Shane (2004– ) User Reviews (15)

Really good

[colinpeppiatt · 12 May 2004]

I'm really enjoying this series. Very talented cast, with Skinner well supported by the excellent young actor Tony Bignell, who displays great comic timing.

Kelly Scott looks to have a big career ahead of her as she excellently plays Shane's pretty late-teens daughter Velma, while Schneider, Norris and Berrington assist Skinner with their experience as comic actors.

The jokes are funny, the actors give good performances as likeable characters and the plots are amiable enough. Good, light-hearted entertainment; there is certainly space on the market for good quality sitcoms such as this.

Shane

[studioAT · 1/10 · 12 July 2020]

A sitcom so bad even ITV didn't show the second series.

What more can you say?!

About as funny as a flu jab.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 4/10 · 27 October 2022]

Shane, a middle aged mini cab driver and father of two goes from one crisis to another.

2004, wasn't exactly a vintage year for comedy, and this had to be the worst offering, and perhaps one of the worst sitcoms of all, it's no wonder the second series was never transmitted, ITV clearly realised that they had a real turkey on their hands.

Frank Skinner, I am a fan, but the material was atrocious for the most part, jokes that were either thirty years out of date, or not funny. Elizabeth Berrington was totally wasted throughout, the highlight was young Tony Bignell, who played Lenny, great timing.

One decent episode, where Lenny has to interview his great gran, it's an episode saved by two mature actresses in Edna Dore and Rosalind Knight, the pair injected some much needed humour, sadly for the most part, the rest of the series just wasn't funny.

4/10.

Decent and clever comedy

[garycallon · 8/10 · 7 November 2006]

I came across 'Shane' after flicking through the channels one evening and found 2 episodes back to back on Paramount Comedy. I was initially put off by seeing Frank Skinner as the eponymous lead character as I have found him irritating in other ventures he has done such as his chat show and Fantasy Football. I did however stay long enough to catch some of the very clever comedy and one liners and ended up watching both episodes, with a feeling of wanting to see more. The sitcom revolves around the life of Shane, who is a minicab driver, and his family and circle of friends, such as Bazza the taxi controller and Sheila the barmaid in their local. These characters are well cast and there are also strong performances from Shane's son, Lenny, 16 year old daughter Velma, and Myrtle his wife. The humour and one liners between Shane and Lenny particularly stood out for me, as did the conversations between Shane and Violet - a fare that he picks up from the hospital in one episode that has just had a sex change operation.

I would recommend this as a sitcom for anyone looking for a 'different' type of sitcom.

Underrated to heck

[RobCattani · 9/10 · 24 February 2021]

Very funny show ,there is a second series out there that needs to be shown .

Worst Ever Sitcom?

[PurpleProseOfCairo · 19 May 2004]

This is dreadful. How much further can Skinner fall? I thought he was one of the funniest people in Britain at the time of Fantasy Football and his live shows of that era. His "chat" show saw him going soft and buddying up to cretinous b-grade celebs, and now this...

Basically, it's his stand-up act CRAMMED into a sitcom format. The other characters exist merely to mouth strange convoluted non-sequiturs which we then realize are the feed-lines for Frank's "gags". All they're short of is a red flag and a bullhorn to shout "INCREDIBLY PALLID JOKE COMING!"

There's misogyny, homophobia, a script so weak you feel like asking it to have a lie-down, and acting performances that would be embarrassing in a school play. (Re Frank's Family: Memo to sitcom writers - KIDS CAN'T ACT! Get it through your thick skulls!)

The son is particularly aggravating - one of those kids that only exist in TV land, always making with the pithy one-liners, delivered deadpan but with a peculiar squint, like his shoes are pinching or something.

Frank, get back to basics. ITV seem to be trying to get rid of this stinker as quickly as possible (three episodes on consecutive nights this week) - Frank should follow suit and do what he does best.

What a turkey

[rtaylor900 · 21 June 2004]

SHANE has to be one of the worst sitcoms of all time. Skinner is about as funny as a hangover on a hot day. Is that how to write a sitcom, just line up a load of schoolboy one-liners and attempt to write them into the dialogue. Who are the executives at ITV who commission such dire rubbish and why are they still employed.

