My Family: Series 5, Episode 11 – “Dentist to the Stars” (2004)

 

My Family is a long-running family Britcom that, based on the episode I saw, shouldn’t have run anywhere near the 11 seasons that it did.  Granted, I’ve seen sitcoms that are far worse, but my main impressions were 1) overly broad comedy, and 2) way too much reliance on insult humor.  Honestly, if a husband and wife can’t make it more than two or three exchange without one denigrating the other, they probably shouldn’t be married.

 

The show centers around the Harper family:  dentist Ben, tour guide Susan, and the standard 2.5 kids.  Again, based on the episode I saw, they regular get themselves into all manner of typical sitcom troubles, and hijinks aplenty occur.  In “Dentist to the Stars,” Ben is thrilled when a famous actor patronizes his practice.  Though he hopes it’ll lead to more celebrity clients and more money (you can practically see the dollar signs in his eyes), his rudeness and general tendency towards putting his foot in his mouth don’t bode well for him.

 

PC plays Colin Judd, the famous actor causing a dentist-office sensation.  He’s not just a film star – he’s an “important actor,” the sort who sticks to period dramas and Shakespeare.  Ben can’t mask his distaste for Colin’s body of work for more than a few seconds at a time, but everyone else he encounters fawns over him as an artiste/thinking-girl’s heartthrob. 

 

This is where it’s tricky to tell how far my PC-bias extends.  While this episode has me wondering if there’s any conceivable reason why he took this job (other than the paycheck), I think the performance is decently good.  The action happening around Colin is broad and over-the-top, but his reaction to it all is so grounded, which makes him seem like the sane-man rather than just the straight-man.  Granted, it occasionally feels like he’s acting in a different show than everyone else, but the dissonance is funny.

 

Attention Whovians – Zoë Wanamaker (Lady Cassandra, the Last Human) and Daniela Denby-Ashe (Mary, Tosh’s short-term flame on Torchwood) also appear in My Family.

 

Accent Watch

 

Sounds Scottish to me, fairly light.

 

Recommend?

 

In General – I wouldn’t.  Too much of a standard sitcom.

 

PC-wise – Not necessarily.  PC makes the most of uninspiring material, yes, but there’s plenty of better options out there.

 

Warnings

 

Nothing much – a few light sexual references maybe.