How Not to Live Your Life

Infobox Television
show_name = How Not To Live Your Life


caption =
format = Situation comedy
camera =
picture_format =
audio_format =
runtime = 30 minutes
creator = Dan Clark
developer =
producer = Don Clark, Gary Reich
executive_producer =
starring = Dan Clark
Sinead Moynihan
Finlay Robertson
David Armand
theme_music_composer =
opentheme =
endtheme =
country = United Kingdom
location =
language = English
network = BBC Three
first_aired = 27 September, 2007 (pilot)
12 August 2008 (first series)
last_aired =
num_episodes = 7 (as of 16 September, 2008)
list_episodes =
website = http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00d1nmh
imdb_id = 1270367
tv_com_id =

"How Not To Live Your Life" is a British sitcom, written by and starring Dan Clark, about a neurotic twenty-something man trying to navigate his way through life but is not helped by his bad instincts.

The pilot episode, based on a series of shorts made for the Paramount Comedy Channel, aired on BBC Three on 27 September, 2007. The BBC then commissioned a full seriescite news
title = News - 'How Not to Live Your Life' gets greenlight
publisher = The British Sitcom Guide
date= 2007-11-15
url =http://www.sitcom.co.uk/news/news.php?story=000331
accessdate = 2008-08-27 ] and the first series started broadcasting on BBC Three on 12 August, 2008 with the first episode, "Home Sweet Home"cite web
title = Home Sweet Home
publisher = BBC
url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00czkxy
accessdate = 2008-09-25] , which introduces the four main characters of Don, Abby, Karl and Eddie. BBC Three showed the first series on Tuesday evenings at the 10:30pm slot.

The series often features the character of Don giving a narrative and talking to the camera, as well as cut away dream sequences where he gives alternative scenarios such as put downs or physical moves he wished he had thought about at the time. For instance, in episode four of series one, "The Young Ones" these include, "Eight Ways Don Shouldn't Dance", "Alternative ways to deal with annoying teenagers" and "What Don wished he had said to his flatmate, Abby, while she was necking with her annoying and square boyfriend Karl on the sofa".cite web
last = Hirons
first = Paul
title = TV Review: How Not To Live Your Life, BBC Three, Tuesday 2 September, 10.30pm
publisher = tvscoop.tv
date = 2008-09-03
url = http://www.tvscoop.tv/2008/09/tv_review_how_n.html
accessdate = 2008-09-25]

Plot

Don is a neurotic, single twentysomething failing to navigate his way through the very basics of life. His biggest enemy is his overactive mind, which plays out countless scenes of things he shouldn't do or say. When he moves into a house left to him by his recently deceased grandmother, he meets Eddie, her over-enthusiastic carer who doesn't want to leave. Don soon realises there are advantages to letting him stay. To help pay off the huge back payments on the house, Don decides to get a lodger. He ends up choosing Abby, the girl he was in love with as a teenager and who he still fancies. However, Abby isn't single. She has a snobby boyfriend, Karl.cite news
title = How Not To Live Your Life
publisher = The British Comedy Guide
url = http://www.comedy.org.uk/guide/tv/how_not_to_live_your_life/
accessdate = 2008-09-25 ]

Episodes

eries One

eries Two

Clark has confirmed that "How Not to Live Your Life" will return for a second series, following Karl and Abby getting back together, in 2009.Fact|date=September 2008

Characters

*"Donald 'Don' Danbury" aka "The Double D" (Dan Clark) Don is the main character. Often acting in a socially inappropriate and impolite manner, he received the house, in which the story centres, after his grandmother died. He shows jealousy towards Karl, Abby's boyfriend.
*"Abby Jones" (Sinead Moynihan) Abby used to go to the same secondary school as Don, and now stays with Don in his house after applying for a room to rent. A primary school teacher, she is currently dating Karl. She is usually extremely tolerant of Don's inappropriate behaviour.
*"Karl Menford" (Finlay Robertson) Karl is Abby's boyfriend. He earns the nickname "cockface" from Don, and the two show visible signs of dislike towards each other. However, Abby often attempts to get Karl to be nicer to Don, and tries to ease hostility between the two.
*"Eddie Singh" (David Armand) Eddie was Don's grandmother's carer, however even after her death, he inexplicably continues to work for Don, caring for him in much the same way he'd care for an elderly client - doing housework, preparing meals, and even offering Don sponge baths in bed.
*"Mr Bitchman" (Frank Gallagher) The solicitor of Don's dead grandmother, he is constantly on Don's case making sure all of his grandmother's requests are carried out, otherwise he will evict Don from his house.
*"Mrs Treacher" (Leila Hoffman) Don's nosey next-door neighbour who refers to him as "dickhead".

Broadcast

Currently, the only broadcaster of "How Not To Live Your Life" is the BBC. However, an American pilot of the show is said to be in production by ABC Studios (formlery Touchstone Television) for the American television network, ABC.

Reception

The series received mixed reviews. The British Comedy Guide said of the show, "The 2007 pilot of this sitcom was average at best, lacking both focus and reason. We really enjoyed the full series though - the stronger premise (Don living in his deceased gran's house and plotting to dispense of Karl and win-over attractive Abby) and the new character of Eddie (David Armand in his best role yet) made all the difference." However, Deborah Orr in The Independent newspaper said in a review of the first episode, "It's a dead cert that "How Not to Live Your Life" will attract no prizes at all. A great deal of humour can be squeezed from observing the lives of stupid men. But Don Danbury is no David Brent and this new sitcom offers nothing except sound evidence that the BBC has now got more airtime than it can fill. This show is an insult to the intelligence of stupid men everywhere."cite news
last = Orr
first = Deorah
title = Last Night's TV: Baton charge has me hooked on classics
publisher = The Independent
date = 2008-08-13
url = http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/film-and-tv/tv-radio-reviews/last-nights-tv-baton-charge-has-me-hooked-on-classics-892699.html
accessdate = 2008-09-25] While Harry Venning in The Stage said, "Pity poor Sinead Moynihan. Okay, don't pity her too much, because she's drop dead gorgeous and clearly in demand as an actor. But it must have been galling to get the second lead in sitcom How Not to Live Your Life, only to discover that the full extent of your contribution would be to look pretty and provide a sensible foil to the show's writer/star Dan Clark. Would it have killed Clark to throw the show's only female character the occasional funny line to deliver? This grump notwithstanding, I rather like How Not to Live Your Life. Clark's unorthodox delivery, combined with Dan's almost wilful unloveability, takes some getting used to, but this is consistently amusing, frequently hilarious and totally addictive."cite news
last = Venning
first = Harry
title = TV review
publisher = The Stage
date = 2008-08-22
url = http://www.thestage.co.uk/features/feature.php/21630/tv-review
accessdate = 2008-09-25]

References

External links

*imdb title|id=1270367|title=How Not to Live Your Life
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00d1nmh "How Not To Live Your Life" BBC Page]
* [http://www.comedy.org.uk/guide/tv/how_not_to_live_your_life/ British Comedy Guide]