| The Cafe | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Sitcom |
| Written by | Ralf Little Michelle Terry |
| Directed by | Craig Cash |
| Starring | Ellie Haddington Michelle Terry June Watson Ralf Little Daniel Ings Phoebe Waller-Bridge Kevin Trainor David Troughton Seeta Indrani Brian Murphy Marcia Warren Carolin Stoltz Jack Roth |
| Composer(s) | Adam Lipinski |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| No. of series | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 30mins (inc. adverts) |
| Production company(s) | Jellylegs Productions |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Sky1 |
| Picture format | PAL HDTV (1080i) |
| Audio format | Stereo |
| Original run | 23 November 2011 – present |
| External links | |
| Website | |
The Cafe is a British sitcom written by Ralf Little and Michelle Terry. It is one of the few new television comedy series that has been commissioned and aired on a digital only channel Sky1.
Contents |
The Café is set in and around a café in Weston-Super-Mare run by generational trilogy Mary (June Watson), Carol (Ellie Haddington) and Sarah (Michelle Terry).
Acting as the social hub of the seafront town, the café sees all walks of life pass through and gives viewers an honest portrayal of life in a typical British seaside resort.
The series is co-written by two of its lead actors, Ralf Little and Michelle Terry. The six-part series is directed by The Royle Family writer and star, Craig Cash. The series was filmed in Weston-Super-Mare. The Cafe shop was built for the filming. Craig and Ralf both worked together on The Royal Family. Ralf met Michelle two years ago whilst they performed a sketch together at the Bush Theatre for the Latitude Festival.[1]
The title song for this TV series is called 'Beyond the Sea' and was sung by 'Kathryn Williams'.
| Episode | Title | Directed by | Written by | Ratings[2] | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "There's No Place Like Home" | Craig Cash | Ralf Little & Michelle Terry | 1,041,000 | 23 November 2011 |
| Quiet life in the sleepy seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare, and its even sleepier seafront café, Cyril's, is thrown into a state of mild disarray when a flashy events manager from London comes to visit his ill mother. | |||||
| 2 | "Afternoon Tease" | Craig Cash | Ralf Little & Michelle Terry | 720,000 | 23 November 2011 |
| Sarah chases some literary agents, and the Dobsons spark a heated debate about jam and cream. Something's going on with Carol and the cafe too. | |||||
| 3 | "Out with the Old" | Craig Cash | Ralf Little & Michelle Terry | 574,000 | 30 November 2011 |
| Carol is in good spirits as she proudly presents her new menu, but are the regulars ready for the change? It's the night of the pub quiz too. | |||||
| 4 | "A Note to Follow" | Craig Cash | Ralf Little & Michelle Terry | 535,000 | 7 December 2011 |
| Excitement is in the air as the regulars get ready for Sing-Along Sound of Music. A stressed Carol is about to receive some bad news. | |||||
| 5 | "Fragile, Handle with Care" | Craig Cash | Ralf Little & Michelle Terry | 662,000 | 14 December 2011 |
| Everyone wants to know how Sarah's meeting with the literary agent went. Brenda makes her an offer, but Carol's got bigger concerns. | |||||
| 6 | "Deal or No Deal" | Craig Cash | Ralf Little & Michelle Terry | Under 518,000 | 21 December 2011 |
| It's Carol's birthday and she's got a very difficult decision to make. | |||||
Mark Webster of Sabotage Times had this to say about the doubled-billed premier. "Over the last couple of years or so, Sky One have clearly made a consolidated effort to present themselves as a channel that wants to do its business just like their buddies over on terrestrial, and in giving this gently lapping little comedy space alongside the likes of ‘Ross Kemp On..’, ‘A League Of Their Own’ and David Walliams ‘Wall Of Fame’, they are proving they’ve got the chops to do it."[3]
Tom Meltzer of The Guardian gave the series a mixed review. "In fairness to the writers, their performances are both consistently excellent, and the direction is both naturalistic and nicely understated. But while, as the name suggests, the show owes a clear debt to The Office in its style, it sadly failed to nick Gervais and Merchant's knack for writing characters, stories and, crucially, jokes."[4]
In an early interview before the show's release, Ralf Little told Matthew Hemley of The Stage “Let’s say no one watches it and critics hate it,” he says. “Michelle and I have worked our bollocks off, to put it in a not particularly classy way. We tried to never compromise our quality. We may have missed the mark, but we know that was our philosophy. We tried to produce something we could be proud of. And we are proud." [5]