Jimmy Nail's Parents Of The Band on BBC 1
Comeback Show Fails to Live Up to Nail Classics Like Crocodile Shoes
Dec 4, 2008
Jimmy Nail returns to the small screen in his first TV series since 1995’s Crocodile Shoes, slightly older and now going for comedy rather than drama. Not only is Nail the co-creator of the series (with his old Crocodile Shoes collaborator Tarquin Gotch), he is an executive producer and even co-wrote the theme tune with Gary Kemp. Script editors Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais have a long history of working with Nail, including the series Auf Wiedersehen Pet and Spender. So does this gathering of old friends mean Nail has got himself another hit? Judging from the first episode, the answer is alas no.
A Dad Who Can Do No Right
Nail plays former 80s one hit wonder Phil Parker, now earning a crust making furniture but still convinced he’s at the cutting edge of the current music scene. Much to the embarrassment of his teenage son Jack (Peter Losasso), Phil has taken an unhealthy interest in the band he and his friends are putting together. Dismissing the group they are basing themselves on, Deep Purple, as “dinosaur rubbish”, Phil rather bafflingly wants them to practice 96 Tears, a shriekingly middle-of-the-road 60s number by Question Mark and the Mysterians. Phil also borrows Eddie’s t-shirts (though how he can fit into them is the real mystery as he’s about six inches taller than his son) and chats up the mother of Jack’s band mate Eddie (David Barseghian).
How Will The Band Survive The Parents?
Nail is likable enough (although the goatee does him no favours) but the problem is he, like all the other parents, are merely two-dimensional stereotypes who neatly tick all the right boxes. Phil is recently separated from wife Marketa and is consequently after nearly anything in a skirt, and is of course trying far too hard to “bond” with Jack to make up for his mother’s absence. Eddie’s mother Sandy (Niky Wardley) is not merely a hairdresser but an “image consultant” – she’s single, Phil’s single, so naturally they must get together. Third band member Granville’s father is typical big shot lawyer Ashton (Colin McFarlane) who has never been to a parents’ evening or school play but suddenly finds plenty of time to stick his nose into the band’s business.
It’s also a bit puzzling why Parents of the Band is being shown in prime time, as the whole show seems better suited to the after-school slot to be viewed by teenagers who, like the boys in the band, are frequently embarrassed by their “of course I’m still with it” parents. The boys do their best, but with the focus on the parents they are given little to do except look sullen and eyeball the girls. The best thing about the show is the absence of canned laughter, seemingly obligatory for any BBC sitcom these days. Looks like a vanity project for Jimmy Nail, but the end product won’t do much for his ego.
