Why We Love - Spaced.
13 years on, we look back at the nerd-friendly TV series that gave Simon Pegg his breakthrough.
Spaced is unglamorous, only ran for two series and it’s been nearly thirteen years since it first aired. Or if I reattach my sense of humour; Spaced is brilliantly funny, finished exactly when it should and is still as laugh out loud now as it was thirteen years ago.
Consisting of 14 episodes, each around the 24 minute mark maybe there should have been more, although as a fan even I can admit it was better that they quit while it was still funny than let it drag on until the ratings finally dropped. Spaced did wonders for the careers of those involved; it was Nick Frost’s acting debut and stars Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes as Tim and Daisy, with cameos from Bill Bailey and David Walliams.
It starts as a relatively typical boy meets girl story - Tim is heartbroken after being dumped by the manipulative Sarah and Daisy is soon dumped by her boyfriend, who lives in Hell, sorry, Hull. The show quickly deviates more or less avoiding the rom-com genre all together; instead it goes on a series of strange but oddly true to life tangents.
Refreshing for a series about young people to not only be written by young people (Pegg and Hynes) but to focus on something other than whether the two main characters will get together in the end. Admittedly the possibility of a relationship does come up but it’s sweet and there isn’t an airport chase scene, which makes a nice change.
Also often the mark of a good comedy is how often you can quote it. Spaced does not fail to deliver on this front and another of the joys of the show is that not a huge number of people watched it first time round. So if the time is right and you deliver a spot on line from the show and someone actually knows where it is from, well there you have it you have found yourself a friend for life, even more so if they have the box set. On the other hand, sometimes the comedy gods do not look kindly on recycling one liners and you will be left standing there like some kind of humour pariah.
To my shame some of the ‘pop culture’ references which slot themselves throughout each episode still go over my head, a sure fire sign that I haven’t been watching enough of the right kind of films. Though most of them are so ingrained culturally that not having seen the film being referenced doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t know exactly where the reference is from. If you still don’t get it, there is enough joy to be had as a result of Simon Pegg’s late '90s bleached blonde hair; it is really quite the sight.
Subscribe to the SG News Feed
