The basic premise for this rather enjoyable, silly and enjoyably silly spy spoof series is as follows: Tim (played by the ever-excellent Darren Boyd) is a single father with a wickedly smart (but mostly wicked) young son, who is always looking up at his father as if he were looking down on him - an attitude helped created in no small part by his mother (Tim's ex-wife). No matter how much Tim may try to impress his son, he is always a loser to his ex-wife...and Phil, who always happens to be there. And so, with a little extra "help" from his nigh-on sociopathic (and only) friend and work colleague at the computer store where they work, Tim decides to quit his job and move on to greener pastures, and try to improve his life. Which then leads to a job interview for what Tim believes is a job that has something to do with civil servants. Unfortunately, Tim is the only one who thinks this, as his interviewers - particularly The Examiner (played by a somewhat grizzled Robert Lindsay) - think that Tim knows he has come to be interviewed for a job at MI5... And from then on, hilarity ensues as it is sure to do.
The pleasure that comes from this show is finding out that the presumptions you might make about the characters and the story of the show are mostly proved to be wrong. The main character who is nice but dim, and constantly finds himself in ridiculous situations, mostly not of his fault? Almost. He IS nice, and he may not be terribly smart, but what becomes clear quite early on is that although everyone else around him may be - or may act - smarter than him, they are all actually the stupid ones, who are blinded by their own smartness and think that everything is happening exactly as they think it is. (The Examiner is the biggest culprit in doing this.) Whereas Tim - with his awkward, meek, bemused, but always amiable persona - seems to be the only one who is making any sense and acting perfectly normal. And what about the son, who is older than his years, precocious, smart and all that jazz? Yes, this SHOULD be annoying, but the young actor (who, incidentally, looks remarkably like Kevin Bishop) who plays the son is quite adept at handling all the big words and biting insults he throws out at such a rapid and sharply enunciated pace. And what becomes annoying about this character isn't the fact that he's the tried-and-tested trope of being "older than his years," but that his character has clearly been manipulated by his mother's spite towards the son's father into acting almost exactly like her, and that he treats everyone but his mother and...*sigh*...Phil with utter contempt. He is - as Tim's friend says early on - a bit of a dick. And as for Robert Lindsay's portrayal of The Examiner - he is simply a buffoon. How he got to become the boss of everyone that we see in MI5 herein is completely baffling. Harry Pearce he is NOT. Here, The Examiner is a man enamoured with spy novels and movies - preferring fiction over fact, and fantasy over reality - who has seemingly no grasp of what MI5 actually does and is mostly concerned with the gadgets and the guns and flinging his throwing stars around with major aplomb. He always has a demented twinkle in his eyes, and is disturbingly rather taken with his new recruit, Tim. Henceforth, he is a brilliant comic creation, meaning Robert Lindsay is at his absolute best. Forget "My Family"...he's back to "Citizen Smith" standards once again. Overall, the pace of the show is quick and sweet, and the humour is rapid-fire and highly witty, with a side of delicious awkwardness. (If you've seen Darren Boyd's appearance as Dave Wellbeck in "Twenty Twelve," you'll know that he is superbly gifted at creating cringe-worthy awkwardness that rivals anything from "Curb Your Enthusiasm".) So, if you're looking for a spy spoof comedy that's actually really really funny, and can be appreciated by adults as well as children, then forget the dross that was and is Johnny English. "Spy" is what J.E. should have always been, and more so...
The pleasure that comes from this show is finding out that the presumptions you might make about the characters and the story of the show are mostly proved to be wrong. The main character who is nice but dim, and constantly finds himself in ridiculous situations, mostly not of his fault? Almost. He IS nice, and he may not be terribly smart, but what becomes clear quite early on is that although everyone else around him may be - or may act - smarter than him, they are all actually the stupid ones, who are blinded by their own smartness and think that everything is happening exactly as they think it is. (The Examiner is the biggest culprit in doing this.) Whereas Tim - with his awkward, meek, bemused, but always amiable persona - seems to be the only one who is making any sense and acting perfectly normal. And what about the son, who is older than his years, precocious, smart and all that jazz? Yes, this SHOULD be annoying, but the young actor (who, incidentally, looks remarkably like Kevin Bishop) who plays the son is quite adept at handling all the big words and biting insults he throws out at such a rapid and sharply enunciated pace. And what becomes annoying about this character isn't the fact that he's the tried-and-tested trope of being "older than his years," but that his character has clearly been manipulated by his mother's spite towards the son's father into acting almost exactly like her, and that he treats everyone but his mother and...*sigh*...Phil with utter contempt. He is - as Tim's friend says early on - a bit of a dick. And as for Robert Lindsay's portrayal of The Examiner - he is simply a buffoon. How he got to become the boss of everyone that we see in MI5 herein is completely baffling. Harry Pearce he is NOT. Here, The Examiner is a man enamoured with spy novels and movies - preferring fiction over fact, and fantasy over reality - who has seemingly no grasp of what MI5 actually does and is mostly concerned with the gadgets and the guns and flinging his throwing stars around with major aplomb. He always has a demented twinkle in his eyes, and is disturbingly rather taken with his new recruit, Tim. Henceforth, he is a brilliant comic creation, meaning Robert Lindsay is at his absolute best. Forget "My Family"...he's back to "Citizen Smith" standards once again. Overall, the pace of the show is quick and sweet, and the humour is rapid-fire and highly witty, with a side of delicious awkwardness. (If you've seen Darren Boyd's appearance as Dave Wellbeck in "Twenty Twelve," you'll know that he is superbly gifted at creating cringe-worthy awkwardness that rivals anything from "Curb Your Enthusiasm".) So, if you're looking for a spy spoof comedy that's actually really really funny, and can be appreciated by adults as well as children, then forget the dross that was and is Johnny English. "Spy" is what J.E. should have always been, and more so...