List of Joking Apart episodes
This is a list of television episodes from the British television sitcom Joking Apart. Joking Apart was produced by Andre Ptaszynski for independent production company Pola Jones and screened on BBC2. All 12 episodes across two series were written by Steven Moffat and directed by Bob Spiers. The pilot was transmitted as part of its Comic Asides series of pilot shows on 12 July 1991. The first episode of the series was transmitted on 7 January 1993, and the final transmitted on 7 February 1995.
The show is about the rise and fall of a relationship, juxtaposing a couple, Mark (Robert Bathurst) and Becky (Fiona Gillies), who meet and fall in love before getting separated and finally divorced. The show is semi-autobiographical, being inspired by the then-recent separation of Moffat and his first wife.[1][2] Some of the first series followed a non-linear dual structure, contrasting the rise of the relationship with the separation. Other episodes were ensemble farces, predominantly including the couple's friends Robert (Paul Raffield) and Tracy (Tracie Bennett). Paul-Mark Elliott also appeared as Trevor, Becky's lover.
Scheduling problems meant that the show attracted low viewing figures. However, it scored highly on the Appreciation Index and accrued a loyal fanbase. One fan acquired the home video rights from the BBC and released both series on his own DVD label.[3]
Series
All episodes were released on DVD in the UK between 2006 and 2008 by Replay DVD. The release is notable because a fan bought the rights from 2Entertain, BBC Worldwide's DVD interest, and released it on his own independent label.[2] Craig Robins put up £30,000 of his own money to buy the rights and produced the series one disc.[4] As a professional videotape editor, Robins was able to restore and author the disc himself, using a piece of freeware to transcribe the dialogue for the subtitles.[2]
| Series | Episodes | Originally aired | DVD Release | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Release date | Discs | Extra features | ||||
| 1 | 6 | 1993 | 29 May 2006 | 1 | ||
| 2 | 6 | 1995 | 17 March 2008 | 2 | ||
Pilot
The pilot, directed by John Kilby, was filmed at Pebble Mill in Birmingham on 9–10 August 1990.[5] The stand-up sequences were shot against a black background. Although this made it clearer that they were not "real", Moffat thought that it looked odd.[6] The pilot was transmitted on BBC2 as part of its Comic Asides series of pilot shows on 12 July 1991.[5] It is included on the bonus disc on the second series DVD release.
| Episode # | Original airdate | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| Pilot | 12 July 1991 | Mark accidentally arrives at a funeral, where he meets Becky. The narrative jumps forward in time to their marriage, in which they have a healthy sexual relationship. Mark fails to recognise that the relationship is deteriorating, as Becky becomes annoyed at his constant jokes and his sarcasm towards her friends. As she arrives home, unaware that her friends are hiding around the house for a surprise birthday party, Becky announces to Mark that she wants a divorce. |
Series 1
The first series has been broadcast twice on BBC2, first in early 1993. It was repeated in late spring 1994 to lead directly into the transmission of the second series, which was scheduled to be broadcast from June 1994.
The first episode is practically identical to thepilot; some scenes are even reused, notably the scene with Mark and Becky meeting when he accidentally turns up at a funeral. The reused footage gave rise to the first episode's shared director credit between Spiers and John Kilby.[7]
| Episode number | Original airdate | Repeat | # | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 January 1993 | 5 May 1994 | 1 | ||
| Mark accidentally arrives at a funeral, where he meets Becky. The narrative jumps forward in time to their marriage, in which they have a healthy sexual relationship. Mark fails to recognise that the relationship is deteriorating, as Becky becomes annoyed at his constant jokes and his sarcasm towards her friends. As she arrives home, unaware that her friends are hiding around the house for a surprise birthday party, Becky announces to Mark that she wants a divorce. | |||||
| 2 | 14 January 1993 | 12 May 1994 | 2 | ||
| The story continues directly into episode two, when Robert and Tracy return to the flat to check on Mark after his wife's departure. The three recall the circumstances in which they had first met. We are shown Becky and Mark's first date, and then going back to her flat. While she is in the bathroom, he strips down to his boxer shorts and handcuffs himself to the bedpost. Unable to free himself, Robert and Tracy walk in on him. | |||||
| 3 | 21 January 1993 | 19 May 1994 | 3 | ||
| Mark arrives at Robert and Tracy's house on the wrong night for a dinner party. The couple are entertaining that night, but are instead expecting Becky and her new boyfriend Trevor. Hopeful of a reconciliation, Mark assumes that his friends are trying to smooth things over between them. They spend the evening trying to keep Mark and Trevor apart, each not knowing that the other is also there. | |||||
| 4 | 28 January 1993 | 26 May 1994 | 4 | ||
| Mark recalls the time he proposed to Becky. | |||||
| 5 | 5 February 1993 | 2 June 1994 | 5 | ||
| When Mark returns Robert's mobile telephone, he ends up in bed with Tracy. | |||||
| 6 | 11 February 1993 | 9 June 1994 | 6 | ||
| Mark takes a drunken woman back to his flat. The series ends with Becky and Trevor, and Robert and Tracy reconciling their relationships and Mark being left alone. | |||||
Series 2
The format was changed for this series, with the dual timelines and much of the flashbacks dropped for a more linear narrative.[8] Moffat felt that the relationship had already been sufficiently established in the first series so there was little point going back to the start.[9]
Robert and Tracy are given more stories than in the first series.[8] Their main story arc begins in the third episode when Robert is caught by all of the main characters and his parents in a maid's outfit being spanked by a prostitute.[10] The couple temporarily separate while Robert experiments with cross-dressing, but they are reunited by the end of the series.
