"Having It Off" (2002) TV series

Writers:

Antony Cotton (writer)
Sarah Moffett (writer)

Seasons:

1

Release Date:

4 July 2002 (UK)

Genre:

Comedy

Cast

Frances Barber

...

April Summers (6 episodes, 2002)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Australia:M

Company:

Red Production Company

Bitchy brilliance.

I don't need to go into how deplorable British situation comedy has become; suffice to say, it's bad. I'm not exaggerating in the slightest. Only a handful of series have actually been able to capture that certain something a comedy needs to make it work. Sitcoms come and go, but sometimes, a show comes along relatively unnoticed, but manages to wipe the floor with all the competition. Having It Off is exactly that. A breezy, positively venomous series that was both outrageous and brilliant. It wasn't perfect, but it's flaws made it all the more special. Not one episode passed by without raising a laugh, something that your average comedy often struggles with. Unfortunately, it disappeared as quickly as it appeared, likely never to be seen again. Given the right exposure, this could have been huge. Still, its nice to reminisce on what was, for one brief moment, a delicious series.

Having It Off told the story of life at a run-down hair salon in the north of England, and the staff that inhabited it. Guy La Trousse was a monster of a character, a bitchy, nasty man obsessed with making it big one day. His life revolved around men, cigarettes and money, and thoroughly revelled in his selfishness. His attempts to make the salon a success were often thwarted by April Summers, the salon owner's wife. To call April a slut would be too easy (and a bit of an understatement). April wanted sex, sex and a great deal more sex, pouring herself into outrageous outfits and using her sexual prowess to entice any man that happened to be in her path. Guy and April loathed each other, and much of the comedy was wrought from their almost legendary slanging matches. The rest to the cast could easily have become walking props when put against the two leads, but they did make an impression when needed. You had Jolene, a portly woman with a deep love for all things from the Deep South, and ran her beauty parlour above the salon to the vocals of Dolly Parton. Phillippa, Guy's only real friend, was a quiet, timid woman, forever unlucky in love and trying to talk Guy through some of his more manic moments. David was the token cute young guy, who was desperately trying to escape April's ample charms and hopefully win the heart of fellow hairdresser Kylie. Kylie was weird. There's no other word for it. She was as stupid as one person could possibly be, but evil with it. A pretty lethal combination, if you ask me. Since the series was rooted in the rich characterisation of its players, it was natural that the plots were usually ridiculous and structured poorly, but when you're faced with characters like these, you really didn't have time to care.

Frances Barber and Antony Cotton worked miracles as April and Guy, one of the best comedy duos since Edina and Patsy. Sarah Moffett was one of the weaker performers, but didn't let Jolene disappear from view. Caroline Pegg did wonders with Phillippa, a truly thankless part in a show of this nature. Given barely any good lines, she shone regardless. William Ash was gorgeous, but even that couldn't stop David from being completely dull at times. Angel Coulby fared better as Kylie, making her endearing in spite of the character's often baffling personality. But the one reason that some of the performers didn't set the screen alight was that they played people that were just too nice. You didn't want to see Phillippa comforting Guy after another argument, you wanted to see April seducing men and making a complete spectacle of herself. Forget David confessing to Jolene about how April was after him, bring on Guy letting rip on some poor, unsuspecting customer. It was the nastiness of the whole affair that made it excellent. Not often do you find yourselves loving some of the most unsavoury and unapologetic characters ever cooked up. Now that's something to remember. Having It Off will probably never return, although I really do hope that it will be given another chance. Something this good deserves the opportunity to go far, but don't hold your breath. If you missed it, you really did miss out.