Thursday, March 04, 2010

May I State The Obvious?

Fact 1: Gavin and Stacey (written by James Cordon and Ruth Jones) was a big hit as a TV series and received critical acclaim (Deborah Orr said "amiable, unpretentious, well-scripted, nicely acted and archly amusing"), won awards (including a Bafta, a National Television Award and a British Comedy Award) and pretty much everyone I know thinks it's really funny.

Fact 2: When James Cordon and Matthew Horne wrote a film (Lesbian Vampire Killers) it was a flop, panned by the critics (The Times called it an "instantly forgettable lads' mag farce") and everyone I know thinks it's dreadful (including a friend of mine who was IN it!).

Fact 3: When James Cordon and Matthew Horne wrote a sketch show (Horne & Cordon) it was a flop, panned by the critics (The Guardian wrote "Never has a three-minute sketch felt so long, and the joke inevitably comes down to the fact that James Corden is fat and is happy to show us his wobbly bits. Or one of them gets his arse out.") and everyone I know thinks it's dreadful (including James Cordon himself!).

So let me stick my neck out here and say something radical. Maybe the talented one was Ruth Jones (pictured). Yes I know - pretty shocking stuff eh? I mean she doesn't even have a penis! Lets see if she's working on anything new we could put on TV of an evening huh?

1 comment:

Mark Thompson said...

I think it's pretty obvious that she was the driving force behind its success.

There are some scenes in G&S that I think it is clear were penned by Ruth. The scene in the car when Stacey and Bryn are going to the wedding and Bryn reads out Stacey's late father's letter to her springs to mind. It had me in tears and that doesn't happen very often.

I would bet big money that Ruth wrote that part.