We love a good book over at STARBURST magazine. And we are a sucker for a good old-fashioned English farce. Librarians is one of those shows that feels like it’s time-warped in from the 80s, with a very middle-class vibe.
The comedy is set in Plumstanton Library, a seemingly failing library that, rather than being the vibrant community spaces we get in the real world, is in fact a run-down, under-funded mess with books on the shelf that may or may not be real. Plumstanton, of course, is not a real place, and has just the right mix of English underplayed silliness to make it a joke without really being a joke. The whole show is like this.
When the head librarian dies, the chap who has worked there for 15 years thinks that he might be in with a chance. Until the manager arrives and gosh, it’s a woman! This isn’t actually a plot point or a controversy, but the predictable and unsurprising twists really do add to the ‘it’s an old-fashioned sitcom’ vibes of the show. So much so that we were expecting the ghosts of comedy legends Croft and Perry to manifest and have a sensible chuckle.
There’s a touch of social commentary on the state of funding public services (and corruption of corporate interest) that leads the plot, but this again is nice and sedately done. There’s nothing shocking here, but it is a jolly good laugh.
This is a safe and short comedy drama, with predictable but fun laughs. It’s well performed, well staged and funny in a not at all challenging way, perfect for weekday BBC fare. Funny stuff.
