Excluded

Last night there was a new drama on BBC2 as part of their Education season. This was Excluded by Brian Fillis, who I hadn't previously heard of though he was nominated for a BAFTA in 2007 for his drama (now, don't laugh) Fear of Fanny, charting the career of TV chef Fanny Craddock. Despite the silly name wish I'd seen it as Fanny and Johnnie Craddock were played by Julia Davis and Mark Gatiss who are both brilliantly funny and pretty dark (just watch Crooked House, Night-Night or the criminally underviewed pilot Lizzie and Sarah). Anyway, I digress. I tuned into Excluded because it was billed as 'partly improvised' which interested me. It's a very brave writer who allows people to improvise. An interview I once saw between Larry David and Ricky Gervais demonstrated both ends of the spectrum, obviously David's Curb Your Enthusiasm being the best example of improvisation and Gervais saying he scripted The Office to within an inch of its life, no improvising allowed. I was interested to see how the improvisation worked in Excluded, but with a classroom full of kids it was hard to see what was scripted and what wasn't. It's a risk to let people improvise, and even more of one to let kids do it, who have a tendency to over-act even within the limitations of a script. It was a good show, but for me didn't have the magic that should have been there. Though I admire Fillis' bravery. More of that, please.