Sitcoms concerning sport generally have not been very successful, aside from the cricket themed 'Outside Edge'. In 1973, Ronnie Barker played the leading role of a football trainer in 'Spanner's Eleven', a sitcom pilot for his 'Seven Of One' anthology show scripted by Roy Clarke. It had some funny moments but was not deemed successful enough to spawn a series. In 1989, Eric Sykes against his better judgement signed up for a short lived, and frankly dreadful, golf themed sitcom entitled 'The Nineteenth Hole'. In 1993, BBC Scotland commissioned a sitcom about boxing entitled 'Punchdrunk'. The show was written by Brian Clarke ( who wrote under the pen-name Clayton Moore ), who had previously gained some writing experience providing sketches for 'Scotch & Wry' and 'Naked Video' ( in particular a very funny one for the latter in which a drunk piper vomits through a set of bagpipes whilst trying to play them ). Sadly, despite the interesting premise, the show didn't pack much of a punch and lasted for just one series. Despite some very funny moments and some witty dialogue, it is not particularly hard to see why, but more on that later.
The show centres around Vinnie Binns - played by the late Kenny Ireland - a slovenly boxing manager for a failing boxing gym whose career is hanging on by a thread. His best fighter, Danny Boyle ( Grant Smeaton ), is forced to retire after being seriously injured in his last fight. Other problems Vinnie suffers from is that his father, who once owned the gym, was popular amongst the fighters and Vinnie often feels he is trying to hard to follow in his late father's footsteps. As if that isn't bad enough, he also has fierce competition in the shape of Pat Hunter ( played wonderfully by the late Sean Scanlan ), a corrupt rival manager for a more salubrious, more successful boxing gym and who has a habit of poaching Vinnie's fighters. Pat's new protege is the muscular Slug ( Gilbert Martin ), a spotty faced thug with the brain of a zombie.
One night in a pub, Vinnie and his assistant Neillie ( the late Jake D'Arcy ) spot a young man involved in a pub brawl and impressed by his fighting skills sign him up for the gym. This is Hance Gordon, a handsome, sharp tongued bare knuckle fighter with the potential to be a star fighter. However, things are not plain sailing from there. Vikki Brown, a bright headed female doctor, who leads a campaign to abolish boxing, tries to put Vinnie out of business but ends up involved in a romantic entanglement with both Vinnie and Hance.
By all accounts, there was much friction between the cast and production crew. Allegedly, Ireland threatened to walk out on production unless the scripts were re-written so that he would get the girl, which stretched belief as no one would believe that a posh, good looking woman like Vikki would take up with a slob like Vinnie. Also, unlike the earlier 'Just Good Friends', there was no suspense or build up to the romance between Vikki and Hance either. Everything seemed rushed and left the show with too many voids to fill. I am not surprised that Moore never sold another sitcom. The drama involved in the making of 'Punchdrunk' would have been enough to put any writer off the idea of trying to sell a show again! The performances were strong, particularly from John Kazek, who made for a likeable enough protege as Hance. Claire Nielson was rather good in the role of Hance's blowsy mother Elsie and as I stated at the start of the review the show was not without its funny moments but after just six episodes the towel was thrown in and Clayton Moore stepped out of the ring forever after that.
The show centres around Vinnie Binns - played by the late Kenny Ireland - a slovenly boxing manager for a failing boxing gym whose career is hanging on by a thread. His best fighter, Danny Boyle ( Grant Smeaton ), is forced to retire after being seriously injured in his last fight. Other problems Vinnie suffers from is that his father, who once owned the gym, was popular amongst the fighters and Vinnie often feels he is trying to hard to follow in his late father's footsteps. As if that isn't bad enough, he also has fierce competition in the shape of Pat Hunter ( played wonderfully by the late Sean Scanlan ), a corrupt rival manager for a more salubrious, more successful boxing gym and who has a habit of poaching Vinnie's fighters. Pat's new protege is the muscular Slug ( Gilbert Martin ), a spotty faced thug with the brain of a zombie.
One night in a pub, Vinnie and his assistant Neillie ( the late Jake D'Arcy ) spot a young man involved in a pub brawl and impressed by his fighting skills sign him up for the gym. This is Hance Gordon, a handsome, sharp tongued bare knuckle fighter with the potential to be a star fighter. However, things are not plain sailing from there. Vikki Brown, a bright headed female doctor, who leads a campaign to abolish boxing, tries to put Vinnie out of business but ends up involved in a romantic entanglement with both Vinnie and Hance.
By all accounts, there was much friction between the cast and production crew. Allegedly, Ireland threatened to walk out on production unless the scripts were re-written so that he would get the girl, which stretched belief as no one would believe that a posh, good looking woman like Vikki would take up with a slob like Vinnie. Also, unlike the earlier 'Just Good Friends', there was no suspense or build up to the romance between Vikki and Hance either. Everything seemed rushed and left the show with too many voids to fill. I am not surprised that Moore never sold another sitcom. The drama involved in the making of 'Punchdrunk' would have been enough to put any writer off the idea of trying to sell a show again! The performances were strong, particularly from John Kazek, who made for a likeable enough protege as Hance. Claire Nielson was rather good in the role of Hance's blowsy mother Elsie and as I stated at the start of the review the show was not without its funny moments but after just six episodes the towel was thrown in and Clayton Moore stepped out of the ring forever after that.
