Ideal - Sitcom Review

Ideal is a British black comedy/drama series created by Graham Duff and starring Johnny Vegas as Moz, a small time cannabis dealer living in Salford, Manchester. The series follows Moz’s life as a dealer and the array of characters he comes across on a day to day basis, from his best friend and supplier PC Phil Collins, his acquaintances Psycho Paul and Cartoon Head to his various clients and romantic interests. There’s surreal elements throughout the series and it mostly takes place in Moz’s flat, it was aired on BBC Three in 2005 and got cancelled in 2011, unfortunately and irritatingly it was cancelled mid-storyline which is both Graham Duff and the BBC’s fault, luckily the story doesn’t really matter.   

I’ve been meaning to watch Ideal for quite a while now, I like the premise and I’m a Johnny Vegas fan so I was sold right away but having just finished the complete series I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d hoped I would. Don’t get me wrong it’s definitely good and there were lots of great moments but there’s a lot of noise to sit through as well. First of all, I hated the endless fucking montages set to techno music or whatever music it would be, usually techno, and it just felt like a cheap way to fill time, comedy-wise they contributed very little and sonically it was a fucking ear ache, anytime the show bursts into a music montage I completely switch off. 

Secondly, I feel like this would have been a much better series had it been more grounded in reality, the surreal elements didn’t add a whole lot to the show in the way of humour and if anything I was less invested in the characters and the storyline as a result of them. I’m not saying they should have been taken out completely, the tone itself works but at a certain point they just took it too far and it felt redundant, the character Fist for example, there’s nothing funny about him and anytime the show cuts away to him it’s just annoying, what a pointless element to the series, it’s like they’re just trying to be ‘wacky’ for the sake of it, look how crazy we are!

There’s an overuse of catchphrases which is a characteristic of broad comedy, it’s cheap, it’s repetitive and it wasn’t really necessary, it’s not so bad that I would label this a broad comedy but it definitely stood out. I’m a big Sean Lock fan, he’s one of my favourite comedians and I knew he’d be in the show at some point so I was excited about it and I was anticipating him but he’s only in two episodes for a collective time of under two minutes which was extremely disappointing so if you too are watching for him, don’t bother just watch 15 Storeys High instead, it’s just especially annoying considering they put him on the fucking cover of the sixth season!   

I hated Nicki, Moz’s on and off Welsh girlfriend, I hated her to the point where there were a couple of times I had to mute the TV when she was speaking otherwise I’d have fucking thrown something at it, I didn’t enjoy her character in any way, there was nothing funny about her, the sound of her voice and the constant arrogant tone she took was disgusting to listen to and as a character she was a dirty piece of shit who never saw justice! A filthy fucking slag who thought she was better than everyone and treated everyone like shit while scrounging off them and expecting them to bend over backwards for her, I found nothing redeeming about her and I didn’t enjoy the character.  

I didn’t like any of the characters as people don’t get me wrong, they’re all dirty slags and fucking idiots but with Nicki it’s beyond enjoyment or entertainment for me, like I said I just wanted to turn the TV off when she was on screen. I liked a lot of the characters though, first and foremost Moz, I don’t think there’s anyone else on earth who could have played that role except Johnny Vegas, he was great! Then there’s Psycho Paul, Judith, Jenny, Craig, Colin Moz’s best mate and supplier Phil who’s also a policeman which makes for some great moments, I liked Brian who’s actually played by Graham Duff himself and I loved Troy, Moz’s golem like brother who lives in the closet.  

There’s a lot of great moments throughout the series I know this seems like more a negative review than a positive one but overall I enjoyed the show and I laughed quite a lot, there’s loads of little moments that cracked me up and it’s consistently funny so as a comedy I’d consider it a success but it also felt like a missed opportunity to make something really special, picture this premise with the grounded nature of something like The Office, in my mind if they took a similar direction to that it could have been a masterpiece but I suppose there’s something to be said for the spontaneity of Ideal, it’s free flowing nature is a part of it, what I’m basically saying is, I personally would have done it differently.   

I’d recommend Ideal, there’s 7 seasons and 53 episodes in total and probably a good 4 seasons worth of great material, maybe 5 and it’s also very much down to preference when it comes to my particular criticisms of which there are clearly many but it’s consistently funny enough and entertaining enough to give it a solid recommendation, Johnny Vegas works perfectly as the lead and outside the intrusive music montages it’s a comfortable watch, if you haven’t seen Ideal and you’re looking for a decent comedy series to sit through, give it a watch, I’m gonna give Ideal 7.1/10, I liked it but it wasn’t as good as I’d hoped it would be, I have extremely high standards though, but I’m also a realist, 7.1 sounds about right to me.

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