A Comedy On This Day: May To December - I Remember It Well (11 January 1990)

 Over thirty years ago, when I was starting to develop a bit more critical acumen, I remember hearing this exchange in some otherwise wholly forgettable sitcom:

A. I'm being sent to Coventry!
B. Oh, I've always wanted to go there.
A. No - I mean that I'm being ostracized!
B. Does that mean that we won't be able to have any children?

 

 Which struck me at the time as being archetypal formulaic 'comedy' dialogue, which requires a 'funny' misunderstanding line-by-line. When you're not that engaged with what's going on - and the misunderstandings are more there for the sake of constant comic rhythm than to be actually funny - it can have a clunking, creaking, effect upon the viewer. 

 This episode starts off with one such moment, when the spinster solicitor informs the bimbo receptionist that "custody only applies in cases involving minors" and the receptionist replies, "But my Uncle Albert weren't a miner, 'e was a plumber!" It sets a regrettable marker of low quality - priming you to expect little - that takes a long time to lift.

 Which is unfortunate, because the emotional beats of this episode do go on to be genuinely interesting. The central scene (the 26-year old girlfriend introducing her 54-year old boyfriend to her parents) is achieved through techniques - fades to cover ellipses in time, a large close-up of the one silent person at the meal - that feel more like a drama than a sitcom. The episode also looks at the age gap from an interesting angle, looking at how the older man carries decades more experiences and references than his partner, and showing how that can be a burden.