Before we begin, a few words of praise for the celebrated comedian and actress Catherine Tate.
I thought she was excellent when I first saw her in an episode of That Peter Kay Thing.
Her BBC sketch show produced at least five memorable comedy characters that have stood the test of time – and taste – far better than their Little Britain contemporaries.
And, as an old school Doctor Who viewer, I much preferred Tate’s Donna Noble to many of the modern Doctor’s other companions.
Which brings us to now, and her new sitcom Queen Of Oz, which, you’d have to hope, has left her wishing she had access to a real time machine.
Thanks to David Jason’s The Royal Bodyguard, Queen Of Oz cannot be labelled the worst regal BBC sitcom ever made. It’s a strong second though. The premise appears to be: What would happen if a flame-haired, party-mad, reckless spare to the throne was banished to another country as a consequence of their embarrassing behaviour?
If that Prince Harry reference was too subtle for some, I can assure you it was the only subtle thing about this sitcom.
The deeply unclassy opening scene was like a Little Britain throwback.
Tate’s obnoxious Princess Georgiana was performing a public engagement while battling a massive hangover… and promptly vomited all over a schoolgirl fan. Seconds later she did it again.
And the pattern for this and the next five episodes was set: Do a joke and then repeat it.
That trick might work in a sketch show format, but it was horribly exposed here.
The other major problem was that whenever Georgiana was being defiant all I could see was Lauren Cooper saying “Am I bovvered, though?”
Likewise, whenever Georgiana got angry I fully expected her to go full Nan and start yelling “Whadda f***in’ liberty!”
Speaking of which, I took the liberty of watching the full series. It doesn’t improve.
In tonight’s episode Georgiana puts a kangaroo out of its misery on a hunting trip.
By the final episode, which sees Georgiana throwing up on someone again, I couldn’t help thinking the kangaroo was the lucky one.