User reviews

Based on the book by Nick Hornby Funny Woman start's with a Blackpool beauty queen, who has her future mapped out for her. Bored in her Blackpool rock making factory, destined to marry the local butcher. She gives it all up to head south to London in search of fame and fortune.

As always this does not go to plan wannabe comedian actress Barbara Parker aka Sophie Straw. Works her way through various mundane job's in between auditions before getting her break in a TV situation comedy written and staring by oxbridge performers who fail to grasp her northern humour.

Set in the swinging sixties Funny Woman is a delightful nostalgic trip through the period of early television and how women were faced prejudices to be seen as funny in what was a man's world. 8/10.

I largely enjoyed Funny Woman but I do understand the negative reviews. The problem, IMO, is the show is about a woman in comedy in the 1960s and not actually a comedy.

Gemma Arterton plays Barbara Parker, an attractive woman who learned to love comedy from her father. The show is about Barbara rebelling against the stereotypes associated with being an attractive woman and wanting to make her own way.

When it sticks to that premise, it's fantastic. We see Barbara fighting to be comedic when everyone else just wants to see her assets. Her relationship with her father is an absolute treat.

Another great part of the show is the relationship with her friends. Women sticking together instead of stabbing each other in the back.

It's great as the show runner, writers, and other lead slowly understand she's funny, that audiences laugh at her. Is she actually funny to modern viewers? Not really but considering Lucille Ball is the standard she measures herself against, you get what she's trying to do.

Where it fails is when it tries to be comedy, particularly the slapstick scenes they throw in every episode that are just totally out of place. It's not a comedy! Even the writers seem confused by this, let alone the viewers.

This would be one of my favorites if they stuck to the premise instead of trying to make it comedic. It's a drama and a darned good one.

Had assumed this was going to be a pretty predictable romcom or such given the trailers but it actually turned out to be a really nice heartfelt story of rags to riches with unexpected comic smarts from Arterton, who knew she could do comedy. There's ups and downs to her fortune along the way so not all rise and rise. It's not just Arterton who does well though, the whole cast are great, Everett, Batemen, Davies and Ali all contribute to a very enjoyable way to spend an evening. Unclear if another season is on the cards but I'd say there's legs in the characters but they'd need another story arc. Fingers crossed.

Loved this mini-series. These days, they usually go on for too long, but there's not an ounce of fat on this one and it breezes by in six episodes.

Gemma Arterton shines as the funny woman, and Rupert Everett is quite hilarious, seemingly channeling Alastair Sim a bit. The rest of the cast is excellent, and the script is very fine. I haven't read the book, so I cannot compare the two, but I found this totally enjoyable and highly entertaining. The recreation of the 1960's was very good, including some imaginative use of vintage films of London with Arterton skillfully inserted into them. Highly recommended.

What an astounding tour de force - Gemma Arterton is simply astonishing and owns every second on screen.

A rags to riches tale of nostalgia and the golden era of tv. Funny touching and always endearing without becoming treacly.

I am hoping that the 6 episodes are not the only time we get to see the life of Sophie Straw/Barbara Parker & the crazy 60' world of showbiz and it's characters.

I seriously believe that Miss Arterton has announced to the world that she is here to stay and her stay is on the rise again after her performances in this excellent show. A huge success and a great adaptation of a Nick Hornsby novel.

For me, Funny Woman was a fabulous accidental find ...so needed a laugh tonight after a bleak day. Thankfully Funny Woman gave the laughs I needed...Gemma Arterton is mesmerising on screen & perfect as comical Sophie Straw. Loving this show & need more...such a great find! Hope there's a series 2, 3, 4 etc...thanks for great television, such a rarity today... Sophie Straw aka is Barbara Parker from Blackpool; Funny Woman is set in the swinging 60's & Barbara is off to London to make a better life for herself. This she does with gusto & great humour...love the music too! Great watch tv that is essential viewing...

Gemma Arterton shines brightly. Most of the show is wonderful. I was underwhelmed with bits here and there. Yes, it successfully illustrated the non-woke mentality of society 50+ years ago. The show is a peculiar blend of lightweight fluff and drama. Sometimes I wished it was more comedic or more dramatic. As I said, a peculiar blend. There are dramatic scenes and I didn't feel that level of drama carried through from scene to scene. Likewise there were comedic scenes that were rather slight. In fact most of the comedy was regulated to the sit-com segments itself. Again, I wasn't sure the dramatic aspects really punched through enough to glue it all together. A pleasant baby boomer, pop culture romp but I'm hesitant to commit to watching a season 2.

