The Hippest Kids In Town

While many in Britain are still up in arms about the BBC’s decision to cut half of their Formula 1 coverage in 2012, there is a vocal minority that are upset about far more important things, the axing of cult sitcom Ideal from the BBC Three schedules!

For over five years Ideal has remained the sole reason to tune in to digital channel BBC Three, a channel littered with tediously crude comedy, navel-gazing reality shows, sensationalist documentaries, and endless repeats; Ideal was the golden bong on the junkie’s cabinet. First broadcast in 2005, Ideal entered the sitcom landscape amongst competitors such as Extras and The Thick of It, and for those who actually saw the show, they would confidently tell you that Ideal could sit alongside those counterparts, if not slightly above them. Unfortunately, it was hard to come across Ideal unless late night channel surfing, because it was barely promoted, it wasn’t plastered over We Love Telly magazine, and it was never given a prime-time slot. Ideal never truly received the respect and recognition it deserved.

The Premise



Ideal started life as a sitcom about a small-time cannabis dealer called Moz, played by the always superb Johnny Vegas. Working out of his dirty flat in Salford, Moz would be visited by a constant revolving door of miscreants, ruffians, criminals, perverts, and losers, either looking for a quick fix or a place to hang out, or both.

With each series the cast grew, as did the plots, and Moz would find himself entangled in crimes, often against his will, including murder, kidnap, human trafficking, gang-warfare, and even organ trading. And his personal life wasn’t any less complicated, full of affairs, broken family relationships, and mild drug-abuse.

This brilliant montage that somebody created on YouTube provides a small slice of what the show was about:

It was the skill in which series creator Graham Duff tackled these risque subjects that made it work, always with fun and humour, and never sleazy or controversial. I genuinely believe that Ideal is the closest that BBC Three will ever come to art - art I hear you say, yes, art. How can a sitcom about a small-time cannabis dealer working out of his run-down flat in Salford, be art? Well, if art “…is the product of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect,” then Ideal fits the description perfectly. Take for example, moments like this:

It was these moments of absolute absurdity intermingled with the bleak, working-class Britishness of the location and dialogue, that made the show so beautifully original. It’s how it was able to have Moz discussing celebrity gossip from Heat magazine transition into Jenny dancing in a tutu, miming to Robyn’s “Robotboy”, without you ever questioning the reasoning behind it. It was artful in conception and delivery.

The Look and Feel

Duff has a great eye for the visual, turning the dank into the dazzling. Putting the humour and everything else to the side for a second, the show was a joy to watch on a purely aesthetic level. On the one hand you had scenes of gritty-realism, council estate decor, reminiscent of a Mike Leigh film, and then on the other hand you had flashes of light and colour, shabby-chic, like Jean-Pierre Jeunet had been let loose on set. And that’s before you even get to the Lynchian influenced distorted images, particularly of use in dream sequences and drug-trips. I’ve never taken drugs, but with Ideal who needs to? The bombardment of sights and sounds within a single scene are trippy enough for the most dedicated weed smoker.

It’s not something you expect from a comedy, that kind of detail in set-design, costume, and camerawork is usually reserved for high-budget drama. 

With the help of directors Dan Zeff and the Bens (Ben Fuller, Ben Gregory, and Ben Wheatley), Duff brought his images to life with what felt like a real sense of precision, making episodes seem like mini-movies rather than installments of a low-budget sitcom. In this sense, it had visual similarities to the only other genuinely great BBC Three sitcom, 15 Storeys High, with that bleeding together of the bleak and the bonkers in such a visually stimulating manner.

Ideal could also be legitimately disturbing and unsettling. It was almost as if Duff got a kick out of dreaming up the most disconcerting images, whether that be a plastic-faced baby, a man covered in wasp stings, or a balaclava wearing priest named Fist, who has an affection for giggling Asian girls. 

Duff enjoyed piling on the questions too, creating a feeling of suspense and confusion. One of the series long-standing mysteries is the Pulp Fiction inspired “red bag”, the contents of which are cause of much fear and speculation. The show became Lynchian in the way that the mysteries and weirdness blended itself in with the norm; there wasn’t a need for an explanation, as long as it made you feel something.

