Review of Big School

Overnight ratings show that 4.24 million people (20.6% audience share) tuned into to see Philip Glenister in Big School last night; his first comedic role since playing Phil in Roger, Roger in the late nineties. Keeping in mind all the expectations that brings, here’s a review from one of our team. (We’ve put it under a cut, in case some people haven’t seen it yet.)

Big School, written and produced by David Walliams, is set in a secondary school and focuses on a love (lust) triangle between three teachers. Mr Church (Walliams), Miss Postern (Catherine Tate) and Phil’s character Mr Gunn.

Overall, the comedic elements of the show were mixed. It made me laugh in places (the car scenes) but by the same measure it made me cringe in places too (the half-naked lab tech in the cupboard – that was just creepy!). There were some new jokes but there were also some very overused jokes (Miss Postern storming off and having to come back sheepishly for her bag, being one). The writing was poor, predictable and bordering on offensive. Mr Gunn’s comments about ‘slipping [Miss Postern] a length and the ones in the scene where Gunn gave Miss Postern a sports massage, and she noticed that he had an erection, would have fit well with Philip’s character from Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes, Gene Hunt. But it’s important to remember that those shows were set in the 70s and 80s respectively – they could get away with comments like that, because that was how women were treated at the time. From a high school teacher in 2013…it’s a bit of a no-no!

The characters were all a bit 2-dimensional, with the supporting cast horrifically underused, and I find myself hoping that Miss Postern doesn’t choose either of her prospective suitors; as neither of them are suited to her! It reminded me of 1997 comedy Chalk (starring David Bamber and Nicola Walker); except it isn’t that good.

That was the show, but what about Philip, I hear you cry. Well, it was certainly a brave choice for Philip to take on a role which is so unlike any of the characters he’s played before. I have to say though, that with the little he was given he did quite a good job. He seemed to play the part with ease, showing what a fantastic character actor he is, as we all know he’s nothing like Mr Gunn at all in real life.

However, I felt that both his character and Phil’s talent were underused. We’ve seen from some of Phil’s other projects that he has the ability to deliver a subtle comedy performance and I can only hope we’ll see more of that in next week’s episode (which, incidentally, includes Philip doing an impression of Keith Lemon!).

It’s well documented that it’s difficult to produce new, award winning comedy and the team should be praised for trying. But I can’t see Big School being as much of a success as some of Walliams’ other shows, like Little Britain. (But then, I didn’t like that either, so maybe his style of comedy just isn’t for me!)

The ratings, of course will provide the final judgement on its performance and that is the test; can it sustain the number of viewers in what is a fairly competitive time-slot. We’ll see. I shall give it another chance next week and if I’m being honest, I’ll probably watch the whole thing because it’s got Phil in it; for me, that’s the only attraction.

So, there you have it. It’s received mixed reviews both in the media and on social networking sites like Twitter. But what did you guys think? Please leave us a comment below and let us know.

If you don’t mind spoilers, there is now a trailer for next week’s episode and a preview clip (which includes the impression mentioned above) available on our Big School videos page.