Saxondale

Thought I'd reserve judgement on the new Steve Coogan series until episode 2, which aired last night. While no Alan Partridge it does have it's funny moments. Infinitely better than Tony Ferrrino. It's quite well observed in some ways. I think his brother was connected to the Manchester scene or something. In this Coogan appears to be attempting something of a Midlands/ Nottingham type accent which would probably be quite convincing to someone who had never been there. This week there was an attempt at a Jeremy Clarkson parody which didn't quite come off. The guy's a parody of himself as it is. The main problem seems to be that Coogan is playing a man with anger management issues who never seems to get more than slightly annoyed. I'm sure this will change in future episodes but I'm not sure that Coogan can pull it off. He's too nice really. Part of the thing with Alan was that he seemed even more pathetic when he was angry. The same goes for Coogan's portrail of Tony Wilson. Still some good laughs, in a sort of old-fashioned sitcom-y type way.