The Characters

There are well over fifty characters that have occupied the Ideal landscape at one time or another, and it is this wide-ranging, eclectic array of weirdos that have kept viewers coming back series after series.

The cast, headed by Johnny Vegas, is terrific, honestly, there isn’t enough good words I can say about them. From the unknown actors just starting their careers, to those that have been around the block many times. There is a true sense of comradery that shines through on screen. My brother and I have a running joke that Duff can’t afford to pay every actor because of the sheer amount of them he hires, and whilst this is clearly said in jest, I think there is a truth there, in the sense that I believe many of the cast would work for free out of the love they have for Ideal.

Almost every character is loaded with their own catchphrase, from Colin’s “I’m on probation” to Marco’s “Ignore me”. The amazing thing about the catchphrases is that they never feel cynical, they’re not there to help flog a t-shirt or coffee mug, they are there almost out of ritual, it’s like comfort food, it makes you feel good every time you hear Jenny ask Moz “Are you alright? I’m alright”, and if a character’s catchphrase is absent for an episode, something feels off.

Johnny Vegas, known largely for his loud-mouth, drunken, provocatively entertaining and intelligent stand-up comedy, plays Moz, our protagonist. Although Vegas has proved his acting chops recently by venturing in to serious dramatic acting, in comedy he often plays very over-the-top, broad, cartoonish characters, but in Ideal, Vegas is effectively the straight-man, and the humour often relies on his perception and reaction to the things going on around him. Vegas nails Moz every time, a morally questionable character that remains sympathetic, and despite his misgivings, there are a set of ethics Moz tries to work within, and certain lines he will not cross.

Other stand-out characters include Psycho Paul (Ryan Pope), looking like the lost Gallagher brother, he is a dodgy gangster that is the main reason for Moz getting caught up in so many dangerous situations. Always carrying his trusty Phillips screwdriver, Paul has provided some of the biggest laughs of the series, with his long, drawn-out Mancunian accent, and petty threats of violence.

PC (Tom Goodman-Hill), a close friend of Moz, and his main supplier. Goodman-Hill was born to play a policeman, as seen in John Morton’s People Like Us, where he played an equally inept member of the law enforcement. “I reckon if I had a quick Google, there’s laws against that.” How Moz remains friends with him throughout the series is amazing, given the amount of times he has slept with Moz’s girlfriends.

Jenny (Sinead Matthews) is a ditsy young woman, starting the series as a childminder and later becoming Moz’s girlfriend. Much like Ideal itself, Jenny lives in her own world, and her generally positive if naive attitude brings a great lightness to the often dark material in the show. Matthews is excellent as Jenny, and I hope she goes on to even bigger and better things in her career. 

Brian (Graham Duff), an overly camp homosexual, and one of Moz’s oldest friends. The very definition of promiscuous, Brian turns up to Moz’s flat with a different boyfriend almost every week, and the boyfriends get stranger and stranger over the series.

Silicon Valets (Andrew Lee Potts and Tim Fallows), “…it’s pronounced Silicon Valleys”, a local pop-group often mocked by Moz and others for their music quality. They do gain some minor success after Lee is trapped inside Moz’s boiler, causing him to hallucinate and develop a messiah complex. I just love the optimism of these two chancers despite their utter hopelessness.

Cartoon Head (David Sant) a hitman who has a cartoon mouse mask super-glued to his face, he never utters a word on screen, although is often involved in telephone conversations. I personally grew a bit tired of Cartoon Head in the later series, especially in Series 7 when he turned all hipster, but in those early series he was truly menacing, and he became a fan favourite.

Tanya (Emma Fryer) is Moz’s ex-girlfriend, and the female counterpart to Psycho Paul. She is like a Mancunian femme-fatale, with her husky voice, long dark hair, blowing smoke rings in the air. Putting her in a relationship with Paul in Series 4 was a genius move by Duff.

