Men Behaving Badly star take BRUTAL swipe at ‘past its sell-by date’ show that would ‘stick in our throats now’
A MEN Behaving Badly star has taken a brutal swipe at the ‘past its sell-by date’ show that would ‘stick in our throats now’.
The hit comedy ran from 1992 until 1996 for six series and starred Martin Clunes, Neil Morrissey, Caroline Quentin and Leslie Ash.
It followed two male housemates who drank beer, enjoyed time in front of the TV or pursuing women.
The show won a number of awards during its run but now Caroline, 63, who played Dorothy, has taken aim at it.
During an appearance on Times Radio, Caroline spoke to Jane Garvey, who asked: “You know, Men Behaving Badly is where a lot of people will remember you with huge fondness.
“And the classic question about that show now is, could you make it now? And I guess you couldn’t, but you shouldn’t because it was of its time?”
Caroline replied: “Yeah. I think, you know, it was it was getting pretty past its sort of sell by date by the last series, really. So we’d be pushing our lucky 20 or 30 years later.
“You plough that furrow. And there comes a point where you just go ‘umm, I think we’ve done this now’. And the world moved on mercifully.
“I say that actually, I’ve got two young people. I don’t know if the world has moved on enough for me.
“We didn’t have social media in those days, and I’m not sure, there are lots of reasons why we couldn’t make it now.”
Jane asked if things that had seemed “faintly charming” at the time of the show’s release wouldn’t feel that way now if it was to return.
Caroline responded: “I think it would stick in one’s craw actually, I really do. And I think, I mean, listen, it’s still funny. I’m not taking that away from it.
“People still come up to me. Young people still come up to me in the street and say they find it funny. Old people come up to me and say they find it funny and they know.
“So listen it’s fine, but it was so much of its era.”
I was fighty in the rehearsal room
Caroline Quentin
Caroline opened up further about how she felt about the show – which started out on ITV before moving to the BBC – when it was being made.
She recalled: “I was fighty, I was fighty in the rehearsal room. I remember saying when we did the, the, you know, the first, what do you call it, pilot saying very loudly, I am not here to serve up feed lines to men. I’m just not here to do that.
“And, you know, she was pretty bold, given that no one knew who I was or cared. I felt very strongly then that actually there was an opportunity in that scenario to give the women a voice.
“I mean, it was never going to be as loud a voice, but at least it could be as funny.”
She continued: “And actually, what’s really interesting in comedies, I think, is if you’re funny, you can say almost anything.
“But if you’re just someone feeding lines to somebody else, you don’t exist. And that is still true today, I think.”
