Stop/Start is the sort of sitcom which would prompt the Daily Mail/Express to say “At last, a BBC sitcom that is actually funny.” Yes, Stop/Start is pretty broad and pretty old fashioned but it is also genuinely funny, thanks to great performances from a quality cast and a script which mostly stays on the acceptable side of politically incorrect old hat.
The premise is pretty simple - we follow three couples in different kinds of relationships. Jack Docherty (who also wrote this - you may have heard his more subtle R4 version) and Kerry Godliman are the long-established couple soldiering on but underneath it loving each other. John Thomson and Sarah Hadland are the constantly bickering marrieds trapped in a Strindbergian dance of death. And Nigel Havers plays the posho just married to sexy young wife Laura Aikman.
The plot then pretty much writes itself but the execution is mostly impeccable. The twist is that the characters pause the action – hence the title – and address the camera with their real thoughts. OK, it’s not that original for Peep Show viewers but it’s relatively radical for a conventional BBC1 audience sitcom. And the addresses to camera are much more subtle than in Mrs Brown's Boys.
And the gags do fly thick and fast. Docherty’s timing is spot-on (and he hasn’t quite given himself all the best lines) and as anyone who has ever seen her onstage will know, Kerry Godliman is always good value - better here playing broader comedy than in Derek. I won’t give away any gags as sometimes it’s the way they are told that makes them really funny, but I genuinely laughed out loud a few times – a rarity for me.
There are a few glitches though. John Thomson has a line early on that I think goes beyond marital banter into nasty misogyny. And while there is plenty of fun extracted from the Havers/Aikman age gap, the gap between Docherty/Godliman doesn't seem referenced but is at least a decade. It’s also not clear how Docherty and Havers live in the same street - Docherty’s flat looks like it’s out of Miranda, Havers' lounge looks like it's out of Downton Abbey. There’s also a bedtime scene where Docherty is cleaning his teeth, the next thing he is boozing with Thomson.
Maybe I’m scrutinising things too much. This is traditional comedy so doesn’t really deserve the forensic treatment. Nobody goes over Hancock scripts with a fine tooth comb for plot holes. Given that this has already done well on radio, it wouldn’t be a big surprise if a series was made and it did well on TV too. I'd certainly watch it.
