Robert Popper’s new semi-autobiographical sitcom made its debut on Channel Four tonight. Each episode of Friday Night Dinner is set around the weekly visit of brothers Adam and Jonny to their parents’ house for the weekly family meal. The series is blessed with an excellent cast and its gentle, slow-burning pace eventually proved rewarding.
The first episode saw dad Paul Ritter fretting about having to throw away his old copies of New Scientist and forgetting that a man (Matthew “Garth Marenghi” Holness) is coming to pick up their old sofabed, while mum Tamsin Greig worries about missing the Masterchef final. The two brothers (Simon Bird of The Inbetweeners and Tom Rosenthal) endured this while squabbling amongst themselves, while the fantastic Mark Heap did what he does best – playing an awkward, mumbling weirdo, in this case neighbour Jim who keeps coming in to use their toilet, as his own has somehow broken.
It was a good start and seems to be something of a grower. While it took a little while to get going, there were some very funny moments in the episode and I’m looking forward to seeing more of the eccentric Goodman family over the coming weeks.
Transmission 