Dinnerladies - The Complete Series (DVD)

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Outstanding
Characters / Performances	Outstanding
Special Effects	Good
How does it compare to similar films?	Outstanding

Advantages:	Funny, charming, lovely, easy to watch, great characters, great acting
Disadvantages:	No bonus features (almost lost it a star ! )

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Every time I say 'I've never actually seen that' to my current partner they take it upon themselves to sit me down and force me to watch whatever is I admitted to not having seen. As I apparently haven't seen anything I should have (despite it seems spending my time watching TV shows and movies) I have now seen a lot of movies and shows I haven't before. After we finished getting through his Absolutely Fabulous boxset, the next time we sat down together, Dinnerladies appeared before me. And as I did with Absolutely Fabulous I decided it would make a good thing to try and review and in case you haven't realised yet, this is me doing so. My review of Dinnerladies, the complete collection.

Where's This Canteen? - About The Show

In a fictional factory, in the less fictional Manchester, lies a small canteen to serve the workers of HWD Components with a range of tasty food. And this is where the show is set. In fact in the entire series there are no other sets then the canteen and kitchen. This sounds crazy but this concept works.

The show was written by the wonderful Victoria Wood and stars as one of the main characters of the show. It originally ran for only two series between 1998 and ealy 2000 producing a total of 16 episodes, all about 30 minutes in length.

The plot of the show mainly revolves around the canteen workers, as well as those people that frequent their lives such as the handyman, the lady from human resources, and of course their customers. The show is chiefly a sitcom, filmed in front of a live studio audience, but with an undercurrent of more serious issues and themes.

Canteen Employees - The Cast

Bren - Victoria Wood

Bren, or Brenda, is the deputy manager of the canteen. Quite normal compared to her co-workers she's looked up to by most of the other girls. She is often shown to have quite low self-esteem as well as being a little bit scatter brained. She had a hard childhood after her mother had her taken into care, and during the series her feelings for her manager are made clear, though she finds it hard to bring up the courage to do anything about it.

Bren is the most likeable of characters on the show and you'll instantly feel warmth to her, and often end up feeling sorry for her too, often when she's feeling a little low about herself. She's also quite funny, and some of her comments will have you in stiches, especially when she's a little scattered when picking her words! Victoria Wood plays this character perfectly, finding a brilliant ballance between comedy, and making the viewer feel for the character.

Tony - Andrew Dunn

Tony is the manager of the canteen, often finding the environment of an all female work force and often uses his smoking habit to get out of the more bizarre or unsavoury of conversations from his co-workers. He battles against cancer throughout the series and also has a thing for Bren, but keeps it quiet as he worries that she doesn't feel the same.

Tony I feel is a bit of an odd character, and almost just seems a bit, well, normal for this show. His personality is a little dull and most of the time his character doesn't add much to situations. Despite this however, the romance of Tony and Bren does just make you egg them both on, and he does do these bits better than the comedy.

Dolly - Thelma Barlow

Dolly is an older lady, and see's herself as more upperclash, and often comments on bad language in the canteen as well as discussions of a more sensitive nature. She is also shown as obsessed with dieting and always watches everything she eats, including which milk to have in her coffee!

Jean - Anne Reid

A good friend of Dolly's, and also an older lady, but is more of a bitter nature about life, especially about her marriage, and later her divorce. Despite her friendship with Dolly and the rest of the girls she is often shown as moody and will make remarks about everyone around her.

Twinkle - Maxine Peake

Twinkle, or Twink, is the youngest member of the team and is show as a typical youngster. She's sarcastic, enjoys going out, getting drunk and young men, and often arrives late, already wearing her overalls much to Tony's dismay, and often looks at Bren to help her out of bad situations.

Maxine Peake plays Twinkle perfectly and simulates the apathy of a young adult down to a tee. Twinkle's character is quite fun, though not one of my favourites, with most of her humour coming from sarcasm, or references to sex!

Anita - Shobna Gulati

Anita is nice, but dim. She's a very nice person and a pleasure to have around but her stupidity often shines through, asking questions with obvious answers all the time. She also gets a boyfriend in the series, but it's a one night stand that puts her in trouble in the episode Minnellium.

You may know her as the girl out of Corination Street, but Shobna Gulati plays a totally different character here, but pulls off the required air headedness perfectly. It seems a shame that the character has such a small part as she is likeable and often quite amusing, where as less interesting characters get bigger roles.

