Learners

[Pip Madeley]

The new BBC comedy-drama Learners, starring Jessica Hynes, David Tennant and Shaun Dingwall, is due for its debut next Sunday (19th November)...



Will we be watching? Pics here and info here

[Dave Tudor]

Hynes, Tennant and Dingwall? It's practically another Doctor Who spin-off!!

I'm sure I'll be tuning in, mainly out of curiosity, but I reckon it could be quite funny. Jess was part responsible for 'Spaced', so if her script for 'Learners' is anywhere near half as good, then it will certainly be worth watching.

[WhiteCrow]

Do you think some of it is "I don't need you Simon Pegg!".

[Paul Monk]

Jess looks foxy in that pic so I'll be watching For the comedy obviously.

[WhiteCrow]

Did anyone else watch it then?

Wow they made David Tennant look so geeky. God he looked a lot like my friend at school there, who ironically had asthma himself.

Overall though I kind of expected it to be a little funnier. The bad driving scenes felt like a rip off of Maureen from Driving School. A not bad one off comedy drama, but I'll not be hurrying to watch it again, and it felt a little short on the comedy.

And was it me or did the caravan seem bigger on the inside? Was that some kind of a joke?

[WhiteCrow]

This is so dumb - it's been bothering me all night who Sarah Hadland is, who played Fiona

Just been through everything she's been in, I knew I knew her, thought from some kind of comedy, gone through it all Casualty(don't watch), the Bill (ditto) blah blah blah.

Yes now I know - she was in the VEET adverts.

[P-Bal]

I thought the cast was fabulous, but the whole thing didn't really gel together. Just a bit of a big non.

[WhiteCrow]

I thought the cast was fabulous, but the whole thing didn't really gel together. Just a bit of a big non.

Yes - it makes me think having seen Hot Fuzz and now Learners that maybe Simon Pegg wrote much of the comedy for Spaced.

The writing wasn't up to much, and in fact it felt very much like the bog standard one off drama ITV and BBC1 drone out which is on the whole very samey and instantly forgetable.

I keep wanting to compare it unfavourably with Rupert Grint's Driving Lessons. This is perhaps a bit unfair as they share only the flimsiest of connections, but on the whole I enjoyed Driving Lessons a lot.

[Pip Madeley]

This is so dumb - it's been bothering me all night who Sarah Hadland is, who played Fiona

Just been through everything she's been in, I knew I knew her, thought from some kind of comedy, gone through it all Casualty(don't watch), the Bill (ditto) blah blah blah.

Yes now I know - she was in the VEET adverts.

I recognised her from The IT Crowd and Saxondale, where she basically played the same woman.

[Dirk Gently]

I saw it & I thought it was very good. I wasn't expecting a side-splitting comedy which was a good thing because it wasn't one. It was more of a black comedy.

[SiHart]

I enjoyed it and it made me laugh in several places, but I broadly agree with P-Bal that the cast were brilliant, but the whole thing dodn't quite work as well as it should have done.

Si xx

[Andrew Curnow]

It was OK, entertaining enough for a Sunday evening, but it did lack a certain sparkle I think. There was nothing wrong with it, the performances were all very good, but it was just a bit pedestrian.

On the other hand, I did like the fact that nobody was really a goodie or a baddie (well, except perhaps Chris, as it happens). Dingwall's character was a bit of a waster, but on the other hand at the end his 'crazy' owl scheme had come off; the married cop was a bit of a b*****d to Fiona, but on the other hand helped take the owls to the vets...

My favourite moment was probably the one where teary Fiona is breaking up over the phone... and then we discover that she's actually just leaving a message with a completely different guy!

[WhiteCrow]

No best line was "I'm your driving instructor, and a member of the DVLA!".