Vicious - Series 2

One of the first reviews I ever did here was of the first outing of Sirs Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi as Freddie and Stuart, two ageing gay men who have been a couple for over 50 years; the basis of this ITV sitcom. At that time I said that, despite a few foibles and faults, Vicious truly deserved to go into a second series. Now, having watched that second series I stand by that, but I am slightly worried about where the show can go next.

Whilst we still got many instances of the brilliant chemistry, cracking one-liners and ludicrous cheek and farce that was present in series one,we also got similar amounts of cringe-worthy moments, overkill, and lack of direction.

What's more, whilst Mckellen and Jacobi were still on fine form by and large, their fellow cast seem to have hit a rut. Frances de la Tour as Violet started out briefly in episode one as mildly amusing (only when bolstered by the great Celia Imrie who guest starred) but ended the series looking simply lost and a tad tragic. Philip Voss as Mason almost faded into total obscurity this series (though this wasn't too much of a loss as I often found him to not contribute that much and any humour originating from him was minimal at best) and whilst Marcia Voss as Penelope had some of the best lines of the series, it did sometimes feel like she was just there for the sake of it. Finally we have Iwan Rheon as Ash, who of all the supporting cast I feel is the most important, but again after a certain point his character seems to have reached an impass, and there were a couple of cringe-worthy moments from him too.

As I say, Jacobi and McKellen are rightly the stars of the show, and their ability to deliver on their lines and characters is second to none. Yet whilst we got a couple of developments in their storyline (involving the modern issues of gay marriage etc) there was little in terms of direction as each epsiode went on; it's as if the writers thought they could just plonk these characters in front of audiences and hope for the best.


So yes, I am glad that Vicious came back for a second outing, and on balance I feel it just did enough to justify a second run. Yet without real movement in the direction of the characters, whilst still keeping that simple comedic genius that is still in development stage, I fear as to whether we will see Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi hurl insults at eachother as Freddie and Stuart again.