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On the surface the Porters are a normal family - indeed,
even the series' title 2Point4 Children, the fabled
average family size, alludes to their normality (as well as
the fact that the husband/father is still a bit of a child
himself). Yet, though the individual members - central-heating
engineer Ben; his wife, catering worker Bill; and their teenage
children David and Jenny - are unexceptional, the situations
in which the family occurrences and poor judgement all conspire
to turn the Porters' world topsy-turvy...
The
third series of 2Point4 Children offers up another
six (plus Christmas special) episodes of mayhem as the Porters
organise a funeral, try to rescue their neighbours from a
vicious gang of thieves, and attempt to live through one of
the worst hurricanes on record while on holiday.
Unlike
most sitcoms of the time 2Point4 Children carried on
many of its jokes from episode to episode. In Series Three,
it's Ben's obsession with the latest console game Ninja
Badger and Bill's strange psychic dreams which we keep
revisiting.
Beam
Me Up, Scotty is a great episode which will have Trek
fans in stitches (those with a sense of humour, that is).
Ben's old friend and nemesis, Jake Klinger, is a huge Trek
fan. When he dies, it is down to Ben to organise the funeral
as Jake wanted it - everyone must come dressed as a Star
Trek character.
When
the Children are Asleep is like the worst farce imaginable.
The majority of this episode takes place at night after Bill
sees what she thinks are two shady characters driving away
from the neighbour's house. The rest of the episode involves
Bill trying to convince Ben that their neighbours may be in
their house in need of help - despite the fact it's well known
that they are on holiday. This episode also has a very amusing
conclusion, one which I should have seen coming a mile away
- but didn't.
Badger's
Bend sees Ben falling asleep on the job. It soon becomes
apparent that it's due to the fact that he has been sneaking
downstairs in the middle of the night and playing Ninja
Badger for hours at a time. When Bill finds out she makes
him promise to stop playing it. But can he even get through
the first day? This episode rang true for me, as I used to
sit up until the early hours playing Tekken 2 on the
Playstation, and then have a job staying awake at work. There
is also a jokey 'behind the scenes' gag that shows how they
didn't really kill the goldfish in this episode, and that
it was all an illusion.
Again,
as in Series
One, there are also plenty of familiar faces,
to those of us in our mid-30's, including Sandra Dickinson
(The
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - '80s TV
mini-series); Roger Lloyd Pack (Trigger in Only Fools and
Horses); Richard Davies (Z Cars); the late Barbara
Lott (Sorry!) and the Beryl Reid-like Liz Smith (The
Royle Family).
Fans
of the show will be pleased that this is finally available
on DVD. However, Series Three seems to have aged less
gracefully than Series One, and there are not as many
laugh out loud moments. In fact, there are some very embarrassing
scenes - especially in Whoopee We're all Going to Die
and the Christmas Special, Babes in the Wood. This
series really should have stayed away from the touchy-feely
scenes that are all too familiar in American shows. It looks
out of place here. In fact, the British studio audience laugh
uncomfortably several times in places they are not supposed
to.
An
entertaining slice of near-classic comedy.
Darren
Rea
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