|
Carter Krantz arrives in Blackpool to avenge the death of
his mother. Without a penny to his name and carrying only
a fragment of paper containing the words "Ambrose Chapel",
he is sucked into the most disturbing of mysteries. The dysfunctional
Woolf family are at the heart of everything that happens in
Blackpool: there's Shirley Woolf, a borderline psycho; his
mother, the evil and manipulative Mercy; and his foolhardy
wife Connie. Also in town are the Suttons, Dudley and Lola,
hoping for a dirty weekend to spice up their marriage. Little
do they suspect that their stay in the Shangri-la guesthouse
will turn their world upside down... their lives will never
be the same again...
Funland
is a dark, comedy thriller, the brainchild of BAFTA winning
writer Simon Ashdown (Eastenders) and multi award winning
League of Gentlemen co-creator, Jeremy Dyson. In fact
viewers will soon discover that this is not that dissimilar
to the League of Gentlemen in it's dark take on the
world.
Set
in Blackpool this 11-part series follows the exploits of three
separate groups of people over the course of a long weekend.
It exposes the bleak heart of the resort town lifting the
lid on a seething pit of intrigue, deception and unspeakable
secrets.
Carter
Krantz arrives in Blackpool to avenge the death of his mother.
Without a penny to his name and carrying nothing but a piece
of torn paper containing the words "Ambrose Chapel",
he is sucked into a series of disturbing events which take
him on a journey through the strip clubs, brothels, glamour
studios and seedy hotels that crowd the town, coming up against
their unlikely, but strangely compelling inhabitants along
the way.
Dudly
and Lola Sutton are also in Blackpool in an attempt to spice
up their marriage. Little do they suspect that their stay
in the Shangri-la guesthouse will turn their world upside
down.
Then
there's the highly dysfunctional Woolf family with, borderline
psycho, Shirley Woolf at its head, his evil mother Mercy and
his foolhardy wife Connie. The Woolf family seem to be at
the bottom of everything that happens in Blackpool.
Each
of the eleven 30 minute episodes opens with someone in a gorilla
suit climbing up the Blackpool Tower, losing their footing
and then plunging to their death. The twisted events unfold
until we finally find out which, if any, of the cast we come
to know over the course of the series is the poor fool that
ends up falling to their death King Kong style. To
remind you of this fact every episode also contains a gorilla
costume in at least one scene. After a few episodes you start
to wonder why almost everyone seems to own one, but that is
also cleverly revealed towards the end of the series.
The
first episode sees Krantz turn up in Blackpool looking to
avenge his mother's killers. It's not long before he tracks
down Ambrose Chapfel (Mark Gatiss) thinking he is the killer.
This is an obvious homage to the Alfred Hitchcock movie The
Man Who Knew to Much - Ambrose Chappell is also a taxidermist.
Each
of the three groups of characters have their own little mysteries
to uncover. For Lola and Dudly, it's their sham of a marriage;
for Carter Krantz it's the truth behind his mother's murder;
and for the Woolf family its... well, now that's the big surprise.
Amongst
the main cast there isn't a bad actor in sight. Everyone is
perfect for their roles. But, amongst the supporting cast
I have to single out Roy Barraclough, who Coronation Street
fans will remember as Alec Gilroy, who plays Blackpool's Mayor.
Barraclough is one of this country's finest comedians - anyone
who remembers him from his time working with Les Dawson will
understand what I mean when I say that it's a shame that he's
never really had the full star treatment he truly deserves.
Here, in Funland, he gets to walk the tightrope between
farce and serious drama and proves that he is more than capable
of pulling off both.
Judy
Parfitt, as Marcy Woolf, is also unnervingly believable as
the real power behind Blackpool's nightlife. Parfitt usually
portrays queens, duchesses and aristocrats on screen, and
her screen presence is amazing. She's also a remarkably attractive
woman, especially when you consider that she is just the other
side of 70.
There
are some inspired cameo roles including Ewan Bailey's twin
roles as the two Swedish brothers Erno Elorante and The Surgeon.
In fact I couldn't help noticing a canny similarity between
Erno and co-creator Simon Ashdown. And I loved Ron Cook as
the hitman - his whole story arc, as small as it is, is really
quite sad. Also, Simon Greenall is unrecognisable as Ken Cryer
- you may remember him as Michael the Geordie ex-soldier in
I'm Alan Partridge.
The
only real think that spoilt it for me was that Kevin Eldon's
part was too small and also the surprise reveal was also signposted
a mile away. He's in the credits from the early episodes,
so when a picture of him is shown later on it's not difficult
to work out who his is. But then I suppose this will only
spoil things for those who know who Eldon is.
Extras
include audio commentaries with Dyson and Ashdown on five
different episodes (Dyson states that they didn't do a commentary
for every episode as they felt they'd run out of things to
say. This is true as the commentary on episode 10 is seriously
starting to flag. Although, I couldn't fathom why they didn't
do a commentary on the final episode to explain any problems
they had wrapping up the entire story); Behind the Scenes
(30 minute featurette that interviews cast and crew on set
- Daniel Mays, who plays Carter, gives a little too much away
about his character); Developing Funland (6 and a half
minute featurette that interviews the writers on the show's
origins); Blooper Reel (3 minutes of not very funny
outtakes); Deleted Scenes (8 minutes of scenes that
were cut - most of which are dull); and Coleen Sings
(4 minute segment in which we see the whole song sung by Coleen
to entertain Erno Elorante - your ears will bleed).
Some
of the interesting insights on the commentaries include the
fact that Ian Puleston-Davies, who plays Shirley, once suffered
from obsessional compulsive disorder, so they were impressed
when he got down and dirty cleaning up the blood in one scene;
the fact that shoes feature heavily in this series; that originally
Ambrose Chapfel's exhibition was going to be filled with stuffed
animals dressed as celebrities; and the fact that Chapfel
makes a little Carter exhibit with a squirrel wearing his
clothes - something I missed on first viewing.
At
the end of the day Funland is a lot of fun. It's dark,
compelling viewing that will have you glued to the screen
for the duration. Go and buy this.
Darren
Rea
Buy
this item online
We
compare prices online so you get the cheapest
deal!
Click on the logo of the desired store below
to purchase this item.
|
|
|
£14.99
(Amazon.co.uk) |
| |
|
|
|
£14.99
(Blahdvd.com) |
| |
|
|
|
£13.49
(Thehut.com) |
| |
|
|
|
£14.99
(Moviemail-online.co.uk) |
All prices correct at time of going to press.
|
|
