Joking Apart

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Joking Apart
Opening titles.
Genre	Sitcom
Creator(s)	Steven Moffat
Starring	Robert Bathurst Fiona Gillies Tracie Bennett Paul Raffield Paul Mark Elliott
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	12 (+ Comic Asides pilot) (List of episodes)
Production
Producer(s)	Andre Ptaszynski
Running time	30mins
Broadcast
Original channel	BBC Two
Original run	7 January 1993 – 7 February 1995
Chronology
Related shows	Coupling
Links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Joking Apart was a BBC television sitcom written by Steven Moffat juxtaposing a couple, Mark (Robert Bathurst) and Becky (Fiona Gillies), meeting/falling in love with their separation and divorce. The series was directed by Bob Spiers and was produced by Andre Ptaszynski.

It is semi-autobiographical, being inspired by the then-recent separation of Moffat and his first wife.^[1] Some of the first series followed a non-linear dual structure, juxtaposing the rise of the relationship with the separation. Other episodes were ensemble farces, predominantly including the couple's friends Robert (Paul Raffield) and Tracy (Tracie Bennett). Paul Mark Elliott also appeared as Trevor, Becky's lover.

Although the show attracted a small audience because of scheduling problems, it attracted a small following. A dedicated fan acquired the rights of the first series from the BBC and, in May 2006, released it on his own DVD label.^[2]

Contents 1 Production 1.1 Inception 1.2 Casting 1.3 Structure 1.3.1 Stand-up sequences 2 Characters 3 Episodes 3.1 Pilot 3.2 Series one 3.3 Series two 4 Music and titles 5 Reception 6 DVD release 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Production

[edit] Inception

Moffat had written two series of the BAFTA-award winning show Press Gang. However, its high cost and changes in the executive structure at Central meant that the show might not be recommissioned.^[3] The writer wondered what to do next.^[1] Bob Spiers, Press Gang's primary director, suggested that he meet with producer Andre Ptaszynski to discuss writing a sitcom.

Moffat had been through a difficult period, with his first wife having left him. He even introduced the character Brian Magboy (Simon Schatzberger) in the Press Gang episode "The Big Finish?" to represent his wife's new partner: he had all sorts of unfortunate things happen to him, such as having a typewriter dropped on his foot.^[3]

Having been through this experience, it was the only thing he could talk about at the meeting with Ptaszynski at the Groucho Club. His idea, then, was about "a sitcom writer whose wife leaves him."^[4] It was approved by the BBC and the pilot was transmitted as part of it's Comic Asides (a series of pilot shows) strand on 12 January 1991.

[edit] Casting

Robert Bathurst, a former Footlights president, was cast as Mark Taylor. He was performing on a live topical programme on BSB called Up the News. A fellow performer on that show also auditioned for the part at what is now the Soho Theatre, the old Soho Synagogue, in Dean Street, and claimed that he would break Bathurst's legs if he got the job. Bathurst says "I don’t think it was entirely jocular".^[5]

Fiona Gillies was cast as Becky Johnson/Taylor. It was her first major television role, having appeared in The Hound of the Baskervilles as Beryl Stapleton, and the mini-series Mother Love. She was aware that some of her dialogue was based on what had been said to Moffat during the separation.^[4]

[edit] Structure

Many of the first six episodes of Joking Apart were constructed in a multiple timeframe. The beginnings of the relationship are often juxtaposed with the separation. Moffat describes it as a "romantic comedy, but a romantic comedy backwards because it ends with the couple unhappy."^[4]

[edit] Stand-up sequences

All of the episodes opened with Mark using his relationship as material for stand-up performances in a small comedy club. Bathurst expected that they would be reshot, but, to save money, they were not.

Episodes regularly cut back to Mark's performances, designed as fantasy sequences. The opening line was usually "My wife left me...". Moffat felt audiences needed to know from the start that the relationship would not survive.^[4] However, it was unclear to some that the sequences were designed as an indication of Mark's internal creative process (to show that "he thinks in punchlines, in comedy"), rather than actual performances.^[6]

Like Seinfeld, which used a similar device, Joking Apart would use less of the stand-up as the series progressed. In retrospect, Moffat regrets including the stand-up sequences,^[4] although Bathurst has had the idea of refilming them as a video diary now that he is older to show him reflecting on his earlier life.^[7]

Other than the stand-up sequences, the second series followed a more linear structure. Moffat had experimented with non-linear narrative in Press Gang, notably the episode "Monday-Tuesday". Coupling would later use similar devices throughout the series.

[edit] Characters

Mark Taylor (Robert Bathurst) is a television sitcom writer. Other than episode one, where he is shown working on a script, and a show of his had been aired the night before a dinner with Robert and Tracy, his work is hardly mentioned.

Mark is quick witted. However, this proves to be the downfall of his marriage with Becky, who says that she didn't sign on to become his "lawfully wedded straight man." Becky articulates her frustration in response to Mark's joke about worrying that his virginity will heal back by responding "What page is that on?" Identifying his insecurities, she points out that the "thing about someone who uses humour as a weapon, is not the sense of humour, but the fact that they need a weapon."^[8]

Moffat would use the surname 'Taylor' for Jack Davenport's character Steve (named after the writer) in Coupling to suggest a thematic link between the two shows.^[9]

Becky Johnson/Taylor (Fiona Gillies) meets Mark at a funeral, and they eventually marry. Although irritated at being his comic foil, she is capable of her own quick-witted put-downs. In episode 3, for example, she 'wins' an impromptu one-liner contest over Mark, who's put-downs fall flat.^[10]

Becky is shown as an independent woman, meeting Mark on her terms.^[11] The first series revolves around her leaving Mark for estate agent Trevor, on whom she cheats in series two.