They've created the perfect, feel-good comedy drama with this. Everything about this just works. I can't think of anything at all which could make it any better. It's beautifully written, beautifully photographed and its optimism just makes you feel happy. You can't help but smile when you watch this.

In some ways it has a similar feel to the American show, MRS MAISEL but because the characters are more normal it's a little more relatable. It's instantly engaging and you yourself are fully on board with Sophie's journey. Gemma Arterton was born to play this role.... and Rupert Everett is hilarious.

What a treat this show turned out to be. Gemma Arturton in the lead was quite stupendous, consistently bringing every emotion to every scene - she ought to be right up there when the tv awards are handed out. Indeed, the whole cast are superb and so believable. Feel-good, yes, but I reckon it would be almost impossible not to be pulled in every emotional direction as this programme just gets better and better as it goes on. It would be great if a sequel came along, however, somehow it could just as well stay as a one-off. Finally, it should be thought of as a virtually unique tour-de-force and possibly one of Sky's ever dramas.

I'm on the fence with this one. I thought I was enjoying it but I don't think I actually was. Not as much as expected anyway.

I found the main character annoying and a bit unlikeable. It was hard to root for her and the final scene with all that blabbing - she would have been fired and that's that. It was the 60's ! It seems that the series was supplanting those times for a modern take. I don't think it worked.

At time it was amusing, but definitely not funny. Slapstick was considered hilarious back then but it hasn't aged well.

So a bit of a hit and miss, the music was wonderful though and the best thing about the series.

From the writing to the perfect casting, I enjoyed every nanosecond of this series. I sincerely hope there will be a season 2, 3, 4.... Infinitium.

Such a light hearted but still genuinely felt approach to the real issues that the 60's and 70's were trying to deal with, make it more than palatable for even the hardest conservative viewer.

There wasn't one character out of place, nor one subject matter mishandled..

Emma Arterton is truly a delight for the eyes and the soul and completely inspiring to every female, even in today's world.

I was only disappointed that there were just 6 episodes in Season 1.

To this reviewer, the oddest thing about the reviews is how few members elected to bring Mrs. Maisel into the mix? Both shows are about women finding their voice in comedy. Both shows rely heavily on nostalgia. And both shows suffer the exact same critical flaw, namely that they are about comedy yet rarely funny. The best comics of this century, and also the last one, viewed comedy more as a science than an art form. They knew how to set up a joke, wait for the punchline, build on the audience response, and ultimately create a "symphony of laughts" to close the Set, while also looping back to where they started. So far no major network show from either side of the pond has deigned to look into this process. So we wait patiently. And hopefully. ((Designated "IMDb Top Reviewer." Please check out my list "167+ Nearly-Perfect Movies (with the occasional Anime or TV miniseries) you can/should see again and again (1932 to the present))

Great cast. Passible acting. Great sets. Great music. There is one glaring absence. Anything funny! I really wanted to love this but there is nothing even mildly amusing. Barbara (whilst shlepping into 'funny') is just excruciatingly annoying. She demonstrates herself doing a wide verity of accents and yet can only apparently speak with a Lancashire accent. They should have looked at The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel to see how this kind of thing can be done properly. It's not that the whole drama isn't done with sensitivity or affection it's just that even the apparently funny bits that have the audience in stitches aren't funny. Such a shame.

We loved the entire cast, especially Gemma Arterton/Barbara. Tom/Clive was believable and predictable but so darling. Barbara's facial expressions say so much, she's a brilliant actress. Dennis's demeanor was a perfect complement to the group and he was so sweet but savvy about the business side of TV. Matthew Beard's role was very different from his Vienna Blood role, he's quite versatile. The show is well written, touching and hilarious. The music from that era added s lot to the storyline. Cinderella's dream really did come true. We believe it's reality in the '60s.. We want another season please!

My review:

Genuinely a lovely bio-pic of so many girls from "up-North" who tried to escape the dull drudgery of 1960's Britain in hope of fun and Bright Lights in London.

Characters are well drawn, and easy to identify with, ruthless executives who control light-entertainment without a hint of comedy! Some genuinely funny lines, and physical comedy moments. As a writer myself, I understand what challenges they faced in the 60's and early 70's with Mary White house's moral crusade to clean up TV. She must be spinning in her grave with what we see on our screens today?

Laugh and cry in equal measure as we follow the Blackpool beauty Queen on her journey, with pitfalls and excitement along the way. Having worked in Oxford Street in the 1980's nothing had changed in the canteens from the 60's, still very recognisable! Lots of nice original footage interlinked with the main character galavanting through London.

