Men Behaving Badly Volume 2: Unabridged. Starring Martin Clunes, Neil Morrissey, Leslie Ash & Caroline Quentin v. 2 (Penguin Audio Comedy)

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One of the most successful comedy series of the 1990s, Men Behaving Badly could easily have been a mere footnote in sitcom history. It failed to attract a sizeable audience in its original incarnation on ITV, and despite the replacement of a miscast Harry Enfield with Neil Morrissey in the second series, it still did not develop a loyal following. Success only came when the programme moved to the BBC and--crucially--a later time-slot, allowing writer Simon Nye a much freer rein in depicting the less savoury aspects of his characters.

This audio cassette takes four episodes from the fourth series, and consists of the soundtracks to the original shows. In "Babies", Dorothy (Caroline Quentin) worries that Gary (Martin Clunes) is too immature to be the father of her child; "Infidelity" sees Gary struggling to remain incognito as he places Dorothy under surveillance; in "Pornography", Tony (Neil Morrissey) struggles to convince his new girlfriend that his top-shelf magazines are harmless fun; and in "Three Girlfriends" Tony finds that juggling relationships can be tricky, while Gary suffers through a visit from his father.

Listening to these recordings, it quickly becomes clear just how well-scripted the series was--even without any visual element, there are very few jokes that fall flat. While many TV comedy series would falter without the fall-back of physical humour, here the restrictions of the format serve only to showcase the sharply observed characters, and the uncannily accurate observation of both male and female existence. Although the antics of the two flatmates are clearly at the centre of the series, the success of Men Behaving Badly is at least partly due to the way in which it constantly undermines its own "laddish" perspective. While Gary and Tony are often very funny, the joke is more often than not at their expense--yet the humour remains good-natured enough for us to laugh without worrying too much about the target of our laughter. --John Oates