taylorjan-63962 First heard Count Arthur (CAS) on BBC radio and loved it. He gets words and all sorts wrong and is quite a horrible, if hilarious, character who gets into all sorts of situations. The TV CAS is the same character but here he is NICE!I wasn't sure how it would work on TV but it does. With Graham Lineman (Father Ted, The IT crowd) on board there are some surreal moments, and Rory Kinnear takes a bit of getting used to. I only have to look at Count Arthur's character and I'm already laughing. The episode in which we have a copy of the story 'Misery' is hilarious. No bad language, just laugh out loud fun.

Prismark10 Steve Delaney has played Arthur Strong since the 1980s and like Steve Coogan is rapidly approaching the actual age of the character he is well known for.Arthur Strong is a retired comedian and actor who has grand delusions, clumsiness and easily confused.He comes into contact with Michael who is researching a book about his late father who was an entertainer and comic partner to Arthur Strong. Whilst encountering Arthur, he also comes into contact with his circle of misfit friends and the café he frequents.This TV adaptation is based on the radio series and after a dicey first episode it seemed to have settled down. The character of Arthur Strong has been softened for the television although he can still grate and irritate. Some of the plots are inspired by the radio series and some of the slapstick seems to be tailor made for the TV version.The Michael character as played by Rory Kinnear is our entry to this strange world of Arthur Strong, although by the final episode of the first series we realise we know little about Michael, he seems he actually lives in York and we do not know whether he is even married or not.What works is the buffoonery between Michael and Arthur and this was demonstrated in the second episode with the Jack the Ripper tourIts not perfect and it has been labelled as Marmite as some viewers have just found it unfunny, however there is enough there to entertain and make you laugh.

iamsherlocked I'm a big fan of Linehan and I have enjoyed all of his work thus far. That said, I have not been a big fan of the radio series, and was slightly apprehensive when I heard of Linehan doing a series based on it. The radio show itself has garnered polarized responses from audiences, so you very well know that it's not going to get any better with the TV series.What works: 1. Delaney's very good with his mannerisms and I thought the character translated quite well into TV. 2. The gags which are classic Linehan moments (Jack the Ripper tour gag, Arthur as Dr. Two etc.) are excellent. Those alone salvage the show from being a poor one.What doesn't work: 1. Rory Kinnear as Michael - such a needless and irritating character. I really like Kinnear, but not in this role. A total miscast, if the character was necessary at all. 2. The pathos - they're all downright terrible. The one involving Eggy especially was unbelievably bad. 3. Over explanation of some gags - especially by Michael, is such a fun killer.Overall: Not great, and not Linehan's best, but still very Watchable and has a few flashes of brilliance. But seeing how the series has ended, and given that it has been recommissioned, I hope he rectifies these flaws and does a much, much better job with the second series.

miss_lady_ice-853-608700 Close your eyes and you can imagine that this could possibly be conceived as funny on the radio. Radio comedy thrives off stereotypes- take for example the brilliant Cabin Pressure: smooth mature man, bumbling son, haranguing older woman and lovable loser. All clearly distinctive characters and all terribly funny.However, the style is too broad for TV and I can imagine that even the genius Cabin Pressure would suffer there. Steve Delaney's ridiculously broad acting simply doesn't work. I'm not a particular fan of Miranda but it just about works in that all the characters are a little broad. It also doesn't help that the character is meant to be perceived as unfunny by everyone. Of course, this is all part of the joke but it's hard to make unfunny things funny.Count Arthur Strong is a very gentle sitcom. Old Aunt Edna will not be offended in the slightest. I don't mind that there's an antidote to the ubiquitous swearing that passes for comedy nowadays, but it's all just a bit strained. It clearly wants to be like The Two Ronnies and other seventies sitcoms but the style just doesn't work in the modern day. If we wanted seventies-style comedies, we'd watch comedies from the seventies. The best comedy is based on truth- even if it's a surreal comedy. Count Arthur Strong does manage to scrape some credibility back, such as the ending of episode 5, which actually had a nice amount of pathos. It's these moments of pathos that make you hope that what is intended to pass for comedy will finally become comic.As for the other characters, this is very much the Count Arthur show, despite the show being when he is not there. Rory Kinnear is excellent as biographer Michael, the disappointing son of a successful comedian, but the other characters are even thinner than cardboard cutouts.Hopefully it will turn itself around with the last episode but I doubt it. Despite the name, Count Arthur Strong is rather weak.