Watching this took me back twenty years in a heartbeat. From that first scene, as the mobile phone goes off. You'd always have something wrong with the otherwise impressive shield wall.... Dayglow orange flashes on the shield, the bloke with the trainers....
The Viking wedding, shown in flashback, with Barbara (Anne Reid) looking very awkward. Um, yes. Remember that one.
But really, this is about the ability (or lack) of people to change. Richard (Eddie Marsan) is too busy being what what he's been for probably twenty years. As Cath (Jessica Hynes) tells him, he's too busy being Julian's (Ewen Bremner) best mate, and as Julian still lives with his mum... Cath on the other hand gives the appearance of having moved on from battle re-enactments, though its more she got fed up of being turned into a camp follower.
We follow through Richard's painful process of attempts to win Cath back, as he tries to go back to when they met, tries to spy out the opposition - Gary the PE teacher (Paul Nicholls), tries to challenge him to single combat, and then misses son Martin's (Joseph Hamilton) play.
At the same time, Julian is trying to socialise online with fellow Trekkies, setting up a disastrous meeting with Kim (Matthew Leighton), but accidentally meeting Maggie (Bronagh Gallagher) in the process.
Caught in the middle is Martin, bullied at school, falling for Emily (Chloe Hesar) in the process, getting fed up with his dad's obsessions, but ultimately pushing him to the exact place he needs to be.
It all comes together in the final section, with a great battle against the rival battle group of Normans, where Gary turns up, finally humiliated in a one-to-one combat with Richard.
The overall story arc is predictable, but the journey is well plotted, scripted and for some of us, squirmingly funny to watch.
Let's have more of these!
The Viking wedding, shown in flashback, with Barbara (Anne Reid) looking very awkward. Um, yes. Remember that one.
But really, this is about the ability (or lack) of people to change. Richard (Eddie Marsan) is too busy being what what he's been for probably twenty years. As Cath (Jessica Hynes) tells him, he's too busy being Julian's (Ewen Bremner) best mate, and as Julian still lives with his mum... Cath on the other hand gives the appearance of having moved on from battle re-enactments, though its more she got fed up of being turned into a camp follower.
We follow through Richard's painful process of attempts to win Cath back, as he tries to go back to when they met, tries to spy out the opposition - Gary the PE teacher (Paul Nicholls), tries to challenge him to single combat, and then misses son Martin's (Joseph Hamilton) play.
At the same time, Julian is trying to socialise online with fellow Trekkies, setting up a disastrous meeting with Kim (Matthew Leighton), but accidentally meeting Maggie (Bronagh Gallagher) in the process.
Caught in the middle is Martin, bullied at school, falling for Emily (Chloe Hesar) in the process, getting fed up with his dad's obsessions, but ultimately pushing him to the exact place he needs to be.
It all comes together in the final section, with a great battle against the rival battle group of Normans, where Gary turns up, finally humiliated in a one-to-one combat with Richard.
The overall story arc is predictable, but the journey is well plotted, scripted and for some of us, squirmingly funny to watch.
Let's have more of these!