Fat Friends

‘Fat Friends treads a line between comedy and drama exceptionally well’

^{Review by Brian Slade}

Long before Gavin & Stacey were criss-crossing the English/Welsh border, some of its stars had already joined forces to great effect in the gentle ITV drama that first aired in 2000, Fat Friends, a show about the lives and loves of members of a slimming club in Leeds.

The principal characters are Betty Simpson and her daughter Kelly. Betty (Alison Steadman) is married to Douglas (Barrie Rutter) who runs a fish and chip shop, despite the challenge of future son-in-law Kevin (Jonathan Ryland) almost burning the place down when he joins the chip shop behind the counter. Their life is ok, but the spark is gone until the fire reminds Douglas of his priorities beyond cod and haddock prices.

The Simpson’s daughter, Kelly (Ruth Jones) is already engaged at the start of the first series. She and her mother have enrolled at the local centre in the Super Slimmers club as Kelly attempts to trim two sizes in time for her big day, albeit it’s Betty who wins the honour of reaching the regional finals of Superslimmers 2000, where she will go up against other winners in a ceremony hosted by Countdown legend Richard Whiteley.

The core of the series focusses around the lives of the Simpsons and the crossover with other members of the Super Slimmers group. None are thrilled to be there, nor are core parts of one another’s lives, but with a common goal and a less than sympathetic host to their meetings, there is a mutual bond of togetherness as they tackle their weight loss journeys.

Alan Ashburn (Richard Ridings) is all set to celebrate his 20^th wedding anniversary but is horrified to find that when he returns home unexpectedly, his wife is busy carrying on with another man. With their relationship over, Alan falls for fellow club member and magazine journalist Val Lorrimer (Kathryn Hunt) but his desires are rebuffed as Val opts for a male escort over him for a publicity event and jumps into a relationship with her date, ex-rugby player Carl (Jason Merrells).

Lauren Harris (Gaynor Faye) is a group member whose weight loss is as much in the mind as it is in her body. Having landed a part in a soap opera, she is convinced that a small weight loss will reduce the size of her posterior, something she believes is necessary for her part to be a success. She faces mixed messages at home, with her husband poking fun at her size and her mother insisting that she is too skinny.

Jamie (James Corden) is a school pupil who displeases his Mum and teachers, gaining weight by spending his Mum’s money on food and choosing computer games over physical activity since his parents split. Sadly, for him, that results in bullying at school, putting him into a spiral of comfort eating. Jamie is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, as his mum turns to pills and alcohol to fill the void Jamie’s Dad has left.

Running the Super Slimmers club is Carol McGary (Janet Dibley), a sneering slender woman who has precious little compassion for her members, chastising them for the slightest gain at weekly weigh-ins. Her disdain for her brood mirrors that of the owner of the franchise Julia Fleshman (Josie Lawrence) who is constantly sniping at her assistant with an acid tongue and is driven by financial gain. By the second series when she has lost her job with Super Slimmers and formed her own breakaway club, we see a more human side to Carol as she deals with her own eating disorder.

After a more dramatic than most wedding to complete the first series, with more than the odd bombshell dropped on the characters, characters came and went. Lynda Baron and Lisa Riley joined as mother and daughter Norma and Rebecca Patterson, while Val, Alan and Carl moved on.

The clever way the series was centred by the club meetings ensured that its comings and goings did little to alter the show’s trajectory. Although the Simpsons are the main characters, the others tended to have their one focus episode and take minor roles in others, ensuring that none of the departed were overly missed, and none of those remaining were overly crucial to the various storylines.

Most listings categorise Fat Friends as a drama. It certainly is its primary characteristic, but with established comedy performers like Jones, Steadman, Dibley and Lawrence, along with then little-known Corden, there are some significant comic elements. Lawrence, a vastly underutilised talent in television comedy, hams it up perfectly to almost pantomime villain levels as the ghastly slimming club owner.

The dramatic elements are not overdone, but when they are at their most extreme, they are done with a good deal of realism. The attack on Jamie by the school bullies is particularly uncomfortable viewing. And the weight loss journeys are not dealt with flippantly. Society expectations, eating disorders and support networks (or lack of them in some cases) are all encountered with great realism.

There’s no doubting that while Corden’s involvement is infrequent, watching a show with Steadman and Jones at the forefront is more difficult now that Gavin & Stacey has become such a cherished comedy. However, Fat Friends treads a line between comedy and drama exceptionally well, and once we can see past Smithy, Ness and Pam, it’s a very endearing watch.

^{Fat Friends can be streamed on ITVX or Amazon Prime Video}