Mrs Merton and Malcolm

Mrs Merton and Malcolm was a six episode BBC One sitcom produced by Granada and written by Caroline Aherne, Craig Cash and Henry Normal. It has never been repeated on the BBC although a DVD was released^[1] on 10 November 2008. A planned Christmas special episode was abandoned before the original run had finished.

Format

The main characters were Mrs Merton (Aherne) and her son Malcolm (Cash), who live together in Heaton Norris with the bedridden and almost invisible Mr Merton, who has died by the last episode.

Each episode follows a very strict format, following the course of a single day. Mrs Merton and Malcolm have a conversation over the breakfast table at the start, and at the end she puts him to bed and then has an eerie one-way "conversation" with the silent Mr Merton. The events of the episode prove so exhausting or over-exciting for Malcolm that his mother always offers to ring work for him and get him the following day off.

The central event of each episode is the visit from friend of the family Arthur Capstick, played by UK sitcom veteran Brian Murphy, who mentions something to Mrs Merton (usually about the death of a neighbour) and then forgets he's said it. He has a cup of tea and is offered a snack, but dithers over which one to have, despite the fact that "they're all the same, Arthur". He then says he'll pop up to see Mr Merton, but forgets to go and has to be prompted. He takes with him some type of traditional sweet treat for Mr Merton, and sits beside the bed and entertains him somehow.

In episode 3, Mr Capstick goes upstairs to see Mr Merton before he has his cup of tea. After he has his tea, he says he'll go upstairs to see Mr Merton, so this radical diversion from the routine is too much for him in his senile state.

Steve Coogan is a constant presence, providing the voices for an unctuous disk jockey and Malcolm's motivational tapes, and also appearing in the last episode as the vicar. Mr Malik the chemist appears in several episode, played by Rashid Karapiet.

The show is characterised by a strange persistence of attitudes and fashions apparently preserved from decades earlier. Malcolm is 37 and has the personality and interests of a child, although not a contemporary one: he likes building model aeroplanes. The implication is that the characters have been trapped in a timewarp since the late 1960s, and that this is probably as a result of Mrs Merton's firm insistence that things should stay as they are, even if we must occasionally make an effort to stay in touch with the present: "People don't want trifle in the 90s", as she puts it.

Episodes

Note: for each episode there is a key to Mr Capstick's activities, of the form: (Snack/Treat/Entertainment), indicating what snack he is offered by Mrs Merton, what treat he brings for Mr Merton, and how he entertains Mr Merton.

Episode 1 (22 Feb 1999)

It's Malcolm's 37th birthday. His height is measured by his mother, but it turns out to be the same as last year. No one turns up to his party apart from Mr Capstick, despite his mother having made "potted beef sandwiches", referring to a low-cost sandwich filling that has been declining in popularity as the UK's post-war living standards have improved.

(Garibaldi biscuit/Sherbert lemons/sings "Oh What a Lovely War")

Episode 2 (1 Mar 1999)

Justin, a precocious young neighbour, comes to visit. He competes with Malcolm in Snakes and Ladders, apple bobbing, hula hoop, musical chairs, arm wrestling, ping pong, Buckaroo and as a tie-breaker, tiddlywinks, which Malcolm narrowly wins.

(Malt loaf/Victory Vs/plays the spoons)

Episode 3 (8 Mar 1999)

Malcolm finds love at the chemist, but will shop assistant Judith Potts fall for him? He successfully invites her to the pictures, even though his mother has discussed his dandruff in front of her.

(Madeira cake/Barley sugars/sings "If You Were the Only Girl (in the World)")

Episode 4 (15 Mar 1999)

Malcolm is poorly, and although he doesn't want to bother the doctor Mrs Merton is worried about her little boy. It transpires that a snake is being delivered at the pet shop where Malcolm works and he was worried about handling it.

(Fig biscuit/Glacier mints/sings "Starman" by David Bowie)

Episode 5 (22 Mar 1999)

Mrs Merton's Scottish identical sister Morag comes to visit, and Mrs Merton turns cupid as she tries to pair Morag with Mr Capstick. There are several references to Mr Merton's breathing apparatus requiring attention, but Mrs Merton keeps putting this off.

