Overrated and overhyped

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Its being around 22 years since the show first aired seems a long time. But we haven't forgotten tight arsed sally Smedley, anchor man Henry Davenport and general shag merchant Dave Charnley. We remember Alex paites who buggered off to the 'high classed' beeb and Helen Cooper and no one can forget the one man chemist which is George Dent and the jargon talking bullock brain hands off executive which is Gus Hedges and we will not forget Joy Merry-weather ( That is what she told me to put BEWARE) and they are all under the watchful eye of their megalomaniac Proprietor Sir Royston Merchant Best mates with Rupert Murdoch and the human torpedo Robert Maxwell

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....

The only reason that some people might perceive this as dated, is that it used topical news as part of the programme. It shows up today's politicians as the same old slippery critters they were in the early 90s. Part of the joy of this series, was the incidental personal comedy. Gus sitting in his burnt out office, refusing to accept that Sir Royston Merchant had had the place torched as an insurance job, George's depressive monologues about his family problems and health issues, Alex trying to point out to her mother that due to the fuel crisis, filling the garden pond with petrol might be a bad idea, Sally's Norse Warrior, Dave and Damien, essentially little boys who won't grow up, Joy's wrathful young amazon (Girl Power, long before the silly pop group espoused the idea), Helen trying to maintain calm and function in an increasingly difficult atmosphere as the station crumbles around her. This programme stands up today, because despite the politics being fifteen years old, it is still fresh and resonates with office workers in the stressed out Noughties.

Channel 4's 'Drop The Dead Donkey' was a classic sitcom set in an office that managed to be funny without any assistance whatever from Ricky Gervais. It centred around the day-to-day goings on at 'GlobeLink', a television news station owned by the mysterious Sir Roysten Merchent. Staff fears that the news will be dumbed down are confirmed when Sir Royston hires as its new anchorwoman the pretty but vacuous Sally Smedley. Immediately she clashes with veteran anchorman Henry Davenport, who calls her "Tightarse". Then there's the appalling Gus Hedges, fluent in two languages - English and rubbish. "Let me drop some descaler into your think-tank." is one of his many favourite sayings. And Joy Merryweather, a woman so bad-tempered as to be borderline psychotic. The show won plaudits at the time for being recorded close to transmission, so as to enable the writers to be topical in their humour. Unfortunately, this has resulted in the show now looking dated.'Drop' had the good fortune to be running during the dark days of the last Conservative administration, when John Major was in Downing Strret. The endless procession of political mistakes, cash and sex scandals were a godsend to Hamilton and Jenkin. One episode cast Stephen Moore as a thinly-disguised Steve Norris. However, the final series went out after Tony Blair's 1997 election win, and came across as strangely muted. 'GlobeLink' was finally closed down to make way for a home shopping channel. A mercy killing. 'Drop' was immeasurably funnier than 'The Office', and why it is not as well regarded is a mystery.