Drop the Dead Donkey

As an Irish observer, this comedy has to be one of the high points of 1990's comedy.

While the main talking point of the series initially was it's topicality (being written and filmed in the week before filming so as to include observations and jokes about breaking news stories), later series were far less dependent on the topicality angle and more on funny honest and sharp character development.

It was immeasurably superior both to other office based comedy (viz the overrated IMHO "office") and to the likes of other newsroom comedies viz Murphy Brown. DTDD's humour was sharp acidic and right on the money. No-one was spared it's barbs.

On reruns and DVD releases a brief voice-over identifies the week each particular episode was shown and what the major stories breaking that week were.

More interestingly a lot of what was clearly the target of DTDD's humour (the dumbing down and tabloidisation of news reporting promoted by TV newstations) are even more in evidence today 10-15 years later as witnessed by the likes of FOX News and Sky News I wonder who Sir Royten Merchant was really based on....

Just started watching this again and forgot how good it was. Set in a television newsroom. Brilliant characters George and Gus especially. Good references to the news at the time. The Christmas party episode especially is brilliant.

Hilarious show, the humour still holds up and I should know I wasn't alive for any of the topical jokes

Being an ex-pat, the growing interest in downloading and viewing whole TV series has given me many hours of entertainment. I used to watch Drop the Dead Donkey live in the 1990s and liked it then, but re-watching it now, in 2015, I'm finding it pretty hilarious and it's now my daily accompaniment to breakfast, and the occasional episode when I simply want a laugh. The fact that the news items referred to are ancient now, doesn't matter one bit - the way that they are handled in DTDD are so funny because I think that news channels now are pathetic in their handling of the news, and they all appear to be run on the lines of Global News. Really!

The series is rich with really excellent journalist stereotypes, much mentioned in the other reviews here, so not needed to be repeated by me. I don't know where I will turn to when I finish all the series I have.

It is only dated because each episode tried very hard to include topical and amusing news items. All of the main characters are distinctive. George, the editor, is conscientious but seems totally out of place in the newsroom environment as he is a bit of a fragile eccentric. His boss Gus, a bit of a sad bachelor, is the king of Politically correct sound bites. Dave, who's job is a bit obscure, is the office 'stud' as well as being a chronic gambler. Henry, the aged newsreader, has clearly seen better days but is still convinced he is up to competing with Dave. The other newsreader, Sally, has a sex life which is mainly in Lorry parks and service stations. Joy,the officer gofer, is not a girl to be messed with and takes no prisoners. Damian, the young fearless reporter is totally obsessed with fame and has no regards for the feelings of others, particularly his on location staff. Helen, a lesbian, replaced Alex early on as Gerorges No 2. There is a bit of slapstick but the humour, which comes thick and fast, is mainly verbal.