(Lemon finger/Pear drops/sings "The Drugs Don't Work" by The Verve)

Episode 6 (29 Mar 1999)

As Mrs Merton comes to terms with the loss of her bedridden husband, Malcolm adjusts to his new role as man of the house. We hear that he gave a recorder recital of "Three Blind Mice", and went on the bouncy castle. The usual routine with Mr Capstick is played out but with some necessary differences: he can only mention the sweet treat he most recently brought for Mr Merton, and he sits by the now vacant bed and sings in a surprisingly moving scene.

(Custard creams/Nut Brittle/sings "Seasons in the Sun" by Terry Jacks)

Catchphrases

The main catchphrase of the show is an enthusiastic exclamation of Malcolm's. Roughly transcribed, it is Treeeemendows! (tremendous).

When Arthur Capstick is invited to choose from a plate of identical snacks, he is unable to make a selection quickly enough, causing Mrs Merton to prompt him with "They're all the same, Arthur!"

Mr. Capstick's initial general response to anything told him in conversation is "I don't know, eh?"

Critical reaction

The show achieved relatively high viewing figures for a new sitcom, but the critical reception was generally hostile, with Time Out magazine describing it as "possibly the most disturbing show on television". The writers were taken aback by the reaction.^[2]

Criticism focused mainly on the character of Malcolm. The writers insisted that their intention was simply to create an absurd situation for comic effect, but some critics took Malcolm to be a semi-serious depiction of mental illness or a sufferer of infantilism, and others suggested that there was something incestuous about the relationship between Malcolm and his mother, perhaps due to comments from Mrs Merton about Malcolm's handsome appearance such as, "Oooh, If only I was thirty years younger, and not your mother". The show itself acknowledges Malcolm's unusual state of development when Mrs Merton refers to him as "backward".^[3]

Mrs Merton also dominates her invalid husband, who is completely bedridden and mute, and so barely exists as a character except as a lump under some bedsheets. Her one-sided conversations with him give the impression that his condition suits her lifestyle perfectly well. On Malcolm's birthday she says, "It's days like this I wish your father wasn't bedridden!" Malcolm is also quite unmoved by his father's condition; he has a go on the bouncy castle at the funeral. The only way it affects him is that it reminds him of when his pet hamster died. This aspect of the programme, combined with the lack of a laughter track (still relatively unusual for a UK sitcom at the time), caused some critics to regard the show as unbearably bleak.^[4]

Fans of the show defend it on the grounds that, far from being valid criticisms, these aspects are essential to the humour and should not be taken so seriously. In the years since it was broadcast, several critically praised UK comedies have centred on characters trapped in bleak situations (The Office), and humour directed at targets previously considered inappropriate, such as the mentally handicapped and their overbearing carers (Little Britain). Both these trends reached an apotheosis in Nighty Night, a critical success that has so far yielded two series and a US spin-off.

As a result of the critical fallout, the writers decided to focus instead on a second series of their other creation, The Royle Family, which was far better received by both critics and audiences.

Development

The character of Mrs Merton had previously appeared for four years in her own spoof chat show, The Mrs Merton Show. In it, she very often mentioned "my son Malcolm" but he never made an appearance until after the sitcom. His screen debut occurred in some advertisements for British Gas,^[5] which were the direct forerunner of the sitcom.

There are a few references to the BBC corporate hierarchy in the script. Malcolm's miserly boss at the pet shop is called Geoffrey Perkins, then the Head of Comedy at the BBC. Mr Capstick also mentions how he and Mr Merton used to go scrumping for apples in Mr Yentob's garden (a reference to Alan Yentob).

References

1. ^ DVD Information on Amazon.co.uk
2. ^ Time for a heated debate The Independent, 29 Mar 1999
3. ^ Mrs Merton and Malcolm BBC Comedy Guide
4. ^ Television Review The Independent, 23 Feb 1999
5. ^ The UK Sitcoms Guide, memorabletv.com

External links

• Mrs Merton and Malcolm at the British Comedy Guide