\u201cDo you know, I never realised how utterly dreadful television is without chocolate,\u201d says Mark Heap\u2019s William Fendon as he settles down for a night\u2019s viewing without a treat to hand. And there may be moments in the slightly iffy early stages of Can You Keep a Secret? (BBC1) when even those on a January diet will feel inclined to reach for the Choco Leibniz.<\/p>\n
The writer Simon Mayhew-Archer\u2019s premise is that semi-reclusive William had a funny turn when he overdid his Parkinson\u2019s medication and is declared dead by the doctor. An even more unlikely-seeming clerical error at the local Somerset undertakers prompts his wife, Debbie (Dawn French, who has played Heap\u2019s wife before, in ITV1\u2019s The Trouble with Maggie Cole), to carry on with the ruse so that they can claim a whopping insurance payout. Matters are further complicated when the couple\u2019s son, Harry (Craig Roberts) \u2014 a gentle, doe-eyed foil to his eccentric parents \u2014 finds out. His wife, Neha (Mandip Gill), is a copper whose career would be over if she gets involved.<\/p>\n
Not that it really matters, but this isn\u2019t actually that far-fetched. Remember John Darwin, the \u201cCanoe Man\u201d? You could think of this as a comic retelling. Mayhew-Archer astutely leans into the weirdness and things get motoring when the couple are forced to deal with an anonymous blackmailer who has discovered the ruse. The jeopardy is rocket fuel for a series that, like Daisy May Cooper\u2019s brilliant Am I Being Unreasonable?, suggests a promising trend in British comedy for well-plotted shows with a meaningful narrative arc that cleverly dispenses with the obligation for a classic sitcom \u201creset\u201d every episode. <\/p>\n
Some of the gag-making could be a bit sharper and there is a running joke about a local eccentric called Pigfish who keeps putting a petrol pump up his rear end that is probably not as funny as the production team clearly think it is. The same can be said for Debbie\u2019s constant refrains about \u201cbroken Britain\u201d. But it\u2019s beautifully performed, with the always brilliant Heap showcasing his comic timing, physical skills and capacity to wring depth as well as hilarity from every line. I loved his marital advice to his son: \u201cJust do what generations of brave Fendons have done before you: grovel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 Read more TV reviews, guides about what to watch and interviews<\/a><\/p>\n Whatever one thinks of French\u2019s social media pronouncements on international affairs, her talent is undeniable and here she is excellent at showcasing the flecks of selfishness beneath Debbie\u2019s blowsy bluster. She\u2019s a much darker performer than she\u2019s usually given credit for and there are moments when she is truly horrible to both the men in her life as well as her two friends, one a blind woman, the other a narcoleptic. I also liked the show\u2019s defiantly unaspirational vibe; the Fendon homestead is so fantastically messy you can almost smell it. So British.<\/p>\n There is real heart here. Mayhew-Archer\u2019s dad, the Vicar of Dibley co-writer Paul, has Parkinson\u2019s disease and his son\u2019s work with the woman who played the Rev Geraldine Granger delivers a poignancy that isn\u2019t always in evidence in the scene-setting first 30 minutes. <\/p>\n So stick with this. It\u2019s a surprising treat, sweet and butter-soft in places but with just the right note of astringency to delight even the fussiest chocophile. Love TV? Discover the best shows on Netflix<\/a>, the best Prime Video TV shows<\/a>, the best Disney+ shows<\/a> , the best Apple TV+ shows<\/a>, the best shows on BBC iPlayer<\/a>, the best shows on Sky and Now<\/a>, the best shows on ITVX<\/a>, the best shows on Channel 4<\/a> streaming, the best shows on Paramount+<\/a> and our favourite hidden gem TV shows<\/a>. Don\u2019t forget to check our critics\u2019 choices to watch<\/a> and browse our comprehensive TV guide<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cDo you know, I never realised how utterly dreadful television is without chocolate,\u201d says Mark Heap\u2019s William Fendon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-358214","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-movies","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-movies","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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All episodes are available on iPlayer<\/p>\n