I watched it back to back on Catch-up, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

I am old enough to remember all of the sixties, though I was more or less still a child when the decade ended. The period detail, in terms of scenery etc seems authentic. The characters are more or less right, except, whilst feminism became a thing during the sixties, it wasn't, I think, quite such a big deal as it is for the cast here. The show writers here are obviously meant to be Galton and Simpson (albeit that those writers are referenced by the characters) and I guess that Dennis is Dennis Main-Wilson. The two main characters of the show within the show being an unmarried couple though is a bit anachronistic. Yes, in the cinema the reality of life was being portrayed, in stuff like A Taste Of Honey, Poor Cow, Up the Junction etc and I think it may have been touched upon in TV drama, but not in the sitcoms everyone sat down to at 7.30pm. Anyway, it's not quite real but it's amusing enough.

This period comedy drama from Sky is absolutely fantastic. Mixing old film with original content it looks great and the attention to detail is amazing. Gemma Arteton is superb in the lead role and steals every scene she's in , but the supporting cast are also great with some very well known faces. As has already been mentioned, Rupert Everett channels his inner ,Alistair Simm brilliantly , playing a sleazy theatrical agent drawing on , what seems like , a very broad experience of the real thing !!

The series is accompanied by a brilliant sound track with a blend of reggae , Northern soul and pop .....a great story with top notch acting and great camera work.

Gemma Arterton is quite simply brilliant in this adaptation of Nick Hornby's Funny Girl.

You'll be rooting for her all the way through and although you might have to take a few things with a pinch of, would that have really happened in the sixties, salt, there is so much to enjoy from the soundtrack to the spot on 60's sets and by no means least the laugh out load humour and cast chemistry.

Speaking of the supporting cast, they really bring their characters to life. Special mention for Arsher Ali who conveys so much without saying anything and Rosie Cavaliero for showing the frustrations of giving up everything for others.

I came away from each episode wanting more, just fantastic all round. Here's hoping there will be a second series.

Gemma Arterton is very good, although at little too goofy at times and could have benefited from being a bit more subtle.

Rupert Everett is unrecognisable. A treat to see someone doing a great piece of character acting.

However, I just had to give up at the start of episode 4.

The depiction and attitude towards TV in 1964 is completely wrong. There was definitely nothing like the euphemistic sex scene towards the end of episode 3, comedic or otherwise.

The talk show introduce at the start of episode 3 was, again, completely wrong. There was nothing like this on TV at the time.

It is completely wrong to suggest to later generations that this was an example of 1960s TV; is this an example of culture correction or just poor research?

I know it is supposed to be a comedy, but in my book using profanities for cheap laughs is just substandard writing. The language on TV these days is unacceptable. It is a disrespect to the viewers to introduce it into homes of people from a generation who find it offensive. It was always meant to be offensive. When did that change? It was absolutely never on TV.

Using it in comedy is just the lowest point. It's not funny. It is jarring, abrasive and disrespectful to the audience.

This is a missed opportunity. It could have been good if a little more research had been done into the standard of TV back in 1964 and how the script writers hands were tied by the restrictions that there were.

Also, as an aside, you would not have been allowed into a high class restaurant wearing a tee shirt and slacks. It was all suites, collar and ties in those days.

I don't know why we need to write six hundred words to say we loved this series. Maybe because it deserves all the praise possible. In an era of horror, melancholy and sci-fi with the intention to make you feel depressed and hate this series is a breath of life. A movie so wonderfully nostalgic for the good old days of comedy, cuteness and innocence and with truth that's still so relatable today. Very original story. Casting excellent. Script completely engaging with an excellent can't take your eyes of cast. Comedy it is but with very real issues. More of this please. Deserves an excellent score.

Original, funny adult series. Give us more!!

Especially entertaining if you lived during this era. Arterton is a comic genius, and I hope we see more of her. Blended serious drama into this hilarious comedy. Cast is completely engaging and supportive of her character. Should be interesting to see where they go with the themes.

The music of the era is brillantly used to emphasize themes and plot twists (I am struggling to get enough woirds into this review, as I think I hace covered the primary and salient features). You really should make it a point to see all of this rare adult rom/com, I excitedly await the sequel.

There should be more of these feel good nostalgic TV programmes. Lovely period piece set in the 1960s. Main character Barbara obviously based on Lucille Ball who was the famous zany female at that time and very pretty. Loved that Barbara was northern which as well as being female challenge to getting a comedic part on TV. Would have scored 10 except I think the story was stretched out a bit toward the end and could have been told in less than six episodes. Gemma Arterton plays the part very well indeed and I note is on the production team. Some clumsy, obvious efforts to try and raise 21st century woke issues.