Friday Night Dinner
CHANNEL 4, 10.00PM
Friday Night Dinner is a one of those sitcoms that you either love or loathe, depending on your appreciation of slapstick and smutty jokes. Whichever camp you are in, the comedy has made it to a fifth series. And for those who do love it, this opening episode sees brothers Adam and Jonny (Simon Bird and Tom Rosenthal) turn up for their standard Friday night dinner, only to discover their parents Martin and Jackie (Paul Ritter and Tamsin Greig) enjoying their new hot tub (because it is apparently still the Seventies) and planning Chinese takeaway. That all changes, however, once their hapless neighbour Jim (Mark Heap) decides to leave his dog with them because of he has a date. Cue lots of “jokes” about internet food, furtive sex and whether going to the takeaway down the road is “very 1930s”.
The excellent cast all do their best – Rosenthal is particularly good at drily delivering the put-downs – but creator Robert Popper’s farce-heavy script requires them to do far too much heavy lifting. By the time Jim appears at the door with dirtstreaked hands and a compulsively giggling lady friend, you may find yourself silently weeping at the clunky agony of it all.