It is bad when we have to suffer such bad attempts at comedy but ITV always end up with the BBC and Channel 4 "has beens" although in Frank's case a "never was". But good luck to Skinner for front, he certainly has no artistic pride in whatever he seems to be invoved in, he may be a decent bloke but as a comedian and writer he stinks.

The trade descriptions people should prosecute Frank Skinner and the ITV producers for stealing prime time entertainment slots. If Skinner and ITV had got their comedy timing right, SHANE would have gone out at 2am in the morning so as to ensure a bit of sleep for the insomniacs.

There must be something better than this

[tjcclarke · 26 May 2004]

I don't usually have the strength to complain about ITV1's output. I figure it is a commercial station with a large, loyal mainstream audience and that mine would be a solitary dissenting voice among the legions of Coronation Street and Robson Green aficionados. As long as my license fee does not contribute to the pap it habitually produces, I am happy to simply steer well clear. However, occasionally a programme enters my radar that is so bad, I feel obliged to speak out. Shane is one such programme. I consider myself an apathetic slob when it comes to spleen-venting – usually a shake of the head and some mild tutting is all I can muster when something gets my goat. If I'm really cross, I might be moved to change the channel. But if the BBC had the audacity to commission drivel like this, I would have half a mind to right a stiff letter to the Director General demanding my money back.

Despite it not being my cup of tea, I have the utmost admiration for ITV viewers. Anybody with the mental fortitude to regularly sit through Heartbeat and Emmerdale and actually enjoy them deserves credit, but they are being made mugs of here. Funnily enough, I actually quite like Frank Skinner. With the right format and a warm audience he can be genuinely entertaining. Fantasy Football League made him a household name, but before that, he was a successful stand-up in his own right. Good for him, but, memo to ITV executives: That does not mean he can act or write sit-coms. Skinner should have had the sense to look at previous examples of stars who have signed exclusive 'Golden Handcuffs' deals with ITV (Des Lynam and Ross Kemp, for example) – it is professional suicide.

I can just imagine the embarrassing fawning and ego massaging that must go on at ideas meetings: 'Wow, Frank – a sit-com? Great idea – we'll give you carte blanche. A taxi driver, you say? Brilliant! I know, you can even sing the theme song! This is going to be amazing!'

Actually, it isn't amazing. It is quite, quite awful. Skinner's forte has always been his risqué gags but here he is hampered by ITV's cosy family reputation so most of those are out of the question. Instead the smut is masked by hackneyed Carry On style innuendo. Unfortunately, as turns it turns out, the risqué gags are about all Frank has in his locker and in any sit-com, if the comedy is lacking then the situation had better be pretty damn impressive. Here, it is about as criminally unoriginal as it is possible to be: A rude, neglectful husband; a good-hearted wife (quirkily attractive, but still suitably mousy and put-upon); A rebellious teenage daughter; A younger smart-alec son; A local pub with buxom bar-maid. I won't go on – you get the picture. In the one episode I watched, the only discernible purpose of the other characters was to act as stooges, spoon-feeding Skinner his punch-lines. Any merit the jokes may have had to begin with is mercilessly siphoned off by the clunking, contrived set up:

Baz (to barmaid): I'll have a Coke, please.

Shane (to barmaid): I'll have a pint of Cider

Baz: 'Ere Shane, your daughter's over there with her new fella

Barmaid: Ice and lemon?

Shane: In Cider??

Baz: No, I think they're just talking

'There must be something better than this,' Skinner laments in his whining, Elvis-Costello-wannabe, West Midlands drawl during the title sequence. My advice to viewers is to take his word for it and switch to Channel 5.

Not at all bad....

[jasonkstar_66 · 19 August 2004]

Now before i get started don't think i am biased towards Frank Skinner because he is from the same city as me.

I thought Shane wasn't a bad sitcom not brilliant and it wont be remembered as a classic but I thought it was a damn good attempt. Frank himself is not the greatest of actors but he tries his best and his great supporting cast covers up his lack of acting experience. The script was pretty good and and at times is very clever and witty. All in all i would rate it a 6.5/10 I would have gave it a seven but because the sitcom was on ITV (and we all know ITV's drab history of sitcoms eg 'Sam's Game 'Babes in the Wood') It spoils it just a little.

