Review of The Magnificent Evans

Sadly neither the usually brilliant performances of Mr. Barker nor the writing skills of Mr. Clarke could save this lackluster time-waster. Roy Clarke shows his all-too-talentless side in the writing of this dreary throwaway comedy. Most of the humour is of the predictable variety with the standard jokes delivered by an aging and unenthusiastic Ronnie Barker. Every episode does and will contain the signature line.."But I have my own apartment' harking back to the 70's comedies that made sex a 4 letter word. Unfortunately, a decade later SHOULD have updated that comedy crutch....but it hasn't. Take away the not very good Welsh accent and we see Arkwright of Open All Hours without the clever counterpoint of David Jason. One could blame Barker for his poor performance but I feel most of the failure lies with the mail-in jokes which lower the quality to nothing more than just another. All in all this is a very forgettable wannabee comedy that had great promise and a great setting.....but not what it needed most.....good writing.