The
show: 'Rab C. Nesbitt' is a BBC2 comedy series which starred
Gregor Fisher as the title character, who is
a heavy-drinking idler who
habitually wore a string vest and philosophised about the affairs of the
world direct to
camera. The show was made
by BBC Scotland, with a total of 52 episodes broadcast between 27 September
1990 and 18 June 1999, as
well as a number of specials. The character of Nesbitt had first appeared
in the
sketch comedy series 'Naked
Video', which was made between 1986 and 1992. Nesbitt subsequently appeared
in a Christmas special in
1989, before getting his own series.
The
episode: 'Father' is the sixth episode of the fifth season,
and was broadcast on BBC2 on 9 February 1996.
It features Sylvester McCoy
as Rab's long-lost brother Gash, who has wandered away from a mental asylum.
Rab
meets him in the cemetery,
where they are both visiting the grave of their late, unlamented father.
Rab takes Gash
home to meet his family,
and proceeds to tell his family how Gash ended up being deranged. The episode
makes
extensive use of black and
white flashbacks which shows the Nesbitt family's home life when Rab and
his siblings
were young, and how their
tyrannical father was responsible for Gash's present mental state. The
episode is rather
different to the show's
usual style; there is less of Rab's direct-to-camera monologues, and he
comes across as a
far more sympathetic character
than in many episodes. And McCoy gives one of his finest acting performances
as
the mentally unbalanced
Gash. His performance is truly one of the highlights of the eight series
of Rab C. Nesbitt.
The
verdict: While
'Rab C. Nesbitt' can be extremely funny at times, it is definitely not
the sort of comedy that will
appeal
to all viewers. The strong Glasgow accents are often very hard to understand
for non-Scots (although Rab's
frequent
incoherence is deliberate) and the humour is often very coarse. However,
it is highly recommended for
people
who enjoy British sitcoms that break the mould of the genteel humour that
Britcoms are famous for. If you
like
'The Young Ones' or 'Bottom', this is well worth a look.
Quote:
(Gash):
Family!
Oh God, Rab, you've done well for yourself. I mean, look at you, swanking
about there:
matching
shoes, fixed address, the lot. And now you say you've got a family!
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