King Gary fails to do anything with its observations of suburbia (original) (raw)

The second series of King Gary reintroduced us to Tom Davis as brash, new-moneyed geezer Gary King and his fiancée Terri (Laura Checkley). Still trying to rule the roost of their suburban Essex cul-de-sac, they are preparing to get hitched which, in the first episode, involved gatecrashing other weddings to offer up their critiques to unsuspecting couples.

Created by Davis and James De Frond, King Gary was supposedly made with the aim of bringing a working-class voice to British sitcoms, finding humour in the class tensions that come with social mobility.

There is much to mock about the competitive nature of suburbia – the pettiness, the minor gripes, the obstinate grudges – and it is more than possible to make a comedy where not much happens. Just look at The Royle Family or This Country.

But King Gary fails to do anything especially interesting with its observations of life’s little grievances, like a missing bin or cats using the garden as a toilet.

The two central storylines, revolving around Gary becoming obsessed with a skip he’s hired and Terri’s burgeoning Etsy candle business, could each have been throwaway jokes in a more accomplished script, and neither had satisfactory punchlines.

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There just weren’t enough laughs, with jokes relying on shouting and repetition which quickly got tired. The characters are likable and there’s nothing wrong with a bit of broad comedy but with a cast that includes Simon Day, Romesh Ranganathan and Neil Maskell, King Gary was operating well below par.

It probably says it all that I spent most of the episode trying to work out who the wedding singer in the opening scene was. Turns out she’s the same woman who went viral in 2020 for singing “Shallow” in a Tube station. Good for her.

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