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Monday 17 November 2014

Brian Capron in new sitcom Staff Room

Corrie fans seeking a Brian Capron fix will be delighted to hear he stars in a brand new online sitcom, Staff Room, which is available to view here, as well as on the Comedy Central website and Wildseed Comedy channel, from today.

Comprised of five episodes of between 8 and 10 minutes long, the sitcom revolves around the teaching staff of a Northern Secondary School, and in particular best friends Ian (Ryan McDermott) and Julian (Adam Brown) who spend a considerable amount of time getting into scrapes and failing to dodge their arch-nemesis Principal Kipling (Brian Capron) despite their best efforts and those of Ian’s love interest, the delightful Lucy Lucas (Zoe Lister).

The series is written and produced by Ryan and Adam, both from Manchester, and best friends in real life. Ryan, who also directs the series, and is a winner of the BBC 3 Funny Hunt award, and Adam, who DJs on Capital FM, are clearly a talented pair, and the series is a credit to both who also offer brilliant comic performances throughout.

Brian shines as panto villain Principal Kipling, a superficial, arrogant, self-perceived master manipulator whose vendetta against both Ian and Julian, and attempts to exert control over any situation possible, make for hilarious viewing. There are glimmers of Richard Hillman’s menace, but its exaggeration in a comedy context is a great source of humour.

The strong supporting cast includes Rupert Hill, who Corrie fans will recall played the part of Jamie Baldwin; Tina Malone and Rebecca Atkinson (Shameless); Alice Barlow (Benidorm); Archie Kelly (Phoenix Nights); and a cameo from Pat Sharp as himself.

One might envisage that the short format could be something of a challenge for any programme maker, but this has certainly not posed any problems for Ryan and Adam who have managed to pack an impressive amount of content into each episode, and have succeeded in appropriating all the great features of a modern sitcom, including a grounded thread of continuity across the entire series. Indeed, the depth of character is such that I found it quite remarkable how well I felt I knew each of them after just a few minutes. Ryan and Adam have embraced the episode lengths by ensuring they are suitably fast paced and snappy, and this, combined with great performances, and a sharp script which offers genuine laugh out loud moments, makes this very enjoyable viewing and is a promising indicator of the quality to be found in fresh, new comedy.

(You can read my full review of Staff Room here) 

By Emma Hynes
Twitter: @ELHynes

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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for that, Emma, really fun and funny!

GRITTY SAGAS BY CORRIE BLOG EDITOR GLENDA YOUNG, PUBLISHED BY HEADLINE. CLICK PIC BELOW!

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