The Wright Way

Continuing the domestic bliss/ tv theme, one programme I have not watched so far is The Wright Way. This is a situation comedy about somebody called Wright, as you might have imagined. It is written by the 1980s comedian Ben Elton. The show has already received a slagging from a couple of critics, largely for not being funny. I have yet to read a good review. It is on BBC One – and this, I think, is the point. Who else, other than the BBC, would commission a show from Ben Elton? Just as who would put Jeremy Hardy and Sandi Toksvig on air? Nobody, I suspect. I don’t dislike the work of these people because they are lefties, I dislike their work because it hasn’t ever been funny. (Although I suppose we should allow Ben some credit for his part in writing Blackadder.) The BBC seems to think it enough merely that they’re left wing and doesn’t mind that they’re not funny. Very strange.