Nathan Barley Reviews

AMAZING

One of the cleverest shows there has been. Now this is satire. Dan Ashcroft is a legend, a hero with some massive flaws. Superbly acted and impeccably executed. The likes of this you don't see very often. Takes until about episode 4 before it starts getting hilarious, but its done so well you can't complain.

Marvellous. Thank you Chris Morris.

what a shame

this was pretty awful

I couldn't watch after first episode

even the bloke from the boosh looked embarrassed

It's well Mexico yeah?

Imagine if Chris Morris had co-written Spaced and you'd be getting close to Nathan Barley. If you like any of Chris Morris's work you're probably going to like this. It doesn't quite have the endless quotability of BrassEye or The Day Today, it's not as surreal as Jam, but the Morris trademarks are there - the hilarious wordplay, heavy stylised visuals and attention to detail. The characters are all good and the actors perfectly cast.

It helps if you know the scene being sent-up here, the London media types with the must have accessories, using scooters to get around their converted warehouse offices, but it's not essential.

Excellent, but don't expect to be belly laughing all the way through.

infotainment

'Today: ridicule. Tommorrow: really-cool!'

Being desperately cool, not giving a fcuk, having loud offensive telephone conversations on buses (with his impossibly futuristic phone) but never really doing work while still being proper rich; Nathan Barley is certainly one of the most outragous+accessible in a long line of hateable sitcom characters (in the tradition of David Brent & Alan Partridge). Its a great concept, trendy & challenging

Even though it's the opposite of the shows intentions; i'd love to be Nathan Barley!!

INFO-TAINMENT!!

[Highly rated reviewer]

Oh dear Mr Morris...

As a big fan of Chris Morris, i expected this to be half decent.

...I was pretty disappointed!

I missed the whole series when it was aired on channel 4, so i've been waiting a long time to see this. But, it really wasn't worth the wait! I think it was a bit toooo wierd for a Morris show, and just not enough laugh out loud moments to make it worth while.

Classic that will endure

Now this is a series that has polarized opinion widely throughout the interweb. The reason for this derives primarily through certain expectations viewers have from co-writer and director Chris Morris. And the fact that this had been billed and expected as a comedy.

I think this is misleading. Nathan Barley's format is sitcom like, in the sense that it is fed to us in 6 half hour portions with recurring characters tackling humourous situations in each installment. What differs is the discomforting seriousness with which the writers treat Barley and his cronies. It comes from the type of unyielding dislike you would expect from co-writer, Charlie Brooker. It's a dark comedy-drama surely, that's how I read it.

I'm certain that as time goes on, people will accept Nathan Barley into the canon of Morris's finest work and I also think that Nathan Barley speaks volumes of the integrity of Brooker. Both writers could easily have made it more traditional, more laugh-out-loud with likeable characters (you can't ever feel sorry for the Ashcroft's). Instead they have chosen to articulate a strong statement about the world of new-media and the ignorant, hack ridden, style-obssesed culture that lies therein. We're lucky they share their ideas with us.

Finally, it's really beautifully shot and directed. 5 stars.

Funny stuff but..

the picture quality isnt great by any stretch of the imagination.Also it has one of those annoying menus that you have to wait for whatever part you want to go to to come up on the screen rather than using the remote to select it.The series is of course a tad bit hit and miss,with some very funny parts such as elizabeth the hairdressers cat being killed,the bad uncle song and some of barleys stupid buzz words 'keep it plastic yeah,orson f***ing wells'.However the series was a bit confused,your meant to identity with dan ashcroft but really hes a unlikeable loser as well and as the series carrys on you actually start to like barley more,even if he is an utter pleb.The extras are ok,the redub seems a bit odd and I cant really see the point in it.The pilot epiosde is basically a couple of the aired episodes together with some different actors.It includes all the TVgohome write ups though,about 45 pages of it,which is a good read.If your into Chris Morris stuff then rent it,but its no Brass Eye

Nathan

Very underrated. Hope they make another series.

Nathan a bit one dimensionall buffon but was getting some depth towards the end of the series. Great spoof on all things shoreditch. Fu*king W*nkers.

Everyone could love this if they only gave it a chance

Burns' performance is brilliant and so well measured. It is no suprise that this comedy is gold considering it was written by Chris Morris and the genius behind Tvgohome, Charlie Brooker. I'm from suburban Northwest England and I don't even know how true to life these characters are but it's funny enough anyway. slick visuals and fantastic performances make this a classic, don't dare let it be forgotten.

A satire not a comedy

I was glad to see that someone finally had the idea to satirise these people and I thought with the minds of Charlie Brooker and Chris Morris, this would turn out to be a brilliant series. But unfortunately, it does miss the mark. It's clear to me that this is a satire and not a comedy.

I felt that perhaps that the two of them concentrated on venting their venom on the world that these Nathan Barleys live in instead writing a good comedy. I think if it could have been written and directed as a satire, then it would have worked brilliantly.