Stan - Duncan Preston

Stan is the handyman of the factory but has made good friend with the team and so often spends time in the canteen talking with them, or having a drink. He takes his job very seriously and hence takes a large interest in tools and appliances. He often looks down on people who don't do things properly related to his job, but generally is a very likeable and kind person who often helps the girls and Tony on many occasions. At any chance he can he always mentions the fact his dad was in fact a desert rat, working it into any story, no matter how tedious a link.

Stan is mostly loveable, though his angry, stubborn streak sometimes makes him unlikeable as a character. Stan's obsessive nature over doing his job properly is quite amusing though, as well as when dealing with the girls, making him one of the better characters. Though his strange obsession with the canteen toaster is a little odd!

Petula - Julie Walters

Petula is Bren's mother, but not a very good one. She's always begging Bren for favours and money, and usually gets what she wants by manipulating her daughter. She lies and emotionally manipulates her daughter, and seems to live in a fantasy world where she is friends with big celebrities, when in fact she's a bit of a bum, living in a caravan near a petrol station.

Julie Walters as Bren's mother often acts as a total scene stealer, she's a great character. Walters plays the part to a tee, somehow making you hate and love the character at the same time. She isn't in every episode like the rest of the cast, but her appearences are done perfectly at the right moment, just when you think you've got rid of her. Her relationship with Bren is played out brilliantly with a great mix of comic and dramatic effect which is a real credit to the series.

Philippa - Celia Imrie

Philippa is the lady from human resources but is shown as disorganised and often a bit useless. She's the only character from the south of England and so her accent stands out from the rest of the group. She often tries her best to sort out staff problems but usually with no avail!

Philippa is a bit of a weird character as I didn't like or dislike her. She's not always as funny as some other characters but I still feel her part in the show is an important one, by adding a different perspective outside of the canteen area, and of a higher level of staff. She is played very well by Celia Imrie, who gets the character just right for the job of Human Resources.

The Menu - Episode Guide

Starters - Series One

There are just 6 episodes in the first series of Dinnerladies, all originally shown in 1998.

Monday - The first episode is just a typical day in the canteen to get you to know the characters. Jean takes control of plans for her daughters wedding, perhaps a little too much control, for an all out wedding. Meanwhile the rest of the day goes as normal. Twinkle arrives late, and the rest of the team's conversation degenerates as usual, leaving Tony pushing them to do some work, and Philippa, the new human resources girl, trying to push the team to bond via Scottish dancing.

Royals - The girls gossip as they speculate over which member of the royal family is going to take a tour of the factory. They end up disappointed when they find out it's the Duke of Danby, someone they've never heard of, except Stan who met him before but is disappointed when the Prince no longer recognises him. Despite this they go to their best efforts to push the boat out, but it enevitabley doesn't go as planned, as Anita blurts something stupid out, Twinkle can't say anything, and the duke makes a suprise suggestion to Bren.

Scandal - Problems arise for everyone when Bren's mother moves her caravan behind the factory to lie low with her knew fiancé, 16 year old Flint, as the girls get excited over the prospect of starring in their own docu-soap. Apart from taking over the canteen, and being highly flatulant, Petula causes, problems for the entire factory arise when Clint's mother blockades the factory gates, demanding that Petula leave the factory, and her son. Anita then comes up with an idea how this can be solved... with a good chat show. So using the press from outside they set up the show in the canteen for Flint's mum and Petula to bash out their differences.

Moods - While Bren and Tony start their day chirpily, the rest of the work force aren't so cheery and tempers soon fray. Anita gets upset when she thinks she looks like Fatima Whitbread, Stan shuts himself in the bathroom, Jean and Dolly argue incesently and Twinkle is convinced she's pregnant. And so Philippa comes up with the questionable idea of a tea party, with all the staff's mothers. This idea however proves to be as useful as a chocolate teapot as most mother's end up causing trouble, and that's even before Petula arrives.

Party - A Christmas party is organised with a Japanese theme to promote a possible merger with a Japanese company. Tony asks Bren to go with him, but Bren's mother breaks these plans by inviting herself, and bringing a gormless (but comedically brilliant) girl for his date. Jean and Dolly try to deal with their husbands bad behaviour, Anita gets a little too friendly with the alcohol, Twinkle complains about boring old people, Petula tries it on with anything that moves and Tony and Bren try their best to salvage anything from their evening.

