Vicious (TV series)

Vicious
Genre	Sitcom
Created by	Mark Ravenhill Gary Janetti
Written by	Gary Janetti
Directed by	Ed Bye
Starring	Derek Jacobi Ian McKellen Frances de la Tour Iwan Rheon Marcia Warren Philip Voss
Opening theme	"Never Can Say Goodbye" by The Communards
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	2 + 1 Christmas special + 1 Final special
No. of episodes	13 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Jane Featherstone Gary Janetti
Producer(s)	Gary Reich
Editor(s)	Chris Wadsworth Mark Wybourne
Location(s)	The London Studios
Running time	30 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company(s)	Brown Eyed Boy and Kudos Productions
Release
Original network	ITV
Picture format	16:9 (1080i HDTV)
Audio format	Dolby Digital 5.1
Original release	29 April 2013 (2013-04-29) – present

Vicious is a British sitcom shown on ITV. The series stars Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi as Freddie and Stuart, an elderly gay couple who have been together for 50 years but endure a love/hate relationship.^[1][2] The series premiered on 29 April 2013^[3] and garnered 5.78 million viewers.

Series overview

Vicious tells the story of aging partners Freddie and Stuart, two men who have lived together in their Covent Garden flat for 48 years. Freddie was a budding actor and Stuart worked in a bar when they first met, but their careers are pretty much over and their lives now consist of entertaining their frequent guests, making sure that their aged dog Balthazar is still breathing, and hurling caustic insults at each other.

Cast and characters

(back row), Violet (Frances de la Tour), Ash (Iwan Rheon), Mason (Philip Voss), (front row) Freddie (Ian McKellen), Stuart (Derek Jacobi), and Penelope (Marcia Warren)

• Ian McKellen as Freddie Thornhill, an over-the-hill actor whose career consisted mainly of small parts but who behaves as if it were more grand.
• Derek Jacobi as Stuart Bixby, a former bar manager who has been in a relationship with Freddie for 48 years.
• Frances de la Tour as Violet Crosby, a close friend of Freddie and Stuart, who has designs on their neighbour Ash.
• Iwan Rheon as Ash Weston, Freddie and Stuart's handsome young neighbour whom they befriend after he moves into the flat upstairs.
• Marcia Warren as Penelope, a dotty old friend of Freddie and Stuart who has the tendency to become very confused over the simplest things.
• Philip Voss as Mason Thornhill, Freddie's often sharp-tongued brother.

Guest cast

Series 1

• Alexandra Roach as Chloe, Ash's vegan girlfriend ("Dinner Party")
• Hazel Douglas as Mildred, Stuart's mother ("Anniversary")

Series 2

• Celia Imrie as Lilian, Violet's sister ("Sister")
• Jack Ashton as Theo, the gym instructor ("Gym")
• Georgia King as Jess, Ash's new girlfriend ("Sister", "Ballroom")
• Alexandra Roach as Chloe, Ash's ex-girlfriend ("Stag Do")
• Samuel Barnett as Young Stuart ("Flatmates")
• Luke Treadaway as Young Freddie ("Flatmates")
• Michael Cochrane as Jasper ("Wedding")
• Joan Linder as Mildred, Stuart's mother ("Wedding")

Episodes

Series 1 (2013)

Christmas Special (2013)

Series 2 (2015)

Special (2016)

A one-off special has been confirmed by ITV and is expected to air in 2016, with the episode being recorded on Tuesday 22nd and Wednesday 23rd December 2015. It will be the show's final episode. ^[7]

Broadcast

Vicious premiered on 29 April 2013^[3] and garnered 5.78 million viewers. The first series ended on 10 June 2013, and was released on DVD on 20 November 2013.^[8][9] On 23 August 2013, it was confirmed that Vicious had been renewed for a second series, which began airing on 1 June 2015 and concluded on 6 July 2015.^[10]

Starting in late June 2014, the first series began airing in the United States on various PBS stations.^[11]

It was confirmed in December 2015 that the series would be ending in 2016 with a Final Special. The special was filmed at The London Studios on the 22nd and 23rd of December 2015.

Reception

Vicious was met with generally positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reports an 80% "Fresh" rating based on ten reviews which are all from American critics in 2014.

Keith Watson of Metro wrote a favourable review, calling Vicious "nostalgic fun".^[12]

Christopher Stevens of the Daily Mail also wrote a favourable review, calling McKellen and Jacobi "the Steptoe & Son of the gay and Thespian community".^[13]

Morgan Jeffery of Digital Spy wrote a mixed review, finding the show an "uncomfortable blend of coarse humour and '70s sitcom-style cosiness".^[14] Describing the script as "lazy", he thought that the show couldn't "decide if it wants to be edgy and rude or traditional fun for all the family", but praised the "strong" cast, ultimately awarding the series two out of five stars.^[14]

Kevin O'Sullivan of the Sunday Mirror called it a "horrible half-hour of 1970s-style net curtain cosiness" in a negative review of ITV's Monday night comedy offerings.^[15] In a 29 April 2013 review in the Telegraph, Benjamin Secher claimed it is "the least funny new comedy in recent memory", giving it 1 out of 5 stars. He also wrote that "the script fell disastrously flat".^[16] Writing in the London Evening Standard, Brian Sewell described the series as "a spiteful parody that could not have been nastier had it been devised and written by a malevolent and recriminatory heterosexual".^[17]

DVD release

The first series of Vicious was released on DVD in the UK on 20 November 2013 by 4DVD. The second series was released on 13 July 2015. Neither release contains the 2013 Christmas special which remains unreleased on DVD in the UK so far (though it is available on the North American release).

References

External links

• Vicious at the British Comedy Guide
• Vicious title sequence on Vimeo
• Official Twitter page
• Vicious at the Internet Movie Database