DVD
Funland

Starring: Daniel Mays, Sarah Smart, Ian Puleston-Davies, Judy Parfitt and Roy Barraclough
BBC DVD
RRP: £19.99
BBCDVD1863
Certificate: 18
Available 26 June 2006


Carter Krantz arrives in Blackpool to avenge the death of his mother. Without a penny to his name and carrying only a fragment of paper containing the words "Ambrose Chapel", he is sucked into the most disturbing of mysteries. The dysfunctional Woolf family are at the heart of everything that happens in Blackpool: there's Shirley Woolf, a borderline psycho; his mother, the evil and manipulative Mercy; and his foolhardy wife Connie. Also in town are the Suttons, Dudley and Lola, hoping for a dirty weekend to spice up their marriage. Little do they suspect that their stay in the Shangri-la guesthouse will turn their world upside down... their lives will never be the same again...

Funland is a dark, comedy thriller, the brainchild of BAFTA winning writer Simon Ashdown (Eastenders) and multi award winning League of Gentlemen co-creator, Jeremy Dyson. In fact viewers will soon discover that this is not that dissimilar to the League of Gentlemen in it's dark take on the world.

Set in Blackpool this 11-part series follows the exploits of three separate groups of people over the course of a long weekend. It exposes the bleak heart of the resort town lifting the lid on a seething pit of intrigue, deception and unspeakable secrets.

Carter Krantz arrives in Blackpool to avenge the death of his mother. Without a penny to his name and carrying nothing but a piece of torn paper containing the words "Ambrose Chapel", he is sucked into a series of disturbing events which take him on a journey through the strip clubs, brothels, glamour studios and seedy hotels that crowd the town, coming up against their unlikely, but strangely compelling inhabitants along the way.

Dudly and Lola Sutton are also in Blackpool in an attempt to spice up their marriage. Little do they suspect that their stay in the Shangri-la guesthouse will turn their world upside down.

Then there's the highly dysfunctional Woolf family with, borderline psycho, Shirley Woolf at its head, his evil mother Mercy and his foolhardy wife Connie. The Woolf family seem to be at the bottom of everything that happens in Blackpool.

Each of the eleven 30 minute episodes opens with someone in a gorilla suit climbing up the Blackpool Tower, losing their footing and then plunging to their death. The twisted events unfold until we finally find out which, if any, of the cast we come to know over the course of the series is the poor fool that ends up falling to their death King Kong style. To remind you of this fact every episode also contains a gorilla costume in at least one scene. After a few episodes you start to wonder why almost everyone seems to own one, but that is also cleverly revealed towards the end of the series.

The first episode sees Krantz turn up in Blackpool looking to avenge his mother's killers. It's not long before he tracks down Ambrose Chapfel (Mark Gatiss) thinking he is the killer. This is an obvious homage to the Alfred Hitchcock movie The Man Who Knew to Much - Ambrose Chappell is also a taxidermist.

Each of the three groups of characters have their own little mysteries to uncover. For Lola and Dudly, it's their sham of a marriage; for Carter Krantz it's the truth behind his mother's murder; and for the Woolf family its... well, now that's the big surprise.

Amongst the main cast there isn't a bad actor in sight. Everyone is perfect for their roles. But, amongst the supporting cast I have to single out Roy Barraclough, who Coronation Street fans will remember as Alec Gilroy, who plays Blackpool's Mayor. Barraclough is one of this country's finest comedians - anyone who remembers him from his time working with Les Dawson will understand what I mean when I say that it's a shame that he's never really had the full star treatment he truly deserves. Here, in Funland, he gets to walk the tightrope between farce and serious drama and proves that he is more than capable of pulling off both.

Judy Parfitt, as Marcy Woolf, is also unnervingly believable as the real power behind Blackpool's nightlife. Parfitt usually portrays queens, duchesses and aristocrats on screen, and her screen presence is amazing. She's also a remarkably attractive woman, especially when you consider that she is just the other side of 70.

There are some inspired cameo roles including Ewan Bailey's twin roles as the two Swedish brothers Erno Elorante and The Surgeon. In fact I couldn't help noticing a canny similarity between Erno and co-creator Simon Ashdown. And I loved Ron Cook as the hitman - his whole story arc, as small as it is, is really quite sad. Also, Simon Greenall is unrecognisable as Ken Cryer - you may remember him as Michael the Geordie ex-soldier in I'm Alan Partridge.

The only real think that spoilt it for me was that Kevin Eldon's part was too small and also the surprise reveal was also signposted a mile away. He's in the credits from the early episodes, so when a picture of him is shown later on it's not difficult to work out who his is. But then I suppose this will only spoil things for those who know who Eldon is.

Extras include audio commentaries with Dyson and Ashdown on five different episodes (Dyson states that they didn't do a commentary for every episode as they felt they'd run out of things to say. This is true as the commentary on episode 10 is seriously starting to flag. Although, I couldn't fathom why they didn't do a commentary on the final episode to explain any problems they had wrapping up the entire story); Behind the Scenes (30 minute featurette that interviews cast and crew on set - Daniel Mays, who plays Carter, gives a little too much away about his character); Developing Funland (6 and a half minute featurette that interviews the writers on the show's origins); Blooper Reel (3 minutes of not very funny outtakes); Deleted Scenes (8 minutes of scenes that were cut - most of which are dull); and Coleen Sings (4 minute segment in which we see the whole song sung by Coleen to entertain Erno Elorante - your ears will bleed).

Some of the interesting insights on the commentaries include the fact that Ian Puleston-Davies, who plays Shirley, once suffered from obsessional compulsive disorder, so they were impressed when he got down and dirty cleaning up the blood in one scene; the fact that shoes feature heavily in this series; that originally Ambrose Chapfel's exhibition was going to be filled with stuffed animals dressed as celebrities; and the fact that Chapfel makes a little Carter exhibit with a squirrel wearing his clothes - something I missed on first viewing.

At the end of the day Funland is a lot of fun. It's dark, compelling viewing that will have you glued to the screen for the duration. Go and buy this.

Darren Rea

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