My Family

It's not often we brits make a comedy that can travel well, but the universal truths within my family make it travel and will make it timeless to boot, Robert Lyndsy is amazingly dry, and Zoe Wannamaker shines in every episode, the long suffering family head makes us all smile by recognising our everyday problems and life obsticles with great punch and hillarity, US viewers may think this is a flop due to how many episodes there are, but it is far from a flop, UK seasons usually only last 6 episodes, My family is now in its third season with a fourth in production, Not to be missed, i am eagily awaiting the bbc to release this on dvd! well done auntie beeb, more comedys like this please!

Robert Lindsay and Zoe Wanamaker star as the parents of Kris Marshall, Daniela Denby-Ashe, and Gabriel Thomson in "My Family," a very successful British television series that lasted 11 years.

Unfortunately only the first few seasons are available on disk thus far, but it is a very funny and lively series. Lindsay and Wanamaker are terrific pros as the head of the Harper household. The beleaguered Ben Harper is a dentist and iffy housewife Susan, who definitely can't cook, is a tour guide. Nick (Marshall) has a new job every episode. I think the funniest episode was when Susan's boss stayed overnight and the next morning, Nick tried to take some bacon and Susan told him it was for their house guest. Then Ben finds Susan's boss dead. When he announces it, Nick asks, "Can I have his bacon?" Michael (Thomson) grows up on the show, and when the disks stop, he is developing an interesting life as a chick magnet and a wheeler dealer. Janey is in college, and the situation is not without problems.

Kris Marshall is still in the show when the disks leave off, but I can imagine it was rough going without him. He added so much humor to the show. The writers must have had a blast with that outrageous character.

Highly recommended. Not every episode is spectacular, but it's still a wonderful and well-acted series.

Not an original summary really sums up how I feel about this great comedy. Robert Lindsay is hilarious (and strangely attractive) as the incredibly cynical Ben and Kris Marshall just as funny as Nick. However, in my opinion the star turn is Zoe Wanamaker ( v. sexy) and words dont do her justice. Watch out for the funeral scene in the new series where she is taking 'unprescribed' flu medication and is to put it bluntly, stoned. Her performance here is understated and fabulous, not staggering around, just glassy eyed wierdness. Please watch this (and the repeats on UK Gold) It wont tax your brain and we all need a good laugh sometimes :-) The scary part? I see some of my family in them!

While the early seasons are the best without question. The later seasons do diverge a little to absurd scenarios that would be a challenge for anyone to gets themselves into, however absurd is the charm of the show, the Harper's are constantly a loggerheads with one another capturing what would be as close to a normal as a British family got at the time. A cynical and stubborn father, a manipulative and controlling mother, it's no wonder the children do what they do, it brings a lot of laughs regardless of the episode. With something that went on for over a decade trying to get laughs time and time again is no easy feat.

My Family is a great comedy. It's rare these days that a sitcom can stand the test of time but this has lasted 4 years all ready ad is still as funny as it was to start with, and it was funny to start with which is also important. It's very exaggerated but very much based in real life and everyone can see trademarks of their own families in the Harpers.

The characters are excellent and well portrayed. Firstly there's the mother played by Zoe Wannamaker, who as Jonathan Ross once said, has a strange kind of sexiness. She's the woman with the mad hair and a kind of Witch like, everything in the pot, attitude to cooking, with each episode having her come up with new disgusting recipes like Roast Chicken with chocolate topping. Then there's Ben Harper the father but not head of the household it must be said. Played superbly by another comedic veteran, Robert Lindsey. His sarcastic and biting delivery to everything is hilarious and the banter between him and Wannamaker is the centre piece of the show. Also superb is Kris Marshall as the eldest son Nick, the gormless, unemployable idiot who is the bane of his father's existence. Marshall plays him superbly and generally Nick has had some of the best scenes in the whole of the run. The most recent series was unfortunate as Marshall has reduced his role to an occasional cameo because essentially he is becoming too old to play the part. Marshall is 31 and Nick is only in his early 20's. Marshall can pass for that because I thought he was Nick's age but also at some point it is inevitable someone aspiring to be a respected actor would not want to become to related to a certain part and become typecast. Gabriel Thompson is also very good as the youngest Harper, the geeky Michael who throughout the series has grown into a sort of amoral shady businessmen, taking friends and family for mugs and making money off them. Daniella Denby Ashe plays the daughter and like Marshall is now an extended cameo. She's the bitchy, spoilt little IT girl who wants things for nothing and is now a mother herself. The newest family member is Abby played excellently by Siobhan Hayes who is another gormless idiot.

This is one of the finest examples of recent British sitcom and certainly relatable worldwide. Excellent stuff!