tedium.The son was terrible,the wife,a short glib repetitively portrayal in every scene of her,the mistress i got nothing from whatsoever ,cold performance ...the agent just boring ,the other comic legends seem tacked on... tommy crying all the time ,rubbish(an ex army man of that generation ha!).The sets also had loads of modern things in the backgrounds that didn't fit,1990 phone box,modern day fire alarms and health and safety signs to name a few .It just didn't have the sense of being set in the 70 s/80 s..

Cooper was made out, just to be a skinflint pi@@head women beater. It really was a dire portrayal made up from tittle tattle and without a well written script...really lazily done by itv. All very one dimensional,i didn't believe the story,characters or the script.

......p s cooper is always portrayed as tight(and he may have not throw his money about) but he did give my dad(a porter at euston railway station)a 8 shilling tip in 1968........

It was like watching Tommy himself. Scenes onstage were bit for bit the exact same as those by the original - which is no small feat to mimic a man's comic timing, posture, facial expressions, voice, and all round charisma.

I personally think it's one of the best biopics made in a long long time, I thoroughly enjoyed it. If there isn't a BAFTA somewhere for this I'll be thoroughly disappointed.

The core 3 cast members were spectacular as a performance, and obviously Cooper's wife and mistress weren't in the public eye as much so we can't really say how accurate their portrayal is, but the dramatic impact they had in relation to Cooper in this is perfect.

Seriously, just so impressed by this performance.