The
lowdown: 'Fun at the Funeral
Parlour' is, as you would imagine from the title, set in a used car
yard. Of course
it
is set in a funeral parlour, and it is surprising that it took so long
for a British comedy to be set in such a location.
It
features the misadventures of a Welsh family-owned firm of funeral directors
- Thomas, Thomas, Thomas & Thomas.
Each
of the four Thomases have unique idiosyncracies: the patriach Ivor has
a morbid fear of corpses; the eldest son
Percy,
who was recently released from jail for crimes against corpses; Gwynne,
the idiot of the family, and Arwell,
who
is obsessed with an ageing rock star and his Fiat Panda. The series was
first broadcast on BBC Choice between
1
January 2001 and 12 March 2002, and comprised 13 episodes over two seasons.
The
episode: 'The Jaws of Doom' was
the second episode of the first series, and was broadcast on 8 January
2001.
It
begins with a marvellous parady of the priest's death scene in 'The Omen',
with Matt Lucas as the priest (played by
Patrick
Troughton in the original film). However, instead of being impaled by a
church spire, he is attacked and killed
by
a wolf. The panicked villagers meet in the town hall, and the mayor agrees
to pay $3,000 to whomever kills the wolf.
Enter
professional wolf hunter Quimby (played with manic delight by Tom Baker,
in a role that is very much like his
Captain
Rum character in Blackadder 2), who offers to kill the wolf for $10,000.
Quimby sets a trap using Gwynne as
bait,
in a parody of the shark-hunting scene in Jaws, but he ends up being killed
by the wolf himself. Meanwhile, Percy
discovers
that a rival firm of undertakers is using the wolf to increase its business.
The
verdict: 'Fun at the Funeral
Parlour' is an acquired taste, but it is highly recommended for people
who like offbeat
comedies such as 'Father
Ted' and 'Little Britain'. Some of the humour of the series is very
much aimed at adults, so
parental guidance is recommended
for people with young children. The series did not receive much recognition
when it
was first broadcast (mainly
due to it being launched on BBC Choice), but the complete series is now
available on DVD.
It is worth watching simply
for the huge array of famous guest stars - Brian Blessed, Art Malik and
Bill Oddie, to name
a few - while regular cast
members such as Philip Madoc and Michael Jayston will be very familiar
to Doctor Who fans.
Video Clips:
Quimby 5.0mb
Battle scars 5.4mb
Quimby dies 7.0mb |
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