trimmerb1234 I'd not seen the series at the time of its transmission and only caught it by accident 10 years later.Like many I greatly admire Alison Steadman, here though she doesn't an opportunity for the grand grotesques with which she has graced the large and small screens, and on radio (in the form of the very obliging Mrs Naughtie). Here she is well meaning, motherly and tolerant of her sour, sarcastic and humourless husband - played by an actor who has honed this type of role to withering perfection - Geoffrey Whitehead.Lovely comic actress Sarah Alexander once again plays to her strengths.The format and some of the laughs are quite familiar - faux pas and foul-ups committed by new husband and soon to be new father played by Ben Miller. One comic situation was unfamiliar - in warmly hugging his mother in law to comfort her, a baby's rattle comes between them. Of all the nightmare misunderstandings, this must rate as one of the worst. So unspeakable that quite believably the Alison Steadman character runs away and locks herself in her bedroom - preventing her from hearing the innocent explanation until some while later. Had this been a big screen version, the Geoffrey Whitehead character would have reacted. This TV production would have benefited from some honing.

studioAT Ben Miller has made a whole career out of playing this type of role. The bumbling, well intentioned bloke, who stuffs up quite a bit. He's even playing a similar role in Tesco adverts currently.Apparently this show was the one that catapulted him into the big time. Goodness knows why. It's basically 'Meet the Parents' but on telly. It was branded as being a 'return to traditional, old fashioned comedy', but I think that's an exaggeration.There's nothing really to fault about this show. It's funny enough, it passes the time. The writers have never really come up with anything to top it either.I like Ben Miller, I didn't like this show.

Scaramouche2004 This show was without doubt one of the funniest I have seen on television for many long years. It is one of those programmes, you just have to watch alone or only with your nearest and dearest as the grotesque faces you will pull and the snot that will pour from your nose as you laugh uncontrollably will put off people who do not know you quite so well.Ben Miller is pulling out all the stops to make sure his marriage to Sarah Alexander all goes swimmingly (and lets face it who wouldn't.) Yet despite his good and noble intentions, circumstances are fighting him all the way as one hilarious but cringe worthy situation and mishap blends unceremoniously and continuously into the next.You have her upper class parents who can't stand the sight of him, and who can blame them after all in the course of just one week he crawls into bed and gropes his future mother-in-law, accidentally throws the the family dog into a fully operational cement mixer, destroys an important painting and almost fatally hospitalises the beloved grandmother. Classic.His own father is also presenting a problem as he is now heavily and sexually involved with a lap dancer with as much class as public toilet,which again poses a problem with the snobby-in-law elite.His best man is also hospitalised two days before the wedding calling upon our hero to ask the most unlikely replacement, a beer swigging, foul mouthed, vulgar chav, complete with baggy jeans, stubble and lack of manners to take his place, to his ever lasting shame and regret.Add to this a psychotic ex-girlfriend from hell intent on either destroying either him or his wedding, this truly adds up to be the undisputed worst week of his life.With each half hour episode taking up a day of the week leading up to the fateful day and delightful support from all involved this really is an unmissable experience.

smartarsebutler Okay, so you could almost describe it as Britain's answer to 'Meet the Parents', but that is doing this fantastic sitcom a huge disservice. Ben Miller and Sarah Alexander do a fantastic job as an uptight, very much in love and very middle class couple, desperate to get through their pre-wedding week, and the casting of Alison Steadman as the hysterical perfectionist seating plan obsessed mother is a masterstroke. The comedy is constantly farcical and slapstick, but without becoming gross-out (i.e.Farrelly brothers). Do not let claims of tired ideas being rehashed put you off this fantastic britcom, because yes, the basis of the sitcom has been visited a few times before, but this is a fresh take, and the result is an invigorating and exciting exercise in programming. Highly recommended!