You know you’ve enjoyed something on the telly when every scene made you either smile or laugh. This is what happened to me in the third episode of the second series of Peter Kay’s Car Share.
The funniest episode thus far of the second series, this show is one of the best things to have graced our TV screens so far in 2017. Everything worked from the dialogue, to the story, the music, the acting, as well as the fast paced editing. Actors Peter Kay as John, and Sian Gibson as Kayleigh, really do deserve all the plaudits that they are currently receiving right now for their wonderful performances.
Back in 2010 in The Telegraph, the late great John Sullivan, decried the state of modern-day comedies. As I am sure most of you will be aware, John was the creator and writer of the best British situation comedy ever in my eyes, namely Only Fools and Horses. John cited ‘swearing’ as evidence that modern-day sitcoms were in the doldrums. He claimed swearing was becoming commonplace in them just to get cheap laughs. For example, he stated,
”I think swearing is a lazy way of getting laughs…you should be professional enough and clever enough not to need swear words.”
I would say these words could be applied and argued in the case of the utterly dreadful Mrs Brown’s Boys(though millions love it). However, the swearing adds something to Peter Kay’s Car Share, and it does not seem out of place. John Redmond is a working class northerner, so his swearing has a certain northern, working class edge to it. In this third episode I am thinking here of when John swore underneath his breath at a work colleague of his, who was being rude and coarse about John’s relationship with Kayleigh. Another example of John swearing, was when he was livid at a monkey urinating in the back seat of his car. The swearing here wasn’t used for a cheap laugh, it was genuinely funny and appropriate given the situation.
Further in this article, Sullivan commented how in his opinion, ‘writers make hardly any attempt to tell a story these days’. Again, I don’t think you can apply this criticism to Peter Kay’s Car Share. For example, this third episode was all about the budding romance between John and Kayleigh. We saw them both take the afternoon off work so they could go on a day out together. As Kayleigh very amusingly told John,
‘It’s alright for some, I’m still doing two-for-one on Dairylea Dunkers. God I can’t cope with that again.’
Furthermore, what with Climie Fisher’s ‘Love Changes(Everything)’ booming out as John drove, then this further signified the romantic nature of the storyline. There was definitely an attempt to tell a story here.
The comedy highlight of this episode was when John and Kayleigh, discovered that a monkey from the safari park was on the roof of his car when they were at the seaside. As they drove it back to the park with it sat on the back seat, an alarmed and panic stricken John said,
‘This is every shade of wrong this, we’re gonna get screwed for this, kidnapping a monkey is a serious crime.’
I loved it when Kayleigh compared the monkey ‘to a little Elton John’, when we saw it wearing a pair of jazzy sunglasses belonging to John’s niece Sophie. Furthermore, I then cried with laughter when the monkey then sprayed wee over the pair of them. Almost incessantly, this episode kept hitting us with laugh after laugh, it really was top quality stuff.
Three episodes broadcast so far and this second series is easily as good as the first one. This sitcom continues to be something very special and is the reason why Peter Kay is well and truly right now a living national treasure! 5/5.
Andy 'Scarfman' Lloyd's Blog 
