Black Books (TV Series) He's Leaving Home (2000) User Reviews

Nice ending.

[CursedChico · 9/10 · 9 November 2020]

Nice ending.

Manny left but came back, bernard welcome him nicely.

Police thought they were searching their child. It was funny.

They will be together again. Cosy and nice people despite bernard is trouble.

Manny went to casino but still left his job :) it is interesting.

For season 1:

After finishing deadwood season 1, I moved to season 1 of black books. I watch series season by season.

I did not read anything about series. Just looked at the year and how many seasons it had and genre and decided to watch :)

I will edit this after finishing season 1.

It was quick. I did not know it was sitcom, it was from UK also. But I enjoyed it mostly. It is nice playing.

He's Leaving Home

[Prismark10 · 6/10 · 25 March 2021]

Shades of Midnight Cowboy as Manny leaves the bookshop. He has had enough of Bernard's ranting and raving.

Fran misses Manny and even goes to the police. Bernard does not care less.

Manny alone, penniless has an adventure of his own. He meets Trebor, a photographer and he likes beards.

Trebor is going to make Manny a star but there is a price to pay and Manny may have to cash his chips.

The first series continues in its daft and slightly misanthropic way. David Walliams makes a brief cameo.

Season 1: Creatively daft and funny for it

[bob the moo · 21 April 2010]

It has been years since I watched Black Books and recent so-so shows made me decide to come back to it and take another look. The basic plot is that Bernard owns a bookshop opposite the gadget shop of his friend Fran. When his accountant goes on the run from the police, Bernard is forced to take in former accountant Manny (who brings a sense of calm to the shop thanks to his body having absorbed a copy of the Little Book of Calm). When this calm wears off Bernard finds that Manny is just another annoyance in a world of irritations that include customers, hygiene and social niceties.

I remembered this show being hilarious back when I first watched it and my first observation on watching season 1 is that it is not the laugh-a-second comedy I remembered, even if it is still very funny. The show is daft across the whole season, starting with Manny digesting the book of calm and continuing in the same vein throughout the season. It is daft but it manages to work because of a couple of factors. First and foremost it is creative so that the "daftness" has intelligence and wit behind it rather than just daftness for daftness sake like some deliberately "wacky" shows – this is much more in the style of Father Ted, The IT Crowd and the like. If you like that sort of thing then Black Books will please you in its content, if they just strike you as daft then perhaps not.

The cast make it work with their delivery. Moran's stand-up has calmed over the years but here he is at his "wild drunken" best in his character, hilariously impatient with everyone and everything. Bailey does his own odd routine here and he is equally funny, playing a different character from Moran but one that varies the type of laugh. Greig is the third wheel due to how good these two are but she carries herself well and produces laughs too. The supporting cast has a lot of famous faces – although my memory can't tell me if they were big then or have moved into the heart of British comedy in the time since. Frost, Djalili, Eldon, Serafinowicz and others all do nice turns along with Linehan himself in a few small cameos.

Black Books is not quite as good as Father Ted but still a very enjoyable sitcom thanks to the witty and creative daftness which is well delivered by the lead trio.