Review: Here We Go. We were first introduced to the Jessop’s in Pandemonium the pilot show, screened over Christmas 2020 and a superb introduction it was. Now Tom Basden, the creator, writer and co-star has taken his fictional family and continued the pandemonium in Here We Go, the new six-part sitcom on BBC One.
Eschewing the prevalence of expletives in the crop of current sitcoms, the dialogue reflects the moderate language used by the majority of families in the UK. There is of course room in comedy to reflect all facets of society and this very funny sitcom centres on a family that does not resort to industrial language to converse with each other. A very pleasant change from a lot of current productions. This show needs savouring, it’s too good to binge.
Tom Basden’s brilliant script is sharp, well rounded and more to the point funny: which is after all what we look for in a comedy.
Episode one proves the proverbial saying that procrastination is the thief of time – as always NO SPOILERS on here – but for a variety of reasons the family put off today what they could do tomorrow until tomorrow is almost yesterday.
“I cannot accept we’re that useless as a family”, says mum Rachel Jessop (the superb Katherine Parkinson) to unemployed husband Paul (Jim Howick) who, with a nod to his role in Ghosts, is a former Olympic archer. Episode 2 is even funnier with Freya Parks shining as moody daughter Amy.
In his interview (read here) creator, Tom Basden said, “Really the show focuses on the kind of everyday catastrophes that beset the Jessop’s life, some of which are very familiar, things like the family trying to eat more healthfully or trying to go on a day out together… there’s a real mixture of ordinary family life and quite ridiculous adventures.”
A millennial family with gen-z youngsters and late boomer Mother-in-Law, in matriarch Sue (the incomparable Alison Steadman), covers all audience age groups perfectly, making it great family viewing. That it is, should not be seen as a slight but as a rare thing of joy in today’s fractured digital age. Without doubt this is this year’s best new TV comedy but will it be considered insufficiently edgy enough to win the awards it surely merits.
Don’t miss it. Airing BBC One Fridays 8,30 or all episodes now on BBC iPlayer
One thought on “Review: Here We Go”