The end of the fourth series of Man Down had plenty to get your teeth into, with chaos, comedy and pathos all thrown in.
Dan (Greg Davies) has finally been able to move out of the retirement home and into his own place, while Brian (Mike Wozniak) has quit online dating and Jo (Roisin Conaty) has got a normal job as a receptionist. While moving his stuff into his car, Dan finds the tires have been slashed, and then he gets a phone call from Brian telling him that a custody battle is about to take place which may result in him never been able to see his baby son again.
Carol (Ruth Bratt), the cleaner at the retirement home says that her father can drive Dan to the court and Dan takes up the offer. However, when he goes the wrong way Dan discovers just who Carol’s father is: Daddy (Tony Robinson), who has kidnapped Dan in order to get his revenge, using Carol to stop Dan from learning about the custody hearing. Dan needs to find a way to escape and get to the court in time.
As with all of Man Down, many of the funniest moments come from the slapstick, which includes Dan jumping out of Daddy’s car to escape – only to find out that they were already at the end of the journey anyway; and Dan then being attacked by Daddy’s pet goose. There is also some moving stuff amongst all the panic, with Dan desperately trying to prove his worth, all the way through the series, that he can be a good father, and giving a speech at the end of the episode to prove it, albeit one that is clearly poorly thought out.
Man Down may not be the biggest sitcom around, but it has some of the funniest comedy moments of any sitcom currently on. It’s certainly the only show to feature Dennis Taylor bound and gagged to a tree. It looks like there will plenty of more action in to come, as after the credits we see Dan six months later in his biggest spot of bother yet.
Man Down is on All4.
