Brief Encounter

Been loving the DVD boxset of her show. I hear Mrs Merton and Malcolm is due out in November - great stuff. Any other fans?

davidb

i liked mrs merton and malcolm but i remember at the time it was given rough time by the critics .didnt caroline ahern take it to heart ? has she performed as mrs merton again ? anyway she bounced back with the royle family but im afraid what i seen of it wasnt my cup of tea

Jackdaw

Very clever woman - though I preferred her on Radio 5 before it became Live!, when she used to do an agony aunt routine on Martin Kelner's show.
Very funny.

Steve Crook

Did she ever do better than this classic?

Steve

MrSpecialPants

I seem to remember that Mrs Merton and Malcolm was condemned by some, ridiculously, for mocking mental illness because of the Malcolm character and either Caroline Aherne or the beeb wouldn't make a second series, a terrible shame, I look forward to its release on DVD.

davidb

that was it ,she took it to heart . it was ridiculous

MB

To be fair, though, Caroline Aherne never has a problem with dishing out the most scathing of remarks - but cannot take it back...it is an odd take on things..

I think she is funny, but it really struck me that she simply was not strong enough to cope with the persona she gives off. She was nearly in tears on one programme where Jonathon Ross had a dig at her for getting off with his married brother at a party and yet she runs everyone else in to the ground for their percieved failings.

Oh my god , I've got to do some work!

bhowells

Martin Kelner, a good broadcaster Jackdaw. I remember him doing a show on Radio Two on Saturday nights, he also used to stand in for some of the other jocks.

bhowells

Yes, I remember the concerns that some folk had that they have been making fun of mental illness.

Brian Murphey coming around for his cosy chats with Mrs M was one of the best things in the show for me. He used to say something like,"ee, I dont know," which would have surely have become a bit of a catchphrase if a furthter series had been made.

bhowells

I loved the elderly people who were in the audience on the Mrs Meton chat show, I think Aherne knew a lot of these people. It was always sad to hear an announcement after the programme to the effect that one of them had died.

Mr Pastry Time

Only one I liked of her was with Bernard Manning.... Bernard on top form.

Brief Encounter

Yes, earlier I watched one with an epitaph at the end for Ada Hutchinson. Throughout the first series, Mrs M repeatedly asks Ada what she thinks. (Ada generally looks bemused). I think Bernard is brilliant, hopefully he doesn't die?!

Of course she always refers to 'my friend Lily', who I am guessing never appears!

bhowells

Thanks for reminding me abut Bernard I couldnt think of the chaps name.

Cheers
B.H,

Dai Bando

Thanks for the Debbie McGee clip Steve it must rate amongst my top 10 comedy moments.

Loved Mrs Merton and the Royle family, think Caroline Ahern is very underrated. She did a programme in which she travelled to India or something to help children, she came across as a lovely person. But I think all geniuses suffer with their emotions.

MB

Caroline Ahern is probably the most important female satirists we have had..but..how she has used it is interesting re satire in itself…
I don’t know the woman from Adam and I hope it is Ok to express this opinion on a forum. Feel free to delete it if it isn’t..But, during the time of her success, I happened to be studying satire and noticed a few interesting similarities with what was going on with her and what I was reading…

There was clearly something wrong – and connected with her success too …she was deeply troubled throughout that period..she tried to commit suicide at the heighth of her success. Every time a new series of Mrs Merton or the Malcolm series came out, she would plunge in to a horrific depression without fail. Obviously this wasn’t entirely due to her career, but she was clearly a pained individual making a career out of being risqué and I don’t think she always coped with those feelings.

Perhaps she is a ‘decent’ person…perhaps that is, partly, what’s wrong…it’s interesting that she was so drawn to charity work and felt the need to pull a series because of a few comments..

Satire – picking part, highlighting, mimicking the traits of others is a necessary part of human society. It is something we have always done and is present in the animal world too..
It helps us to make sense of others, maintain balance within a social group and expose hypocrisy etc.
So, from that point of view – it’s a positive thing…and most people recognise that.

The Royle Family was an excellent example of positive social satire..it gave that bloody awful ‘Bread’ (with a similar theme) a decade earlier a good kick up the arse…because it was a well rounded and truthful but without malice (obvious or implied...) It was understanding rather than casting judgement.

However, some people, through design, malice or simply not understanding…use ‘satire’ to an oppressive end…

It’s a fine balance – but the easiest way of looking at it is to look at the balance of power…if someone is laughing at a person who is in some way in a weakened position..what can be gained from that? So why is it positive?

I think Caroline Ahern is someone who finds they can paint, but doesn’t understand the mechanics…she knows that saying the unsayable gets a laugh..but I don’t think she could pick it apart and tell you why or what is ‘OK’ or what ‘isn’t. So she struggles with it and is as harsh on herself because that feels more ‘truthful’ and other people feel it is OK to be as harsh with her because they think, clearly, she thinks brutal ‘honesty’ is OK…but she couldn’t take it – at all..that’s all I was really saying..