Fiona Gillies was aware that some of her lines were what Moffat's ex-wife had said to him.^[4]

Robert and Tracy Glazebrook (Paul Raffield and Tracie Bennett) are the dim-witted friends of the main protagonists. They are initially Becky's friends, but they become friends with Mark too, comforting him on the night Becky leaves him.^[12]

Tracy is, as Tracie Bennett identifies, is a stereotypical Tracy, which is normally a dysphemism for an intellectually-inadequate (usually blonde) female. However, "she's not a bimbo: she's quite clever in her own logic."^[4]

They are both naive about sex and technology. Tracy, for example, attempts to telephone Robert to inform him that he's lost his mobile phone,^[13] and believes that she is a lesbian when she discovers her husband in woman's clothing.^[14]

Trevor (Paul-Mark Elliott) is Becky's lover, but is himself cheated on in the second series, as Becky dates her solicitor Michael (Tony Gardner). His debut appearance is in the third episode where he and Becky go to Robert and Tracy's house for dinner. He features less regularly than the main ensemble.

[edit] Episodes

Main article: List of Joking Apart episodes

[edit] Pilot

The series started as a pilot, broadcast in the Comic Asides (a series of pilot shows) strand on 12 July 1991. It was directed by John Kilby, and filmed at Pebble Mill in Birmingham on 9 August 1990.^[15] It is practically identical to the first episode of the series proper: some scenes are even reused (hence episode one's shared director credit between Spiers and Kilby).^[16]

The stand-up sequences were shot against a black background. Although this made it clearer that they were not 'real', it looked odd.^[4]

[edit] Series one

The first series of six episodes were recorded at BBC Television Centre in April/May 1992, and transmission began on 7 January 1993

The first episode showed the couple meeting at a funeral, marrying, going through the honeymoon phase, and in programme 2, Becky admitted she was an adulteress. Although she inadvertently admitted this fact before realising that all of her friends were hiding around her living room before the surprise party was started, the performances of Bathurst and Gillies took the scene above mere farce. This episode was basically a re-recorded version of the pilot, with a revised set design.

[edit] Series two

After being postponed from the autumn schedules, even though the show had won an award at Montreux, the six episodes of the second series begun transmission on 3 January 1995.

In this series, Becky was cheating on Trevor with her solicitor, Michael. Mark fantasizes about killing Trevor, exposes himself to his elderly Aunt and meets his penis (Kerry Shale).

[edit] Music and titles

"Fool if You Think It's Over", written by Chris Rea, was used over both the opening and closing credit sequences. It was performed by Kenny Craddock, who had himself gone through a divorce in the late 1980s.^[17] Craddock and Colin Gibson arranged the incidental music.^[18]

The opening titles were a series of images of famous separated couples, over legal imagery, including Arthur Miller & Marilyn Monroe; Winnie & Nelson Mandela; Princess Anne & Mark Phillips; culminating in Mark & Becky.

Whereas the opening titles were accompanied by only the chorus of the theme song, the closing credits had a verse and chorus. The first part of the closing credits were over a still of the final frame, and fading to black with the line "All dressed in black."

[edit] Reception

The scheduling problems meant that the show did not get the momentum to achieve high viewing figures.^[19] However, as Bathurst observes, "there's an underground of people who like it."^[20] The show rated highly on the Appreciation Index (AI), meaning that viewers thought very highly of the programme.^[2] Bathurst says that drunks on the London Underground tell him in detail the plot of their favourite episode.

The cast claim that the programme has a timeless, universal appeal.^[4] Excluding some of the technology, specifically the typewriter and the size of the mobile telephones, there are no time-specific references. Gillies says that her accountant puts it on to cheer him up. Bathurst says that a friend of his cheered so loudly when Mark pushes avocado into Trevor's face^[10] that he woke his son.^[4]

Critical reception was good. The Daily Express said that it was "flavoured with a delicious bitterness about the perfidy of women and the conscious-less nature of the male orgasm, it was plotted with the intricacy of a French farce."^[21] Another reviewer for the Express commented that "it's quite funny and an acute analysis" of the modern divorce. The first episode is labelled "distinctly promising."^[22] The Daily Telegraph said that the show had "its problems but possesses a dark, mordant wit."^[6]

While the transmission of series two was still being delayed by BBC 2 controller Michael Jackson, the show won the Bronze Rose of Montreux^[1] and was entered for the Emmys.^[2]

[edit] DVD release

The first series was released on DVD on 29 May 2006.^[23] It contains audio commentaries on four of the episodes from Moffat, Bathurst, Gillies and Bennett. It also contains a featurette, "Fool If You Think It's Over", with retrospective interviews.

The DVD is notable because a fan who bought the rights from 2Entertain, BBC Worldwide's DVD arm, and released it on his own independent label: Replay DVD.^[1] Craig Robins put up £30,000 of his own money to buy the rights and produced the disc.^[24] As a professional videotape editor, Robins was able to restore and assemble the disc himself. He used a piece of freeware to transcribe the dialogue for the subtitles.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Joking Apart Unofficial Site, with episode guides and extended interviews with Moffat and Bathurst
• ReplayDVD Web site of the fan who bought the programme's rights
• Joking Apart at the Internet Movie Database
• BBC minisite