Nightshift - After worrys over the future of the company, a big order comes in to save the day, but it's due really soon, and so the factory is set to work 24 hours a day, leaving the canteen to do the same. Tony however is not in, having chemotherapy, and so the new manager tries to shape up the place, but soon enough she's managed to make the entire work force angry and leave, leaving Bren and Twinkle, until Twinkle realises the night shift is optional. And when the new manager leaves too it leaves Bren all alone, with no possible way to feed the workforce on her own.

Mains - Series Two

There are 10 episodes in this second series of Dinner ladies shown late 1999 into 2000. Each episode was set on a particular date as to give you a time reference between episodes.

Catering - The team welcomes a work experience girl onto the staff, despite the fact she seems a bit useless. But problems start when the decorators arrive a day early. They try to move their equipment in but get their ladder stuck in the canteen, blocking the bread woman's exit, as well as stopping her from going to the bathroom! And so the team try all the can to come up with an idea to save the day, or perhaps the bread woman should just wet herself.

Trouble - Jean's husband as left her, and this means trouble. She becomes moody, irritable and aggresive towards everyone she talks too making everyone fed up of their work. Meanwhile a bunch of flowers starts people guessing on Bren's love life, while Anita bores everyone with tales of her boyfriend. Tony gets sick of the talk about Bren's love life, but eventually asks her to join a group of staff on holiday which she accepts. But then there's Bren's mother who turns up and claims to be pregnant.

Holidays - It's time for their holidays and Bren is excited to be going on her first proper holiday, and intends to go on a shopping spree to buy herself some new clothes, a proper treat for her for once. However when her mother's caravan blows up, her mother asks for £500 to pay for it, out of Bren's holiday money. Bren stands strong but after Stan's dad dies, and speaks about regrets of not helping out his Dad when he could, Bren caves and hands her mother the money, much to everyones dismay, especially Tony, who looked forward to the holiday with her.

Fog - Heavy fog decends on Manchester allowing a prisoner to escape nearby, sending everyone on high alert. Meanwhile the National Blood Service turn up at the the factory to ask for donations. Stan tries to get it one with one of the nurses, Philippa tries to leave Mr. Michael and the team speculate that Bren is pregnant after some symptoms point in that direction: her breasts ache, and she keeps feeling sick. Meanwhile the staff become suspicious of a security guard in the canteent after hearing the escaped prisoner likes uniforms... but it turns out it is Jean's new boyfriend, leaving the real prisoner to go undetected.

Gamble - The girls have a bet on with a member of another department, over whether Bren and Tony will get it on before Christmas, with the prize of £50 riding on it. Rumours spread after Bren arrives with Tony the next morning, though the explaination is very innocent, as they simply talked about Tony's cancer. The rest of the team however start getting in the mood for Christmas, with Stan angry at Philippa for losing the canteens decorations. And at the end of the episode, at long last, Tony and Bren kiss, only to be interrupted by someone unexpected.

Christmas - Christmas finally hits the canteen, but all is not merry as Bren worries about the events of the previous evening, after Tony met her husband, whom she's now seperated from. She starts to worry that Tony no longer likes her, only exacerbated by Tony's weird actions through out the day, avoiding questions about their Christmas plans. Bren worries so much she eventual goes to hand in her notice, sure it can't work out with her being there, since Tony doesn't like her. Just as she's about to leave it reveals the weird behaviour was all in aid of a suprised birthday (Bren's birthday being the same day) and Christmas present, all organised by Tony, and so they head off to enjoy Christmas together.

Minnellium - No, don't adjust your monitors, I was supposed to spell it like that! The episode title comes from Bren's mispronounciation of the word throughout the episode. It's New Years Eve and the team have been preparing food for a once in a lifetime banquet organise by Philippa, who is highly stressed as she tries to make sure everything arrives on time and ends up snapping at everyone. Eventually it turns out that the city centre has been closed for traffic and so some people are left behind, stuck in the factory where they bond over a glass of champagne. Everyone has calmed a lot until Tony steps out for a fag, to find a baby on the fire escape...