| Episode number | Original airdate | # | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 January 1995 | 7 | |||
| Set six months after the end of series one, Mark meets Becky in a newsagents where he is purchasing pornographic magazines. He discovers the location of Becky and Trevor's house and breaks in using Tracy's keys. However, he is forced to hide under the bed when Becky and Trevor return home. Listening to them having sex, he becomes optimistic when he thinks that Becky begins to shout his name ("M..."). The name turns out to be "Michael" (Tony Gardner), Becky's solicitor with whom she is now cheating on Trevor.[11] | |||||
| 2 | 10 January 1995 | 8 | |||
| Concerned that Becky is now cheating on him, Trevor visits Mark. Mark's psychiatrist (John Fortune), Robert and Tracy become convinced that Mark has enacted his fantasies of killing Trevor. | |||||
| 3 | 17 January 1995 | 9 | |||
| Becky and Mark meet in a pub to discuss their separation. They encounter Robert, who Mark sees buying condoms from the toilets. As their friend seems to be acting strange, Becky and Mark follow him, discovering that he has been visiting a prostitute (Diane Langton). | |||||
| 4 | 24 January 1995 | 10 | |||
| Mark acquaints himself with his new neighbour (Nina Young), who remarks that she has recently had a bad experience with a man. After locking himself out of his flat and trapping his bath towel in his door, Mark is forced to hide naked in his neighbour's flat. In preparation for his aunt's (Barbara Keogh) arrival from Australia, Mark convinces Becky to pretend that they had not separated. | |||||
| 5 | 31 January 1995 | 11 | |||
| Concussed after being punched by his neighbour's brother at the end of the previous episode, Mark awakes to find that he is able to have a conversation with a part of his anatomy (Kerry Shale). | |||||
| 6 | 7 February 1995 | 12 | |||
| The final episode begins after Becky and Michael had slept together while house sitting for Tracy and Robert, and Michael hides in the bathroom when the latter couple return. Tracy phones a morning television phone-in show (hosted by Michael Thomas and Helen Atkinson-Wood, with appearances by Rachael Fielding and Jonathan Barlow), and when she realises that the show's divorce expert is hiding in her bathroom she takes on his role (with a heavy Northern accent) to give herself advice on the other line. | |||||
References
- ^ Sternbergh, Adam (2003-09-07). "Selling Your Sex Life". New York Times. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ a b c Kibble-White, Graham (May 2006). ""Fool If You Think It's Over"". Off the Telly. Retrieved 2006-12-22.
- ^ Jarvis, Shane (2006-05-08). "Farce that rose from the grave". The Telegraph. Retrieved 2007-03-01.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Steven Moffat (2006-07-03). (Interview). Interviewed by Mark Lawson.
{{cite interview}}: Check date values in:|date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help); Unknown parameter|callsign=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|city=ignored (|location=suggested) (help); Unknown parameter|program=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|subjectlink=ignored (|subject-link=suggested) (help) - ^ a b Gallagher, William. "Joking Apart", Inlay booklet, Series 2 DVD, ReplayDVD.
- ^ Fool if You Think It's Over, featurette, Joking Apart, Series 1 DVD, Dir. Craig Robins
- ^ "Comparing the Pilot and Episode One". jokingapart.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-02-13.
- ^ a b Packer, Charles. "Joking Apart: The Complete Second Series". Sci-fi Online. Retrieved 2008-03-30.
- ^ "In Conversation: Steven Moffat, Part 3". jokingapart.co.uk. Retrieved 2007-04-03.
- ^ wr. Steven Moffat, dir. Bob Spiers (1995-01-17). "Series 2, Episode 3". Joking Apart. Season 2. Episode 3. BBC 2.
- ^ wr. Steven Moffat, dir. Bob Spiers (1995-01-03). "Series 2, Episode 1". Joking Apart. Season 2. Episode 1. BBC 2.
External links
- Joking Apart Unofficial Site, with episode guides and extended interviews with Moffat and Bathurst
- Joking Apart at IMDb
