The Worst Week of My Life (2004–2006) User Reviews

Side achingly Funny, with plenty of belly laughs and guffaws throughout.

[Scaramouche2004 · 9/10 · 25 August 2008]

This show was without doubt one of the funniest I have seen on television for many long years. It is one of those programmes, you just have to watch alone or only with your nearest and dearest as the grotesque faces you will pull and the snot that will pour from your nose as you laugh uncontrollably will put off people who do not know you quite so well.

Ben Miller is pulling out all the stops to make sure his marriage to Sarah Alexander all goes swimmingly (and lets face it who wouldn't.) Yet despite his good and noble intentions, circumstances are fighting him all the way as one hilarious but cringe worthy situation and mishap blends unceremoniously and continuously into the next.

You have her upper class parents who can't stand the sight of him, and who can blame them after all in the course of just one week he crawls into bed and gropes his future mother-in-law, accidentally throws the the family dog into a fully operational cement mixer, destroys an important painting and almost fatally hospitalises the beloved grandmother. Classic.

His own father is also presenting a problem as he is now heavily and sexually involved with a lap dancer with as much class as public toilet,which again poses a problem with the snobby-in-law elite.

His best man is also hospitalised two days before the wedding calling upon our hero to ask the most unlikely replacement, a beer swigging, foul mouthed, vulgar chav, complete with baggy jeans, stubble and lack of manners to take his place, to his ever lasting shame and regret.

Add to this a psychotic ex-girlfriend from hell intent on either destroying either him or his wedding, this truly adds up to be the undisputed worst week of his life.

With each half hour episode taking up a day of the week leading up to the fateful day and delightful support from all involved this really is an unmissable experience.

Super funny.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 8/10 · 15 June 2021]

Three genuinely wonderful, and funny series of this underrated, and slightly forgotten gem.

Each series focuses on a week in the life of Howard and Mel, from their wedding to Christmas.

There are plenty of belly laughs for you to enjoy, the very first, and second episodes I would argue are the best of the lot in my opinion, and contain moments that are quite literally aide splitting, poor Binky.

Everyone involved is first class, I cannot help but ball laughing every time Dick and Angela appear, they are incredibly funny. Lee Mack quite literally took the character of Dick, renamed him Geoffrey, and placed him into Not Going out.

It's slapstick, it's silly, it's a bit daft, but it is genuinely funny throughout, I just wish we had more of Cassie.

Love it, 8/10.

Laughed more than usual

[kgrbabe · 9/10 · 8 January 2019]

I'm a hard person to get to laugh at any show. I don't know if it was just stupid enough, or actually funny. How can anyone be as clumsy and accident prone? It's good for a laugh, if you need it.

The Best 30 minutes of my week!

[dontloseit · 5 August 2004]

I've never felt compelled to write a review or reply to anything on the net but this is pure genius!

Ben Miller is perfectly cast as a hapless groom to-be, with an incredible knack of constantly digging an ever deeper hole for himself, in the lead up to his impending marriage.

Every week i'd look forward to watch the next cringe worthy installment. It makes a refreshing change to watch a genuinely laugh-out-loud comedy without canned laughter. You'll laugh in all the right places (and sometimes wrong!) Head, shoulders, body and feet above any recent sit-coms. A riotous laugh! Truly fantastic.

Quite brilliant comedy

[alanpriest-53916 · 10/10 · 6 November 2019]

Without doubt the funniest comedy of this millennium, just ahead of the very different but also superb "Inbetweeners". The cast led by Ben Miller and Sarah Alexander are wonderful as is the hysterical script. Scene upon scene in each episode leaves the viewer wanting more, and the empathy felt in the light of the disasters that befall Miller's character add to the hope that all will be well in the end. So underrated and for me a rare 10 out of 10.

Amazing!

[indianabond-14664 · 10/10 · 24 April 2021]

For me it's one of the best British comedies ever made.

Of course so many things happening is unrealistic but virtually all of them are entirely plausible and both the casting and acting are superb.

So many laugh out loud moments.

Such as shame at least another series wasn't made but I have enjoyed watching the show three times.

Fantastic. Only the Englishmen can make. Hilarious!!

