Clare In The Community Series 1, Episode 5 - Combat Zone - British Comedy Guide (original) (raw)

Brian is giving Clare driving lessons. They get stranded after the car runs out of petrol.

Further details

Christmas Day is closing in and Clare has already spoiled it for her sister's children by calling Santa a 'fascist stooge of parental authority'. Helen tries to give some Christmas cheer to the office but immediately stops the idea after using Ray's paperwork to decorate the tree.

Brian begins to give Clare driving lessons and it isn't long before they start to argue. Megan is with them in the car and she tells Brian that he has patience and authority, showing that they have a strong liking of each other.

At the office, Helen is complaining that Ray is becoming lethargic and that she doesn't want to sit next to him at the office Christmas dinner. At the restaurant, Clare's colleagues wait for her, but she doesn't arrive as she is having a driving lesson with Brian. Megan seems to be more worried about where Brian is than Clare. The battery on Clare's phone runs out and the car runs out of petrol and they both become stranded in the middle of nowhere.

Having to take shelter in a nearby pub, the 'Pack of Cards', a local offers Clare his phone to call a garage. He invites Clare to a game of pool and Brian sits at the bar, stuck with an intimidating tattooed man called 'Spider'. Clare, some hours later, arrives at the restaurant, and has to borrow £400 from her colleagues to pay the locals after losing to pool, because Brian has been kept at the pub as a hostage.

The morning after, Christmas Day, Clare and Brian wake to the sound of the church bells. Clare tells Brian that to her Christmas has lost its originality of mankind and goodwill and that it has changed into a capitalist feeding frenzy and facile self-indulgence. It is at this point Brian realises that Clare has forgot to get him a Christmas present.

Broadcast details

Date

Friday 24th December 2004

Time

11:30am

Channel

BBC Radio 4

Length

30 minutes

Cast & crew

Cast

Guest cast

Writing team

Production team