Box-Eyed: I ♥ Miranda
By Dan OwenBased on her Radio 4 comedy series, Miranda Hart's self-named sitcom has breezed onto BBC2 and is proving to be curious fun. Everything about it should guarantee it falls flat on its face, but it somehow achieves the impossible and leaves you feeling aglow. Perhaps it's because Miranda's a dose of "old-fashioned" sitcom that embraces its own format with open arms, mining humour in breaking the fourth wall and giving us that rare inclusive feeling of watching a play. You don't get that kind of relaxed informality with single camera comedies like The Office or The Thick Of It.
Miranda Hart plays a comic version of herself; a posh-accented owner of a small joke shop who delegates the everyday running to her friend Stevie (Sarah Hadland), while essentially trying to get her thirtysomething singleton life on-track. Think a girly Black Books with penis-shaped pasta instead of books, and no alcoholism. Anyway, trying to get her life in order is something that proves immensely difficult because Miranda's always been a clumsy, socially-awkward, underachieving, posh, slightly agoraphobic giant of a woman.
She fancies the hunky chef of a neighbouring restaurant (Tom Ellis), so a large chunk of every episode finds her trying to woo him, and she also has to contend with her imperious mother Penny (Patricia Hodge), who constantly needles her about her lack of career, boyfriend and prospects. Episodes revolve around trivial or clichéd things like joining a gym, discovering your old French teacher is sleeping with your friend, or buying a bespoke dress to wear on a date. Miranda confides to the camera, pulls faces, and falls over (too much, really), so we're always aware we're watching "Sitcomland". It even has Sally Phillips playing another of her many "kooky friend" supporting characters, and that's somehow not as tragic as it perhaps should be.
But it all sort of works, despite itself. It's not laugh-out-loud funny, at any point, but Miranda Hart's a surprisingly charming and charismatic presence. I know she's been percolating on the periphery of British comedy throughout this decade (with small roles in the likes of short-lived comedy Hyperdrive and a "who-the-hell-is-she?" appearance on Comic Relief Does Fame Academy), but this is undoubtedly her big breakthrough. Like Dawn French before her, Miranda uses her unconventional shape and height to her advantage, mocking herself gently and winning us over. It's easy to imagine a lot of women (and men) with low self-esteem finding her presence on television quite a tonic.
Perhaps the best demonstration of why Miranda works comes in the end-credits. They're based on those ued for "Are You Being Served?", so episodes end with the once-familiar "You Have Been Watching..." legend, and then the cast take it in turns to acknowledge the camera (i.e. us) with a cheerful wave, nod, smile or a blown kiss. It's the TV version of taking a bow as the curtain closes, and for all its cheesy preposterousness and artificiality, it's so infectiously delightful that you can't wait to see those characters again. BBC2, MON, 8.30PM
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If you enjoyed Box-Eyed, why not head over to Dan's Media Digest for more entertainment-related news, reviews and musings?
But it all sort of works, despite itself. It's not laugh-out-loud funny, at any point, but Miranda Hart's a surprisingly charming and charismatic presence. I know she's been percolating on the periphery of British comedy throughout this decade (with small roles in the likes of short-lived comedy Hyperdrive and a "who-the-hell-is-she?" appearance on Comic Relief Does Fame Academy), but this is undoubtedly her big breakthrough. Like Dawn French before her, Miranda uses her unconventional shape and height to her advantage, mocking herself gently and winning us over. It's easy to imagine a lot of women (and men) with low self-esteem finding her presence on television quite a tonic.
Perhaps the best demonstration of why Miranda works comes in the end-credits. They're based on those ued for "Are You Being Served?", so episodes end with the once-familiar "You Have Been Watching..." legend, and then the cast take it in turns to acknowledge the camera (i.e. us) with a cheerful wave, nod, smile or a blown kiss. It's the TV version of taking a bow as the curtain closes, and for all its cheesy preposterousness and artificiality, it's so infectiously delightful that you can't wait to see those characters again. BBC2, MON, 8.30PM
.....
If you enjoyed Box-Eyed, why not head over to Dan's Media Digest for more entertainment-related news, reviews and musings?
