012 Contemporary Comedy – Old
I really fell in love with Bangers and Mash, a gentle comedy by the multi-talented Katie
Hims. I suppose it must be one of her
earlier works (from 1999). Martina
(Katherine Harvey), a nun, is taking some time out to decide whether she wants
to go on being a nun or wants to leave the convent permanently. She takes a job in a fancy catering business
run by brothers Kingsley and Jimmy (Gerard McDermott) which promptly becomes
the humbler Bangers and Mash, a pie catering business, when Kingsley goes
missing after he needs to raise £2000 to pay off some shady lenders. Also working at the shop is Juan José (Roger
May), a very funny and idiosyncratic Argentinian going through a divorce. Eventually they also need a bookkeeper, which
is how Carol (Marlene Sidaway)—who comes to do the door dressed as a nun
because she’s a Kissogram—joins Bangers and Mash. They get into a lot of incidents and
shenanigans which ring true for anyone who has worked in catering or a small
business. They’re delightful
characters. The actor playing the health
inspector, who immediately has a thing with Carol, has the most amazing voice,
and you were definitely rooting for them.
You feel a bit more ambiguous about Martina and Juan José—I thought that
secretly Martina and Jimmy were going to get together. It was left very open at the end, clearly
anticipating a second series. Did it
happen? It was directed by Catherine Horn.
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