Vicious

[SiHart]

ITV has commissioned a brand new sitcom starring Sirs Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi (pictured), according to reports.

Vicious Old Queens will see the pair, both gay in real life, playing an elderly homosexual couple living together in Covent Garden.

The series of six 30-minute episodes is being lined up for broadcast from April 2013, according to the Star on Sunday, and has been written by Gary Janetti, a former writer and executive producer of hit American sitcoms Will & Grace and Family Guy.

An unnamed source told the tabloid newspaper: "No one can quite believe ITV have managed to get Sir Ian on board. Brit stars don't get much bigger than him. It's a great coup for ITV to get these two."

McKellen is also the star of a mockumentary pilot currently being pitched to broadcasters by the company behind As Time Goes By and My Family. The Academy sees McKellen playing his own (fictional) brother, the headmaster of a south London drama school - Clapham Academy of Creative Arts (CACA).

Sir Derek Jacobi, meanwhile, stars alongside Anne Reid in forthcoming BBC One comedy drama Antony And Cleopatra. The series is expected to start later this year.

Vicious Old Queens was previously the title of a script ordered by Sky Arts for its Playhouse strand. Written by playwright Mark Ravenhill, the project was not commissioned and appears to be unrelated to the new ITV series.

The BBC were also recently developing a sitcom with a similar premise. A pilot for George And Bernard Shaw, written by Cabin Pressure's John Finnemore, was filmed last year for BBC One by Feelgood Fiction. It starred Robert Lindsay and Richard Griffiths as a gay couple on the 'wrong' side of 'middle age'.

Hmm... great casting, could be great!

[Alex]

Hmm... great casting, could be great!

That's what I thought. The choice of writer concerns a little, I can't say I was ever a massive Will and Grace fan, but I enjoyed it well enough at times, but recent episodes of Family Guy have been fairly hit and miss. Still, fingers crossed that such a great cast with inspire him to create something really special.

Either way, it's nice to see ITV actually commission some comedy, apart from Benidorm (which isn't really to my tastes) I can't remember the last time they had a hit one.

[Nyder]

How intriguing! This is either going to be wonderfully funny or really embarrassing. With the calibre of the actors, I'm going for the former!

[Rob McCow]

Ah but ITV Sitcom though, ITV Sitcom! Many's the evening where we sit down and say 'What's the latest ITV Sitcom? I fancy a good laugh!' We get our Chortle Chops on and we find something like er... well...

No, I can't seem to think of a single one.

Anyway, Sir Derek and Sir Ian might save the day!

[SiHart]

This show is beginning at 9pm on Monday 29 April on ITV1. I might actually watch some ITV for this!

[Simon R]

We'll give it ago but apart from the two leads it sounds woeful.

[Nyder]

I was present at one of the studio recordings - I think it's going to be good (they've already recorded a Christmas special....)

[Dave Tudor]

I can't remember the last time a new sitcom was shown on the main ITV channel on Monday evening primetime! I'm quite looking forward to this.

[Stuart Wallis]

Dad saw a trailer for this the other night; turns out his main concern wasn't the content (thankfully!) rather than he knew Derek Jacobi, but couldn't think where he'd seen "the other one" from!

Mind you, I'd have done it for half the price, the same age and twice the viciousness...

[Jon Masters]

Many a good actor has died repeatedly on the cruel rack of ITV sitcomland (I'm looking at you, Thaw )

[Nyder]

The "Old Queens" has been dropped - it's just going to be called "Vicious".

[Nyder]

The series starts this Monday, ITV at 9pm

[Simon R]

It looks pretty poor from the trailer not that that shows much.

On related news, that new Ben Elton sitcom seems to have had awful reviews.

[Si Hunt]

Hmmm. Well, that was different.

I really can't decide if it was terrible or good, but I think it has the potential to be both. Some of it worked - Francis De La Tour was great, but Marcia Warren didn't work at all, coming over as an unfunny Absolutely Fabulous character. There were times when the whole concept teetered on being crass; the two old gays letching over a young guy for example, and the moments when it looked like the writer (whoever that was) was revelling in the gay stereotypes.

