So I have just finished watching The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff. When I heard that they were adapting the radio show Bleak Expectations for the television I was excited but also a bit skeptical. There was a Christmas special on over the holidays which I enjoyed, and I thought it was good but not as brilliant as the original show overall. After a bit of a break the television show returned with three new episodes which have now finished airing. Again, I enjoyed them, they were funny in places and good enough, but they just seemed to lack whatever it was that made the radio show so brilliant. Overall I liked The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff and I would watch more of the same, and if I had never heard the radio show then I know I would have loved this one a lot more. But ultimately I was also somewhat disappointed and I am looking forward to the next (and sadly probably last) series of Bleak Expectations more than ever.
One of my highly anticipated television shows for over the Christmas season was The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff. This is an adaptation of one of my favourite radio shows, the Dickensian parody Bleak Expectations. The television show is not a remake of the radio series, but rather it is set in the same universe. A Christmas episode was shown recently, and three further episodes will follow in the new year. The main character is Jeddrington Secret-Past, played by Robert Webb. Other characters include his wife, played by Katherine Parkinson, and the evil lawyer Malifax Skulkingworm, played by Stephen Fry. The Christmas episode also featured David Mitchell. I liked the Christmas episode; I don’t think it was as purely brilliant as the radio show, but it was still good to watch. I think they did a great job of translating it to television, for example making use of visual jokes rather than the kind of jokes that work on the radio. It was enjoyable, entertaining and funny, and I’m looking forward to the rest of the episodes.
I wrote previously about one of my favourite radio series, Bleak Expectations, a wonderful Dickens parody. There is now interesting news that it is being turned into a television show. Well, rather than a direct adaptation, it is apparently more of a spin-off in the same style, which will be called Bleak Old Shop of Stuff. The cast will include Robert Webb, Stephen Fry, Katherine Parkinson and David Mitchell. This could be very promising, I am certainly looking forward to seeing it (although I am sad to learn that Bleak Expectations will be ending next year too).
