"Rab C. Nesbitt" Touch (1993)

User Rating:

8.4/10   

Director:

Colin Gilbert

Writer:

Ian Pattison (written by)

TV Series:

"Rab C. Nesbitt" (1990)

Original Air Date:

25 November 1993 (Season 3, Episode 2)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Breaking The Fourth Wall | Character Name In Title

Cast

Gregor Fisher	...	Rab C. Nesbitt
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Andy Gray	...	Friel
David Tennant	...	Davina

A particular genre of comedy, but essential for David Tennant fans

I really dislike what I have seen of this series. It is a kind of comedy that does not 'travel' well at all, in my opinion, either in time or across national or regional boundaries. It is painfully unsubtle: way too broad, full of rather grotesque characters, and its assault on 'political correctness', which I would normally applaud, and loudly, I found to be often just coarse. This is a TV series that will be found side-splitingly hilarious by some and excruciatingly unfunny by others. That said, the main characters have a reality about them and the performers are usually top-rank and many do their jobs excellently. The setting is effective and the plot scenarios are reasonably workable. As this is a David Tennant board, I will concentrate my remarks on his role as 'Davina', the barmaid. He is sensational. Let there be no mistake about this, nor a sliver of doubt lurking in the corners of anyone's minds. David Tennant, even at an absurdly young age - 22 or 23 - was able to turn in a mature, sensitively nuanced and brilliantly comic performance as the transsexual barmaid, Davina, in this working class Scottish pub,and he is wonderful. Very funny, but in a way that is more restrained and less 'panto' than the often OTT performances of some of the other pub characters. Plus, Costume decreed that Tennant be dressed and made-up like an attractive, if rather conservative, late 20-something woman, and - dammit - he looks far better and more attractive than many women I can think of, despite, in one scene, having his bra hiked up at an angle that any real woman would find excruciating uncomfortable! The punch line in the piece is all Tennant and he delivers magnificently. An often too obvious and, less often funny, script is, at this point, in the hands of a skillful and talented young actor who happens to be very gifted in a variety of acting genres including comedy, making Tennant's final scenes pure magic. I may not want to watch this episode again, but I am glad I did see it once, for Tennant's defining role. This is one actor who has shown great promise since he began in the profession and is worth watching now and in the future, as he grows in maturity as a performer and interpreter.