Ideal. Image shows from L to R: Moz (Johnny Vegas), Nicki (Nicola Reynolds). Copyright: Baby Cow Productions
Ideal

Ideal

  • TV sitcom
  • BBC Three
  • 2005 - 2011
  • 53 episodes (7 series)

Cult BBC Three sitcom starring Johnny Vegas as a small-time drug dealer. A large ensemble cast of characters visit Moz's flat each week. Also features Nicola Reynolds, Tom Goodman-Hill, Sinead Matthews, Ben Crompton, Graham Duff and more.

Press clippings Page 3

BBC commissions 7th series of Ideal

The BBC has ordered a seventh series of Ideal, the hit BBC Three sitcom starring Johnny Vegas.

British Comedy Guide, 17th November 2010

Ideal in 360 degrees and time-lapse!

Harnessing the same advanced technology as before we can now show you how many people there are behind the scenes, most of whom appear to be doing nothing, but are in fact working incredibly hard to make fantastic comedy.

Jon Aird, BBC Comedy, 14th September 2010

Ideal in 360 degrees

Do you enjoy watching Ideal but get the feeling you might be missing something? Do you ever yearn to spin the camera round or suddenly make it point at the ceiling in the middle of a scene for no particular reason? Now you can!

David Thair, BBC Comedy, 1st September 2010

It's a queer cove of a show, this. The action never staggers far from the hovel of hash 'n' weed seller Moz (Johnny Vegas), so there's no variation of location - and often, his stoner customers simply take turns to arrive, act funny for a bit and leave, so there's not much story to grab onto. Losing your concentration would be forgivable and, perhaps, appropriate. But the eclectic supporting cast are worth staying awake for. This episode offers a hilarious pop duo - berks in leotards and Phil Oakey hairdos - and Sean Lock, who straps on his breasts again as dour transsexual Natalie. Most excitingly, Moz's new neighbour is played by Janeane Garofalo, once a star of The Larry Sanders Show.

Jack Seale, Radio Times, 24th August 2010

Ideal, the tale of shut-in drug dealer Moz (Johnny Vegas) began its sixth series last night with Moz apparently being decapitated by PC Phil. From there, things unfolded with their usual skill, with Vegas's beautiful, idiosyncratic brand of melancholic comedy infusing everything. It now comes with added Sean Lock - as Brian's ex- and now transgendered wife. Rich, dark and satisfying as best plum cake.

Lucy Mangan, The Guardian, 18th August 2010

Ideal Review: Spliffing

The success of the show is greatly dependant on a strong ensemble cast of peculiar characters.

Ewan Roberts, On The Box, 17th August 2010

With a plot line that's bound to be nicked by CSI if they haven't already used it - a cunning twister involving a beheading that turns out to be a case of mistaken identity - Ideal (BBC3) returned for a stoned-out-of-its-brain sixth series. Who'd have thought there'd be so much mileage in Johnny Vegas as a deadbeat drug dealer?

It probably helps if you're under some kind of influence in order to stomach scenes where Vegas gets pleasured, but once you've drifted into Ideal's alternative world of bong, it offers a smorgasbord of surreal pleasures, not least answering the troubling conundrum of what Sean Lock would look like if he sported a pair of fake breasts. Well, it had troubled me.

Keith Watson, Metro, 17th August 2010

Ideal series six - first look

Here it is - the trailer for Ideal series six. This is the second series of Ideal I've directed and I felt a lot less nervous than last year.

Ben Wheatley, BBC Comedy, 12th August 2010

Johnny Vegas on 'Ideal'

Much to his surprise, English comedian Johnny Vegas says his real life has been playing out like an episode of HBO's crime drama The Wire.

Jamin Brophy-Warren, The Wall Street Journal, 7th June 2009

Positive review of Ideal Series 5

Ideal is in its fifth series now, and it has developed into a seriously good sitcom. The sit is solid. Moz, a small-time dope dealer played by Johnny Vegas, never leaves his squalid Salford flat. And the com is full of incident, because Moz's life is marked out by the comings and goings of a motley crew of customers, family, neighbours and business associates, actual and potential, and many of them are bigger crooks than he is.

Deborah Orr, The Independent, 12th May 2009

Share this page