dinnerladies Page 10

Quote: Text Lexus @ 17th July 2019, 1:37 AM

One thing I slightly dislike (apart from the theme tune) is the repeated 'thing' where Bren struggles to find the correct word to convey a nuanced idea or emotion, such as (I'm making this up) "I don't know why she seems so....oh, I don't mean regretful do I?, um, er what is it? er... oh, er, resentful, that's what I mean....resentful" Presumably the idea is to illustrate that she's intelligent but has had her vocabularly hobbled by a lack of educational opportunities as it's Grim Up North, which seems weirdly condescending, even though it rings true.

Wood has quite a unique way of putting things though, I'm not sure how much it's got to do with education.

Re-watched this as I've been meaning to since I read the Series 1 script book a few months ago.

Bren and her mum are a more interesting representation of those people than in Pat And Margaret imo. There's more vulnerability there, in not trying to be cool, and not coincidentally it's also funnier. The contempt underlying the writing has more material to work with.

Also: Thelma Barlow is outstanding in it.

From my (distant) memories of this I just felt that Victoria had written a great sitcom but there was no need to include her own character in it as she was often just sitting back while others took the laughs.