Today’s recording opens with the end of The Catherine Tate Show.
Another new trailer for Rob Brydon’s Annually Retentive.
More Rob Brydon in Supernova.
And there’s an Athletics trailer.
Then, the last episode in this series of Saxondale. I’m not sure the anger management is really working.
Tommy and Magz are with friends in the pub. One of her friends (David Cann) is boring Tommy, who is very drunk.
Next morning, Magz is still angry about Tommy’s behaviour, and she packs a bag to go to her parents for a few days.
Tommy and Raymond visit a woman who Tommy expects to be an old lady, but who turns out to be a very flirty woman called Janet played by Liza Tarbuck.
They also have to visit a flat where a man died unexpectedly and wasn’t found for a while. Tommy is his usual flippant self, until he looks at his record collection. “Dark Side of the Moon. The Gatefold. He was a cool guy.” He gets a bit maudlin, especially when he finds a tin of peeled potatoes in the cupboard he’s clearing out. “What happens to a bloke the ends up alone and unable to summon up the will to peel some potatoes and put a pan of water on to boil?”
Tommy and Janet cross paths again. She’s even got a muscle car. Could temptation ever come in a more gift-wrapped form? If fear for Tommy and Magz’ relationship, as earlier he was on the phone to her, arguing about a folk festival that he clearly wasn’t interested in going to.
They go out to dinner. When Janet asks him if his partner would have a problem with them being there, he changes the subject. “This used to be a massive Oast House”. Many years later, Alan Partridge’s podcast would be called “From The Oast House”. Coincidence? Probably.
Back at her house, and she’s ramping up the seduction. But has she misjudged it? She puts on some Genesis. “Feb to August I rigged the foldback for Peter Gabriel on the Lamb tour of Europe” says Tommy, but Janet says “God, that band really took off once they got shot of Peter Gabriel. They’d never have had the hits without Phil Collins.” You can see Tommy is wrestling with himself.
He’s promised her a CD of Carlos Santana, but when he goes to the car to get it, he finds the tin of peeled potatoes on the floor, having rolled out of his bag. It reminds him of his existential doubt earlier, and he just gets in the car and drives away.
Next morning, he’s waiting at the station for Magz, who wasn’t expecting him. And he’s booked a hotel two minutes drive from the Shrewsbury Folk Festival. Looks like he might be forgiven.
They stop one the edge of a site that’s going to be turned into a landfill. He takes the tin of potatoes, and throws it into the hole. “Next week that place is going to be filled with two and a half thousand tons of old fridges, low mileage exercise bikes and unwanted Furbies. And I want that tin to be at the bottom of it all.” “You’re a bit of a Dick sometimes.”
All in all, I really enjoyed that series. It’s a slow burn, but the last two episodes definitely found the right pace.
Media Centre Description: Comedy series about an ex-roadie now running a pest control business in suburbia. After an appalling breach of social etiquette, Tommy struggles to save his relationship with Magz. But after meeting Janet the monotony of a relationship seems no match for her almighty front.
BBC Genome: BBC TWO Monday 31 July 2006 22:00
Then the recording stops during a look at what’s on the BBC next.
VHiStory 