[pmteller · 9/10 · 23 February 2023]

I live in the Netherlands, and I know not one tv-station that put this on tv. It was a pure coincidence that I saw a short fragment on the internet. And later also "The worst Christmass of my live". In the Netherlands it was never seen on tv. What a pitty. If you put it now, in this age, it will be stil a great succes. Every episode it's hilarious!! The "unlucky" guy is currently playing in "Death in paradice" as a English inspector to helping the "simple and small" Police force. In the series "the worst week of my live " he is very much in love and wanted to married his girlfriend. There is only one problem, the Girls parents. It's always with the best intensions, but the guy have a aura that says "Keep your distance for your own health".

Remember never to carry a baby's rattle in your pocket

[trimmerb1234 · 7/10 · 7 November 2017]

I'd not seen the series at the time of its transmission and only caught it by accident 10 years later.

Like many I greatly admire Alison Steadman, here though she doesn't an opportunity for the grand grotesques with which she has graced the large and small screens, and on radio (in the form of the very obliging Mrs Naughtie). Here she is well meaning, motherly and tolerant of her sour, sarcastic and humourless husband - played by an actor who has honed this type of role to withering perfection - Geoffrey Whitehead.

Lovely comic actress Sarah Alexander once again plays to her strengths.

The format and some of the laughs are quite familiar - faux pas and foul-ups committed by new husband and soon to be new father played by Ben Miller. One comic situation was unfamiliar - in warmly hugging his mother in law to comfort her, a baby's rattle comes between them. Of all the nightmare misunderstandings, this must rate as one of the worst. So unspeakable that quite believably the Alison Steadman character runs away and locks herself in her bedroom - preventing her from hearing the innocent explanation until some while later. Had this been a big screen version, the Geoffrey Whitehead character would have reacted. This TV production would have benefited from some honing.

Good for Cheap Laughs Only

[acticom · 5/10 · 4 February 2013]

"The Worst Week of My Life" is okay as a mindless situational comedy. But, I think, the average viewer might want a bit more.

Let me explain.

I was enjoying the show's easy flow and cheap laughs, up until the beginning of the second season. This is where I paused for a moment and analyzed the protagonist's character. Almost immediately I realized that Ben Miller's hero does not have a single positive quality. He is self-centered pathological liar, has no principles, compassion or any particular talents, he's a terrible boss and co-worker, and his love for his bride / wife (the only decent emotion he has) seems to be purely egoistical.

In other words, he's totally unsympathetic. And the story suffers as a result, because in order for such a story to be compelling, we, the spectators, must be able to associate with the protagonist, which is completely impossible to do.

I gave the show five stars for its laughs. If you are not an analyzing type, you'll be fine, but because I thought *about* the show a bit, I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth.

Derivative but strangely refreshing

[smartarsebutler · 2 October 2005]

Okay, so you could almost describe it as Britain's answer to 'Meet the Parents', but that is doing this fantastic sitcom a huge disservice. Ben Miller and Sarah Alexander do a fantastic job as an uptight, very much in love and very middle class couple, desperate to get through their pre-wedding week, and the casting of Alison Steadman as the hysterical perfectionist seating plan obsessed mother is a masterstroke. The comedy is constantly farcical and slapstick, but without becoming gross-out (i.e.Farrelly brothers). Do not let claims of tired ideas being rehashed put you off this fantastic britcom, because yes, the basis of the sitcom has been visited a few times before, but this is a fresh take, and the result is an invigorating and exciting exercise in programming. Highly recommended!

British comedy at it's worse

[modwolf · 1/10 · 11 February 2007]

This is by far the worst British comedy ever, how it made it past the first episode let alone the pilot is beyond me. The acting is weak from the main character played by Ben Miller to Sarah Alexander (from the fantastic coupling)right through the cast. The plot/story lines were unfunny and very very predictable using many worn out ideas. A very painful series to endure but sadly put in a slot between two excellent shows. describing it as Britain's answer to ' Meet the parents' does a disservice to 'meet the parents' and is as about as fresh as an old shoe that has a run around with the family dog. Britain should have learned that rip offs from other countries never work from looking at America's sad attempts at doing so.

