The Wright Way
| The Wright Way | |
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| File:The Wright Way.png
Title card
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| Genre | Comedy |
| Written by | Ben Elton |
| Directed by | Dewi Humphreys |
| Starring | David Haig Mina Anwar Luke Gell Toby Longworth Beattie Edmondson |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 6 (list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Gregor Sharp Lucy Ansbro |
| Producer(s) | Ben Elton Rohan Acharya |
| Production location(s) | Salford, Greater Manchester |
| Production company(s) | Phil McIntyre Television |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 23 April – 28 May 2013 |
| External links | |
| [www |
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The Wright Way is a British television sitcom written by Ben Elton which aired on BBC One in April–May 2013. It concerns a health and safety manager, his staff, and his family. Widely panned by critics, it was cancelled after only one series.[1]
Plot
The series centres around Gerald Wright (David Haig), manager of the health and safety department of the fictional Baselricky Council implied to be in Essex. Wright's team includes Malika Maha (Mina Anwar), Clive Beeches (Luke Gell), and Bernard Stanning (Toby Longworth). His family includes daughter Susan (Joanne Matthews) and her girlfriend Victoria (Beattie Edmondson), and ex-wife Valerie (Kacey Ainsworth).
Characters
- Gerald Wright – a middle aged divorcee who is the Chief Health and Safety officer for Baselricky Borough Council. He takes his job very seriously, and appears competent, although slightly melodramatic about the 'dangers' of everyday situations. His ex-wife Valerie left him after being married for over twenty years because she couldn't take his 'stick-to-the-rules' attitude any longer. He lives with his daughter Susan and her girlfriend Victoria. He appears to have taken the divorce quite badly, and Susan correctly deduces that his stress and melodrama over simple things is a mask to cover his grief at the end of his marriage. Also, although he clearly loves his only child Susan very much, he describes her coming out as a lesbian as a 'lifestyle bombshell' and he may secretly be slightly disappointed by his daughter's homosexuality. He argues a lot with Victoria, Susan's live-in girlfriend, but deep down he has grown to like her like a second daughter.
- Susan Wright – Gerald's 23-year-old daughter. Since the divorce of her parents and her mother moving out, the responsibility of running the house has fallen to Susan, and she is now responsible for food shopping, paying bills, working as a plumber and looking after her hopelessly incompetent father and girlfriend. She plays the 'straight man' in comparison to Gerald's buffoonish behaviour and Victoria's stupidity. However, she clearly loves her father very much, and is shown to be very much in love with Victoria, despite her being far less intelligent than Susan. Also, Susan is shown to care very much for her mother, and tries to make her see that her new Australian boyfriend Kyle is just using her for her divorce settlement money.
- Victoria – Susan's 19-year old, dippy girlfriend. She is a DJ, although she gets very little work and has been derogatorily nicknamed 'DJ No-Gigs' by people on the internet. She is considerably more posh than Susan and Gerald, yet she is clearly very much in love with Susan, and has even developed some affection for Gerald.
Production
The Wright Way (originally titled Slings and Arrows) was commissioned by BBC One Controller Danny Cohen and Controller of BBC Comedy Commissioning Cheryl Taylor.[2]
The series was filmed at the BBC's studios at MediaCityUK in Salford, Greater Manchester from January to March 2013.[2]
Episode list
| # | Title | Director | Writer | Original air date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "The Rogue Speed Bump" | Dewi Humphreys | Ben Elton | 23 April 2013 |
| 2 | "Conkers Bonkers" | Dewi Humphreys | Ben Elton | 30 April 2013 |
| 3 | "Lethal Swing Back" | Dewi Humphreys | Ben Elton | 7 May 2013 |
| 4 | "Concealed Sharp Objects" | Dewi Humphreys | Ben Elton | 14 May 2013 |
| 5 | "Curbing the Kerb" | Dewi Humphreys | Ben Elton | 21 May 2013 |
| 6 | "The Deadly Receptacle" | Dewi Humphreys | Ben Elton | 28 May 2013 |
Reception
Critics did not like the first episode.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] The second episode was heavily criticised by Tom Phillips in the New Statesman.[11] Adam Postans in The Mirror called it 'the worst sitcom ever'.[12]
References
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