Sunday Times, 24 February 2002, by A.A. Gill
"None more deadly than the male."
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[.....]

When west London dinner parties aren't talking about twisted 
ligaments and the chalet-girl bob, they play the biopic 
game. This is where you cast your own autobiographical film. 
I've always seen myself played by Terry-Thomas or, perhaps, 
Ian Carmichael. You can imagine the sphincter-tightening 
horror of finding that Nigel Havers was playing me on 
television. *Manchild* (Tuesday, BBC2) is a new series that 
sets out to exploit the near-fathomless vanity, self-
delusion and comic neurosis that is middle-age, middle-class 
men on the pull. Billed as the male version of *Sex and the 
City*, it's actually more like The Liver Birds Meet Alfie. 
Havers does the Michael Caineish talking-to-camera 
monologues, while we watch him and three mates make 
ridiculous old fools of themselves in pursuit of their youth 
and pert breasts. The other blokes are: Anthony Head, the 
Gold Blend bod from *Buffy the Vampire Slayer*; Ray Burdis; 
and a very welcome return for Don Warrington, the black 
prince in *Rising Damp*. He's now a little chubbier but 
still the owner of one of the best voices in television.

Sadly, I have to tell you that *Manchild* isn't that bad; 
the script and Havers's asides are pathetically accurate and 
ruinously sharp. The first episode targeted virility 
extension, motorbikes and impotence, which is pretty 
predictable. But the whole thing is rather engaging, 
although, naturally, I shan't be watching another episode. I 
get quite enough of this stuff at home. I expect if they 
manage to weave in a believable plot, this series may become 
a favourite with the housewives who make up the only 
audience Tristrams care about at the moment. And if you are 
a housewife, I'd just like to wag my finger at you and point 
out that, ridiculous and risible though we middle-aged men 
might be, Havers would not exist if it weren't for you. He 
is a creature of your invention. Oh, chuckle all you like, 
but you created him.

[.....]



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