TV Preview: Ruby Robinson, Sky Arts

Ruby Robinson

At the Edinburgh Fringe this August Foster’s Awards director Nica Burns called on TV networks to invest in comedy. Sky is certainly doing their bit already. This week a new series of physical comedy-inspired one-offs starts on Sky Arts. The series features the likes of Johnny Vegas, John Kearns, Sam Simmons and Kevin Eldon. But first up they’ve got a really big gun…

Ruby Robinson is a magical little film starring Kim Cattrall as an eccentric middled-aged spinster who lives in a country manor aided by a selection of acrobats and clowns. All is happy until her snobby relations – Mike Wozniak and Cariad Lloyd – pitch up and have their eye on getting their greedy mits on the property.

It’s interesting to see that Wozniak also wrote this, as the ex-doctor is probably best known for his wordy absurdist comedy. Here he has to rely on the artistry of the cast to convey the comedy of his directions. Cattrall has obviously done comedy before, but she is still a bit of a revelation, twirling and gliding around while circus performers take on the shape of her bed or help her put her make-up on. One eye-catching scene is either a camera trick or the Sex and the City star is triple jointed.

The comedy is decidedly gentle, with a splash of slapstick, farce and a hint of Home Alone thrown in when Cattrall decides to put up a fight against her stuck-up interlopers. The music, by Oscar-winner Anne Dudley, is lovely too. Ruby Robinson has plenty of laugh-out loud moments but even without them it is an elegant thing to look at, at times as much a piece of dance/mime as a piece of comedy. Ooops, I’ve nearly put you off there by mentioning dance/mime. Just watch it. And set you boxes to record the series.

Tonight, Sky Arts, 9pm.

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