SAEED JAFFREY holds court amidst two Indian restaurants at war in Hackney-ish area. One of them gets their “just desserts”. Ho fucking ho.
Tandoori Nights
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SAEED JAFFREY holds court amidst two Indian restaurants at war in Hackney-ish area. One of them gets their “just desserts”. Ho fucking ho.
George White
December 29, 2019 at 9:25 pm
Watched this. And it’s strange.
If it had been made by say LWT or Yorkshire or a decent sitcom factory, it probably would be a classic, but it’s from that weird early Channel 4 where you get that they are trying to do things different. This isn’t a BBC sitcom or an ITV sitcom. It’s an indie production. The directors are drama guys. It looks like The Bill. Even though it’s on video, it’s trying for a Film4 feel. The trouble it isn’t funny. Jaffrey is great. He’s smooth, slightly sinister, but the trouble is it doesn’t really know what it is. It doesn’t have a laugh track. It feels like a drama, it’s as if the crew (Jon Amiel directing!) want to make a drama, but the cast are playing comedy, especially Tariq Yunus who is doing comedy Asian schtick.
Applemask
January 4, 2020 at 1:06 pm
Directed by Jon Amiel, hence that classy filmic look. In between the two series of this he made The Singing Detective.
richardpd
January 4, 2020 at 1:34 pm
Sounds like an odd combination of elements, with as George mentions Channel 4 trying to do something different, rather than stick to the tried & tested sitcom format with multiple cameras shot in front of an audience.
Sitcoms shot with a single camera without laugh tracks have become more common in recent years, often shot more like a documentary than a drama though.