Brilliant!

[AJ420 · 1 October 2005]

Take Meet The Parents, turn it into a series, add a obsessed lover, add more humour and a dog in cement mixer and what do you get? You get one of the funniest series ever. I only happen to come across the series when i was just sorting my work out and the t.v was running. After i was just hooked on watching it.

It is terrific stuff! Series like these should be made more often though not out and out copies.

Ben Miller is top-class as groom-to-be. Ben Stiller had his moments in Meet The Parents but Miller easily can give him a run for his money. Top Stuff.

My grief that i missed the first episode of it. However, this is still without doubt a much watch for any comedy lover.

Unbelievable Balderdash

[cworld14-989-991707 · 4/10 · 27 April 2014]

Not a one but certainly nowhere near an eight, I'll give it a four for at least some entertainment value.There must be at least some believability even in broad comedy. The situations presented here each week are simply too far fetched. Without giving away any spoilers, let's just say the laws of physics do not exist here. Nor does the protagonist have even the slightest shred of common sense. The endless mishaps that haunt him episode after episode are so unbelievable that they become wearing. British sitcoms are so unpredictable, some are brilliant while most are ridiculous, strange beyond belief or just plain boring or inane. This one fits into all the latter categories. Not much but repetitiveness beyond the first episode or two and highly derivative of any number of movies from the same genre. Seems from the reviews, a show only the Brits can appreciate.

F***ing Funny!

[noeth · 23 April 2004]

Although I would slightly agree that this program is a slight rip-off of "meet the parents" etc., I would also say that it is much funny!

Some of the jokes are obviously going to happen, and you find yourself squirming for Howard. The other jokes come from nowhere and are hillarious.

It may well be unbelievable at times, but that is what true comedy is about! Not boring dull American comedy...

My advise would be to watch the first episode for yourself and if you don't like it or have "seen it all before" then don't watch anymore!

Personally, I can't wait until this comes out on DVD! :)

This is a comedy. Honest

[studioAT · 2/10 · 21 August 2016]

Ben Miller has made a whole career out of playing this type of role. The bumbling, well intentioned bloke, who stuffs up quite a bit. He's even playing a similar role in Tesco adverts currently.

Apparently this show was the one that catapulted him into the big time. Goodness knows why. It's basically 'Meet the Parents' but on telly. It was branded as being a 'return to traditional, old fashioned comedy', but I think that's an exaggeration.

There's nothing really to fault about this show. It's funny enough, it passes the time. The writers have never really come up with anything to top it either.

I like Ben Miller, I didn't like this show.

Old, done-to-death gags

[ssih · 15 March 2004]

As someone who sees far too much American comedy, I always look forward to British sitcoms. The writing is superior, and the average British comedic actor has a far better sense of comic timing than the American counterpart. So I was looking forward to this show, especially since it starred Sarah Alexander, who is absolutely marvelous in "Coupling".

Unfortunately, this outing really looks like it was produced by NBC. The gags are tired and lame. The groom-to-be is eating dinner at the future in-laws and lies about liking the lamb. He spits the meat into his napkin and transfers it into his pocket. Is anyone in the free world surprised when the family dog attacks his pocket? This show is a complete rehash of several of Ben Stiller's movies - Something about Mary, Meet the Parents, etc.

And here's the saddest thing of all. It's still better than almost anything created in America today.

Painfully Unfunny

[matukonyc1 · 4/10 · 8 November 2019]

This show should be funny, yet it's not. It has some of the best comic actors in it, and the writing isn't bad, but for some reason I didn't laugh once, and k watch UK television almost exclusively now. I can't put my finger on what isn't working, but it just isn't working.

If someone forced me to watch the entire series, THAT would be the worst week in MY life !!!!

[edgarhalcyon1 · 1/10 · 12 January 2019]

Acorn TV is currently running this (January 2019). I thought I'd give it a try. The main character is a wimpy liar who's engaged to a woman from a dysfunctional family. I forced myself to get as far as fifteen minutes into the second episode, but my blood pressure couldn't take any more of the trite, predictable interactions. Whomever, at Acorn, added this to their lineup should be fired!