CS Weekly Archive > DVD of the Day > 8/26/05

Ca Marché!
One Biting, Character-centered Comedy Series

by jason davis

Series 1 & 2 written by Peter Tilbury
Series 3 written by Geoff Deane and Paul Makin

Series 1 & 2

Series 3

Gareth Blackstock (Lenny Henry) is the best chef in England, a fact not lost upon the kitchen staff he continually berates with scathing hyperbolic metaphors [Ed. note: Picture House's acerbic Dr. Gregory House running a restaurant] or his affection-starved manager/wife, Janice (Caroline Lee-Johnson). Despite Blacksock's abuse of those around him, the series does a marvelous job of humanizing a character who could easily become an ogre by offering up his personal life to contrast his work. Through the two sides of his life, the audience is made to understand his devotion to his craft and the comedy that results from his inability to balance work and home or express himself in reasonable fashion. Leaning on the triumvirate of Gareth, Janice, and the former's unpaid apprentice, Everton Stonehead (Roger Griffiths), the first two series offer up quality, character-driven comedy, with Gareth's social ineptitudes providing the bulk of the laughs. Series three's change in writers resulted in an uneven attempt to create an ensemble comedy, with Janice marginalized to recurring status and Gareth's tirades reduced to subtle garnish on an unsatisfying soufflé. An interview with Lenny Henry discusses the show's conception.

Chef! The Complete Collection (Series 1-3)
BBC Home Video
Not rated; 582 min.
$59.92

Buy it now for only $41.94 (save 30%)

At the age of 21, Jason Davis was hit in the face with a car. He has since devoted his life to writing. His words have appeared on TBS, MSN.com, and CS Weekly, where he serves as DVD Coordinator. He lives in Burbank..

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