It’s a hardy life

TV REVIEW

DANCING Baby, Charlie the Unicorn, Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny, the internet has given us many cult classics over the years but for a little isle on the periphery of Europe, there are few internet phenomena to have captured West of Ireland small town living quite like Hardy Bucks. 
Set in the ‘somewhere in Mayo’ Castletown, it follows the misadventures of a five hapless down-on-their-luck lads trying to reach the unattainable ‘big schmoke’ better known as Galway to the rest of us.
Starting its life on YouTube, on winning RTÉ’s Storyland 2009 competition, it migrated to the small screen with a three-episode venture last year. While still holding its audience, the extended half hour and heavily edited tv episodes were not as sharp as the side-splitting webisodes and suffered badly from the more structured format.
Thankfully, series two, which began on Monday night on RTÉ Two is showing far more promise and has returned to the basics that made it such a hit in the first place. 
Far less contrived, Eddie, Buzz and company were back to their best. What makes Hardy Bucks so utterly hilarious is that every character is absolutely identifiable in every town in Ireland and the stories are something we’ve all heard before in some similar format. While still not quite reaching the ingenious humour of the webisodes, Buzz’s stories of the MILF on Monday cracked me up while Boo’s martial arts classes were quality viewing. Definitely worth tuning into to see what further capers the lads manufacture.
In a sad departure, one of television’s favourite sleuths is to park his bowler hat and bow ties. The seemingly never-ageing David Suchet is to reprise his role as the famous Belgian detective Poirot for the last time next year with five final films, before he gives ‘the little grey cells’ a well-deserved rest. The actor has played the character for the past 22 years, starring in 65 films.
The new films, based on the remaining Agatha Christie novels and short stories that have yet to be adapted, will begin production in the new year.
The tearjerker may be Curtain, which is the detective’s last tale and sees the arthritic-riddled Poirot enlist Captain Hastings one last time as they return to the scene of his first case in a bid to prevent another murder. The other four films will be Labours of Hercules, Dead Man’s Folly, The Big Four and Elephants Can Remember
In the meantime, if you can’t wait that long, the most recent Poirot to be made, Clocks, will be broadcast on ITV this Christmas and features Phil Daniels, Jaime Winstone and Lesley Sharp among others. It also features the brilliant Anna Massey, who died earlier this year, in one of her final roles.
Something that may not quite last the test of time is Ricky Gervais’ new meandering into tv land. This time he has mashed the mockumentary style of The Office with the over-zealous need for celebrity appearances so evident in Extras.
Life’s Too Short stars Warwick Davis, a dwarf actor who finds himself going through a divorce with a bit of a tax situation, which prompts him to allow a camera crew to film his life 24/7. I’m sure the concept sounded hilarious on paper but it hasn’t translated as well to the small screen. It’s nothing we haven’t seen before and the humour relies on all the old slapstick schmuck that has been peddled a hundred times before.
Last week’s episode had Warwick looking to Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant for advice on his career only to be beaten to it by Liam Neeson. And that’s the problem, he was beaten to the punch in every way – Neeson’s five-minute comic gold cameo being the only bit worth waiting for.
The one good thing it has going for it is that it’s not ‘I’m a z-list celebrity and no one has a clue who I am so get me out of here’. That’s all I have to say on that piece of tv.
One to watch: If I could recommend anything this week, it would have to be Parks and Recreation (pictured below), which starts on RTE 2 this Friday night at 8pm.
It’s amazing that it’s been so slow to be picked up this side of the pond but this brilliant piece of television is already finished its fourth season in the US and long may it last. It’s mockumentary-style but don’t let that put you off, as the humour is brilliantly subtle and worth sticking with.
It centres around the adventures of Leslie Knope, an over-enthusiastic local government official in the small Indiana city of Pawnee. With one eye firmly on the White House, the first series revolves around Leslie’s attempts to make her mark by turning a disused pit into a park. Anyone who has had so much as a brush with a local authority figure or legislation will appreciate this one.
It stars the comedy genius Amy Poehler, Aziz Ansari and Nick Offerman, supporting a fine moustache that would make Ron Burgundy proud.