Pitifully Unfunny - par for the course for Skinner.

[ffa1 · 21 April 2004]

You can replace the questions marks in "2004 to ????" with 2004! This one is a total turkey.

A series of lame double-entendres (and the odd abysmal "dream sequence") from start to finish. The people on the canned laughter track are clearly imbeciles (or relatives of "Fun Time" Frankie.)

Here's an example of Skinner's dialogue:

Shane and his mate (played by David Schneider) are discussing a girl who has propositioned Shane:-

Shane: "I didn't say much at all"

Shane's mate: "Poker face"

Shane: "I might do"

Pitiful, just pitiful. If you laughed at this you're probably dead.

0 out of 10.

P.S. Why can't we give ratings to TV series anyway?!

Very Funny Breath Of Fresh Air !!!!

[MaxRenn83 · 22 April 2004]

This new Sitcom written by and starring Chris Collins (Frank Skinner), is a breath of fresh air from ITV (especially after that awful show "The impressionable Jon Culshaw"). It seems that a new series of "The Frank Skinner Show" will not emerge this year, but I found this as equally entertaining in it´s place. The first episode was aired last night, and I watched it today on video. I thought it was written well, and loved the way every gag fit into place. Congratulations Frank, on producing another fine 30 minutes of television (if only it were longer!!) P.S. I loved the six cents joke. Classic Skinner !!!!

One of Frank Skinners best situation comedies.

[Sulla-2 · 4 August 2005]

Well there's only other actually, called Blue heaven. There's a lot of snobbery in some of the comments made here about this programme. It does NOT claim to be the most original thing since sliced bread. Those who say there is no real plot are correct. It is a bit on the crude side BUT it is really really funny and appeals to my simple sense of humour. Conffession time....Frank comes from my part of the world and supports the same football team. I do, however, like all of his programmes and this is no exception. It is NOT an all time classic, but like someone else has commented I like way a joke continues throughout the episode. I also really like the episode when he has the night vision goggles.

Very funny

[smaley · 18 May 2004]

For me there is always doubt over any sitcom, or perhaps any comedy in general broadcast on ITV. Their track record just doesn't match the BBC in recent years. However, watching 'Shane' I found myself laughing almost constantly.

Admittedly 'Shane' is almost totally a vehicle for Frank Skinner to deliver more of his one liners and occasionally dirty jokes and it relies upon these a lot more than the plot, which is never strong. However, the supporting cast (none of them are any more than that) do a really good job, with special mention going to Shane's son, who seems to have grasped the art of comedy at a frighteningly young age.

'Shane' isn't really a sitcom. It is just a different form of stand up comedy for Frank Skinner. Even without the basis of a good plot it works, purely because Skinner is a very funny bloke. I don't know how someone couldn't find 'Shane' even grudgingly funny.

Funniest comedy I ever saw in 2004!

[ste_201079 · 5 September 2005]

If you are a Frank Skinner fan like myself then you're gonna love this! He wrote & starred in all seven episodes and made the show his own with spot on comic timing, plenty of sarcasm around the subject of sex & a really catchy theme tune to boot which he too wrote and sung. I found out recently that Frank Skinner has just completed series 2 of Shane back in April and waiting to grace our screens again! Bring it on I say, it's gonna be a treat! Other titles by Frank Skinner include: Frank Skinner Live, Frank Skinner Live At The Apollo, Frank Skinner Live At The London Palladium, Frank Skinner Live In Birmingham & Skinner & Baddiel Unplanned, all certified 18. My advice to newcomers who don't know what Frank's about, watch Shane & the stand ups & I guarantee you won't look back!

Worst Sitcom, of any country, I have ever seen

[ASIDISJJDSAI · 24 October 2004]

This show was TERRIBLE, I don't know why I watched it more than once, I guess I was trying to see what was good about it. Shows that come from Britain aren't very funny (I'm from and live in Britain) but this show makes Chewin' The Fat look like a masterpiece with genius dialogue. Frank Skinner isn't a funny comedian, judging from this show he is a terrible Writer. My Advice: Never EVER watch it if you have a chance.

My Rating

AVOID !!!!!!!!!!!!!

1/10