Dinner and a show
Grub’s up as we look back at a decade of Friday Night Dinner following the death series star Paul Ritter
IT WAS a decade ago that the British viewing public came face to face with a hairy topless man chomping his way through a ‘lovely bit of squirrel’, two brothers who enjoyed poisoning each other with saltwater and a neighbour who was terrified of his own dog. Friday nights would never be the same.
Channel 4 comedy Friday Night Dinner launched in 2011 and quickly proved a hit with viewers of all ages. It ran for six series and 37 episodes and saw Tamsin Greig and Paul Ritter as parents Jackie and Martin Goodman, with Simon Bird and Tom Rosenthal as their sons Adam and Jonny who come along each week for the family meal.
The brothers view Friday night dinner as a necessary annoyance – necessary because they get fed, and annoying because, well, they have to spend the evening with mum and dad.
Mark Heap played oddball neighbour Jim and the supporting cast included Tracy-Ann Oberman as Auntie Val and Rosie Cavaliero as The Other Jackie. John Sessions, Sally Phillips and Frances Barber are among those who have appeared in the sitcom. Friday Night Dinner came from humble beginnings, with a five-minute pilot which creator Robert Popper shot in the home of his parents. His dad actually walked into the middle of a scene to announce “I’m going out now to buy some bin liners”.
The cast and show have gone on to win multiple awards, from Baftas and British Comedy Awards, to the best situation comedy award at the Rose D’Or Festival. Fiona McDermott, Head of Comedy at Channel 4, said: “Over the past ten years Friday Night Dinner has become a criticallyacclaimed, ratings and award-winning smash hit, with viewers loving our dysfunctional family as much as we do.” Sadly star Paul Ritter passed away earlier this month from a brain tumour at the age of 54.
Writer Robert Popper, said he was “devastated”. “Paul was a lovely, wonderful human being. Kind, funny, super caring and the greatest actor I ever worked with,” he wrote on Twitter.