The list of characters goes on and on, and that’s not to mention the guest stars. Not only does Ideal have a devoted fan-base of regular viewers, it has its fair share of celebrity fans too, and they are the coolest of cool celebrities. Janeane Garofalo was such a fan that she got her agent to contact Duff, and in doing so got herself cast on the show. Legendary character actor David Bradley appeared as gang boss Stemroach in a number of episodes. Comedian Sean Lock appeared as Nathaniel, a transgendered woman that had chosen to keep her breasts, in Series 6. Even presenter and TV exec Alan Yentob appeared briefly as himself, filming a documentary at Moz’s flat.

The guest stars stretched to the world of music too, Paul Weller appeared in a dream sequence in the latest series, and of course, the best guest appearance, Mark E Smith as Jesus H Christ. It’s understandable why Ideal would have such respected musicians as fans, as music plays a massive role in the blueprint of the show.

The ensemble became like a family, and as a viewer you felt included. How they managed to make the audience connect with these characters, and have them emit such warmth and feeling, despite most of them being utterly despicable, is brilliance on the part of Duff’s writing, and the performances of the cast.

The Music

The people behind Ideal clearly have a love for music, especially Graham Duff, who has a varied taste in artists and “toons”; you certainly won’t find Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” any where on the soundtrack. Experimental electronics, digi-dub, ambient, underground rap - music is knitted in to the very fabric of the show, it often elevates a scene, providing an extra element on top of the action.

Take these closing scenes from the final episode of Series 4 accompanied by the song “Enter One” by Sol Seppy, it is extremely powerful and heart-wrenching, and it has no right to be, it is a sitcom on digital tele!

But songs can also be used for laughs, as in the case with the above clip.

Music is also used as signifiers, certain characters have their own entrance music, like professional wrestlers. As soon as we hear those bouncy keys of Juantrip’s “Shadows” we know Psycho Paul and the gang have arrived. It can be jaunty like Topo Gigio’s “Locked Out” when Moz is getting high, or ominous and forboding like Bruce Gilbert’s “Angelfood” when Fist is on-screen.

The use of music on the show is absolutely incredible, often fringe music, experimental and obscure, kind of like the show itself. Whether its Lowfinger, The Fall, or Ugly Duckling, the choices are always spot on, and it has introduced me to artists I had never previously heard of, and for that I am forever thankful.

The End

It may sound childish to complain, Ideal did air for seven series, and produced over fifty episodes, and that’s a lot more than many sitcoms are given, but it is the principle. If Duff decided that this was to be the final series, then fair enough, it had a great run, and he could have ended the show on his terms. But to be cancelled out of the blue, despite the latest series posting it’s highest ratings in years, gaining positive reviews in the press, and reaching an international audience, is simply preposterous, and we didn’t get a proper end to the loose plot strands, and more importantly, the characters didn’t have their final send-off.

As an aspiring sitcom writer there is part of me that should perhaps be happy that Zai Bennett, the new BBC Three controller, is wiping the slate clean and claiming to be looking for new comedy, but the pessimist in me can only assume this is a cynical ploy to make way for more “hyper-reality”, after-all, on ITV Bennett was responsible for Celebrity Juice and The Only Way is Essex.

But after the sadness we have to look for the positives, we have seven series of brilliant television to cherish forever, and the hope that Graham Duff will be allowed to produce more interesting and entertaining television, I’ve still got my fingers crossed for him writing a Doctor Who episode!

Graham Duff not only created seven consistently funny and entertaining series of Ideal, but he created one of the most innovative television shows, not just sitcom, television shows on the box. Everything was put together with such love and detail, from the sets, to the props, to the characters, to the story-lines, to the music choices, and in doing so Duff developed his own world of wonderment. If Trainspotting and Twin Peaks shacked up for a one-night-stand in a Manchester bedsit, Ideal would be the by-product of that sordid affair.

Simultaneously recognisable and other-worldly, Ideal produced the best “dark comedy” since The League of Gentlemen, with it’s sprawling cast, multi-layered story-lines, and off-beat look. The tone, the style, the music - everything came together to give this show it’s own stamp. Not only was it not like anything else on BBC Three, it was like nothing else on television.

by Martin Holmes

Petition: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/saveideal/