(BBC/ABC DVD)  

Hit-and-miss sitcom from the twisted mind of Dan Clark 

With the second season already aired in the UK, this release is not particularly up-to-the-minute in international terms. That said, there are laughs to be had in Series One of How Not To Live Your Life, an uneven "single guy who can’t get lucky in love" sit-com. The main protagonist of the series is played by the show’s writer, Dan Clark. His character Don Danbury uses the single guy slacker persona as a basis for a true comedy grotesque – Danbury snivels, lies and blunders his way through his defiantly shallow existence with a strange mixture of Alan Partridge and, if you can imagine, an uncool Vince Noir, while looking like a permanently gurning member of Franz Ferdinand. That he makes the viewer want such a blatantly unlikeable person to succeed is testament to the show’s numerous good points – though not everyone will feel such sympathy for this individual (it should be noted your reviewer nearly always feels a special connection with socially inept characters!) The premise is simple but effective – lazy, obnoxious Don gets fired from his job then inherits a house from his dead grandmother. As her last living relative, Don gets the house (plus its required mortgage payments), though not without hearing her will, where she addresses her grandson as "Dickhead". So, high school crush and all-round nice girl Abby (Sinéad Moynihan) moves in – and Don immediately wants to capture the Mancunian beauty’s heart. To his horror, Don discovers she dates Karl (Finlay Robertson), an unlikeable property developer who is quickly dubbed "Cockface".  Not to mention his late gran’s carer Eddie (David Armand) who can’t bring himself to leave the house and quickly starts cooking, cleaning and looking after Don. Eddie proves the show’s most inspired creation, managing to be simultaneously creepy and adorable. As Don’s mostly self-inflicted misadventures occur, the show mixes sitcom structure with skit-like segments (entitled things like ‘8 Ways Don Shouldn’t Dance’) where a series of inappropriate behaviours are played out. As mentioned earlier, the show is hit and miss – hilarious, laugh-out loud funny and imaginative at its best, crude and obvious at its worst. Fortunately, the good bits outweigh the bad and Clark and Armand both give excellent comic performances. Apart from the six episodes of Series One, the DVD comes with a second disc of features, including behind-the-scenes, outtakes and more.

***  

MATT THROWER