Christine - As a result of the events of new years the kitchen is in need of a new member of staff, and she comes in the form of Christine. Dolly likes her at first, but the rest of the team aren't convinced. After various accidental insults and incidents, as well as her terrible smell, the staff soon start complaining about her. They eventually force her to make a round of coffee, but she accidentally puts viagra in one of the cups, after Twinkle tries to get some for Tony. Thinking she's drank it, and worried for her health, Dolly goes into a rant, causing Christine to leave. A social worker then turns up to talk to Bren to convince her to let her mother stay with her, though she really doesn't want her too.

Gravy - In this penultimate episode everyone is considering moving on from the factory. Tony and Bren consider moving to Scotland to run a B&B, Twinkle considers becoming a lapdancer and Dolly just can't wait to retire, and even Philippa decides she should move on from the company. The feeling is worsened when a self clear system is introduced into the canteen making the staff, especially Bren, feel a little useless, confirming her decision to go to Scotland. Her mother turns up and announces she only has three weeks to live, and Tony and Bren find they don't quite have enough money to make the move... but then find that Bren has been accepted onto a quiz show with a prize of £10,000.

Toast - Bren gets ready for the final round of the quiz show, but goes to visit her mother in hospital first, while Stan spends the afternoon waiting for his skip to be taken away. The team are suprised when Bren doesn't turn up for the TV show, but she soon returns to the canteen, clutching a rubbish bad and a video tape, and says her mother has died. The video tape is a video will, where as Dolly disposes of the bin bag. They sit down to watch Petula's will, only to find out the bag is full of money, and Stan says the skip has left, with the money in it. Philippa then tells them the canteen is to be closed once and for all, but it is then they hear a lorry drive up... the skip hasn't gone yet.

Food Critic - My Views

The type of humour here is very light. It doesn't require much thought and is often just a bit silly, in a good way. I feel it's a perfect show to sit and watch peacefully without much involvement. It's not the funniest comedy, and the storylines wouldn't exactly be Oscar winners but there is a huge charm about the show that you feel from the start. Despite the off the wall situations you get, it still feels quite real, and all of the characters are recognisable in real life, which is perhaps where the show gets it's humour from.

Most of the main characters are good and interesting, but some of the best moments come from the array of additional characters through out the series, from one off's to regulars. There's the bread man who mentions his agraphobia at every possible moment. (He fell of a diving board in Guernsy.) There's the brilliant character in the episode Party, who Petula brings to the Christmas party as a date for Tony. Her name escapes me but her social awkwardness and weirdness is hilarious, and just shows that even the minor characters are brilliant in this series, as well as most of the main ones. The show also handles running jokes well, by not over using them and keeping them simple, but not forced.

This show has it's charm and it's main strength comes from it's uniqueness; there really isn't anything like this anymore. It's definitely worth checking out as it's just a bit different, which was a risky move on Victoria Wood's part, but it paid off and became critically acclaimed, and it is a shame it only ran for two series, as it's better than a lot of stuff on television nowadays!

Food Presentation and Specials - The Boxset and Bonus Features

The DVD set my partner has differs from the pictures shown. This set comes in a very bright orange box, containing three slimline DVD cases containing the episodes. The box and the DVDs all show the same picture of the cast, which is a bit boring really. The only difference is the text and the picture on the back! I feel they could have made it at least a little more exciting. I do like the slimline DVD cases however, as it makes the set look neater and takes up less space on your shelf, which is a blessing if you end up with as many DVDs as me! The set contains all 16 episodes of Dinnerladies which have been made.

One thing to note is that the episode 'Christmas' from series 2 is listed as being on the second disc of the second series, however it is in fact on the first disc. So it's not missing, it's just moved next door! Confused me for a bit to say the least.

Unfortunately this DVD set doesn't contain any additional features! No documentarys, deleted scenes, outtakes or anything! This is a little bit of a let down as extras for this sort of DVD set are usually worth watching so it is disappointing they couldn't find anything to put on here.

This is currently available for only £12 for the whole series, which is a bargain for 16 episodes of great TV.

One a different note, there is now a stage production of Dinnerladies, which I'm now tempted to see, starring the original Tony and Anita. It is based on the romance between Tony and Bren from the second series of the show.

Will I Eat Here Again? - Summary

This show is a near perfect light hearted comedy, which helps it widen it's appeal by simply making it so easy to watch. It's funny and charming in all the right ways and Victoria Wood's world she created is one you come to love as you watch the show. The only let down is the presentation of the episodes, with a boring DVD case, and no extras, but the episodes are top notch. I will definitely recommend their canteen to all my friends, and hope to eat again there soon!