Tracey Ullman was a ubiquitous British entertainer in the early 1980s who was so over-qualified that she managed to be a highly-rated TV comic and have a pop career on the side (which included a delicious cover of Kirsty Macoll’s “They Don’t Know”).
But Tracey lost her place in British culture when she married an American in 1985, and moved stateside where she became a massive star, with successful shows for Fox and HBO which were shown in the UK but failed to reflect her British identity, understandably.
During the 90’s/2000’s French and Saunders led the pack in female comedy, but currently there is lack of star quality in this area (the fantastic potential of Morgana Robinson having been allowed to seemingly fizzle out).
So it was interesting to see what Tracey’s first BBC series in 30 years would be like, and it’s a pleasure to say that she still has her finger firmly on the G-spot of British humour. The characters in this first episode were original, ranging from a recently-released convicted drug smuggler to a hopeless zoo keeper, and the writing was sharp. Despite the sharpness, this isn’t cutting-edge humour (see what I did there?), but a familiar recipe that does what it’s meant to, and does it well.
Despite this, the BBC appear to show little faith in the show by scheduling it at 10.45 pm – something of a kick in the teeth for the return of this prodigal daughter. Hopeful people will check it out on iplayer, if so they would be best advised not to skip the end, which features a song-and-dance number with tap-dancing librarians singing the praises of public services – unlikely, but brilliant.
(click the link below – I can’t seem to embed the video in this article…)
Tom George 