I was very excited back in 1998 when Drop the Dead Donkey came back on the air for its final series. Yet I found myself strangely disappointed. The humour seemed to have gone, replaced with lots of (fairly dark and depressing) personal drama which seemed oddly out of place in what had been a fairly light-hearted topical comedy come drama.
I'm purchasing the series as they come out, but to be honest I'm not sure I'll bother with series 6.
Series 6 is coming out either this week or next - I've been picking them up on behalf of my mother - and watching them through myself to make sure they played through OK (and enjoying it!). She's probably going to get series 6 herself when it comes out - and doubtless I'll borrow it. I only saw it once when it came out, so can't remember a whole lot of detail. At that time I'd only seen a handful of episodes, mainly series 5, but possibly also repeats of some of the second and third series. When I watch the DVD, I'll probably be able to view it more objectively, and appreciate that some characters' endings are either fully deserved or fully predictable. Although I still don't agree with George's ending - they should have actually given him his happy ending, and then have something go wrong WITH it, rather than take it all away from him.
shareWas it in Series 6 where they had the Sally Smedley Appreciation Society, with lots of men dressed up as Sally? Maybe that was ep 6.5 (which doesn't seem to be listed on this site)?
shareyeah that was series 6, and i agree, george's ending was a bit too sad, but how else could it of ended?
shareWell, I've picked up series 6 - ostensibly for my mother. And I have to say, I found it somewhat depressing. Whereas the first five series had me in stitches, this final series didn't quite have the same zing. I was never in any danger of splitting my sides. Notably in the final episode, which I think was edited wrongly anyway. Call it nitpicking, but I think Damien's thread should have been wrapped up before Gus' - as it is, it comes across almost as an afterthought.
shareIt was the most depressing three and a half hours of my life.
It was all character based. Where was the news?! They didn't even have the "And Now... Drop the Dead Donkey, bla bla bla the news that week was..." at the beginning because there was no news in the whole series! That was what DtDD was about!! Not bloody awful depressing breakdowns, I hardly laughed at all!! I almost cried! Andy Hamilton I've got a bone to pick with you! Though actually I reckon Guy Jenkin's the miseryguts behind this trauma.
I like to hope Margaret then died.
But there's no saving Gus, he's headed for the bin.
Does anyone know why the show was brought to an end? And why the decision was made in series 6 to move away from the topical news comedy angle? Blair and his bunch of muppets would have provided more than enough excellent fodder for the show as long as they stay in power!!
You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hopeshare
Funny how satire shows don't seem to survive once Labour (or even New and Improved Labour) come to power in the UK...
shareSeries 6 centered around the inevitable closure of Globelink, and the efforts of its staff to find new careers. If you think that's depressing, well, thats life!
I only watched all the series recently on DVD, but I thought series 6 was as funny as the others; and I can empathise with the characters as I work for the NHS, and my office is being closed down next year.
We struggle on and try and put a brave face on things. Etc.
And George's ending was totally believable. It was so obvious he'd stay with his ex-wife rather than be happy!
Well, that's my opinion - what are you gonna do about it?
heheheheheeheeheeheheeheeeheeehheeee
There aren't that many laughs in Series 6, but I found it fascinating to see how all the characters' stories wrapped up. I think Series 5 had seen a noticeable shift from the topical to the more personal, and Series 6 was a continuation of that.
I actually found the final series quite difficult to watch due to the downbeat nature of the whole thing (Gus's decline into madness, Sally and Henry facing the career scrapheap, Dave's life getting worse), but as a comedy drama and less of a sitcom, it was brilliant in spots.
Incidentally, the casting of Melvyn Hayes as Sir Gordon Miller was inspired. I'd only ever seen him play quite camp parts on TV, but he really nailed the unpleasant, tyrannical billionaire.
Thomas, if you is a mouse catcher, I is Lana Turner - which I ain't...
Yeah it wasn't up to the standards of previous seasons. The downbeat ending was probably the right thing to do though.
shareThe writers said it was deliberate.
I think they just ran out of steam and may be the change of government was a factor as well as many of the actors had gone to other things, so getting them back together was not easy.
Its that man again!!
Digging up a very old thread, but I recently bought the complete boxset, and enjoyed with a lot of nostalgia all 6 seasons.
I would agree that S6 jumped the shark, and moved away from the latest newsheadlines to their own personal crisis. After all this is what tthe real world is like: to know your own doom, everything else is just secondary.
Tying up the loose end for each of the major characters, could have been better, however. But I did feel a lot of empathy for Henry and especially George. Yes, it would have been wonderful to have seen him fly out to Oz to begin a new life. But that would have been so predictable/cheesy. This is George we're talking about, and everything he does is beset with broken dreamns, empty promises & misfortune. So it seemed right that he should go back to looking after Margaret, even though I had nothing but hatred for her the way she treated him previosly.
I guess the writers, producers and actors discussed heavily how to bring the show to a dignified end. It certainly surprised me, and quite a lot of people it would seem, and not always for the good.
But again, this is the real world they were working in; and it would have been silly to have slapstick humour and endless jokes about the latest headlines while in the background the company was about to close.
S6, is hard viewing, but still quite excellent for all that
“When is old news gonna be old news?”
― Arnold Vinick (The West Wing)
Should have continued as before-Blair and co ideal material. Trying to visualise Sally super rich! Henry would surely have written his memoirs.
shareWHAT?
No it was awesome. They used the fact of the station shutting down to drive the characters in a whole new comedic direction. Series 5 had a couple of great episodes at the beginning but got very weak. It was becoming a soft and fuzzy little show, something the like of The Brittas Empire.
Series 6 was the best thing they could have done. It went out with a total bang. Most of the main characters had some kind of funny or hilarious thing going on. Damien and Gus cracking up. Joy becoming a modern art "superstar". You didn't understand the show at all if you didn't like Series 6, it was a blast. And the Chris Evans parody (Wes Jasper) was totally spot-on.