But - BUT - as ever, when they just became two people who happened to be gay, and not two GAY people, I felt there was real potential there. The gag about him not telling his Mum was the first laugh. There were times when - dare I say it - I recognised bits of the relationship, as the dynamic can be very different with two gay men and it's not something you get the chance to see on TV very often. And, let's face it, the sheer bloody acting experience and talent in the two leads rescued the whole thing. They both have such gravitas it may have been impossible for them to be uninteresting.

But the whole thing felt like a block of flats balancing on a tightrope. At any moment this could turn into something pretty good or just topple over into complete lameness. I think I want to see more before I make up my mind.

Si.

[Nyder]

I agree Si. The sheer acting force of the two leads (and Frances DLT) makes the whole thing eminently watchable. Most of it was funny, some of it wasn't. I'm guessing it gets better because the one I saw being recorded (yes the laughter is real!) was much better.

[Simon R]

Not sure the rape gag was appropriate.

[Nyder]

That did make me wince

[Si Hunt]

It was the least convincing "house" in TV history, but that kind of worked well. It was like watching a play. They should have gone the whole hog and pinched from Mrs Browns Boys the idea of having the camera stray into shot and keeping the bloopers in. It felt like it wanted to do that.

Si.

[SiHart]

They played it HUGE, but I really enjoyed it. Promising stuff.

I'll be tuning in next week.

[Si Hunt]

I enjoyed last nights even more. De La Tour gives a brilliant performance, and there was more plot this week, and another setting. I think the device of Stuart getting a job to pay for Ian's coat and Ian knowing but pretending he didn't was really touching and clarified that they do really love each other underneath, and all the banter is pretence. This was missing from last weeks, so for all we knew they were two people together but who hated each other, which seemed odd. This weeks set their relationship into better context, plus there was less letching over Ash and the character of Penelope was better. I loved all the bitching at each other, great fun, and some good one liners.

Liking this more and more... Apparently even though it lost viewers on last week it was the highest rated non-soap on last night so yay for that.

Si.

[Nyder]

Ooh..... the episode I was in the audience for is on tomorrow. Listen out for my guffaws :-) Sorry to destroy the illusion of television, but the Frances De La Tour scenes were fed to us via a monitor as she wasn't present for this one!

[NoraBrimstone]

^You lucky thing! Awesome episode! Apart from the scenes you mentioned, was the whole episode filmed in one session? I've only ever been in the audience of panel/game shows before, so I'm curious about how Sitcoms are filmed.

[Nyder]

I've only seen this sitcom recorded, so can only comment on this programme.

The writer was on set and was constantly talking to the director (to be honest the writer did seem in charge!) Every blooper-free scene was re-shot at least once. I don't know how common that is! There were far more fluffs from the actors than I was expecting, but you didn't mind because Ian & Derek were so amusing, and they talked to us (the audience) and entertained us during the set ups. At one point, Ian showed us a photo of him & Derek taken back in the early 70s and then they proceeded to reminisce about the old days .... until the director told them they were ready for a take!

[NoraBrimstone]

Was that the photo that was in a frame during the episode? I spotted an old looking photo of them and wondered if it was real.

I think it's pretty normal to film everything twice. Sometimes they have more than one idea of how they want a certain line to be read so they film both ways then pick which version to use during post production.
Nick Grimshaw got kinda annoyed with the producer on Sweat the other night, they made him do the trailer for the show 3 times, one time he said to him "Do that again, but make it two seconds shorter." and Grimmy pulled a face and said "Two seconds shorter? How am I supposed to work that out? I'm not ****ing Rain Man!" Lmao

[Si Hunt]

Loved, loved, loved the finale. There's something about this series that I've taken to. I don't know if it's that I can see us ending up like Stuart and Freddie, or that it's clearly such a labour of love for the writers, or that everyone in it is so damn theatrical! They literally sweep in and BOOM at you, it's such fun! I think it taps into my sense of humour. "I thought maybe you'd died, you SHIT!". There's something very true about a couple that have grown so used to each other that they insult each other every day but it doesn't matter because they know it's only just words and they love each other really.

I love the post modernism of everyone realising that every episode they introduce Violet as "you remember our friend Violet?". And I loved Francis De La Tour on top form "I only touched his penis twice!".

Icing on the cake was Dame Judi's voice over at the end. Only disappointing elements were Marcia Warren's character, who really isn't working, and that they didn't manage to cast Stuart's mother a bit better.

They're all clearly having a riot making it, and that translates over to the screen in volumes. Just huge fun.

Si.