Marion and Geoff series two (2003)
Concept: 'I'm absolutely useless at jokes…'
Rob Brydon is back as the optimistic Keith, now working as a chauffeur for an American family in London. They turn out to be almost as dysfunctional as Keith's…
At the start, it's been two years, three months and six days since he's seen his 'little smashers' and he's going to allow at least five hours for the one hour journey for a supervised contact visit the next day. What could go wrong?
What's good: The quality of writing and performance are still there, with some lovely unexpected twists to lines.
What's not so good: It's not as good as the first series. Partly, it's the thirty minute episode length being a bit long – twenty minutes would have been better, and partly there's less of a story arc for Keith: he's spending more time observing the disintegration of someone else's family.
Music: A few tracks used well again.
Miscellany: He's driving around Dulwich in SE London this time – it was SW London in the first series.
Overall: Despite the extremely powerful final episode, it would be interesting to see a version that's half to two-thirds the length of this.
As if to prove that sometimes less is more, the included A Small Summer Party, a full cast version of the fateful events on the day when Marion left with Geoff, shows how good the first series was: the ten minute episode on the same incident in that is much, much better.
TL;DR More of the same, but not quite as good
Film: 4/5
DVD: 3/5
The only extra is the 'director's cut' (slightly extended in this case) of A Small Summer Party.
You can also get series one and two together.