Human Remains (TV series)

Human Remains
Region 2 DVD cover.
Genre	Anthology series British dark comedy Black comedy
Written by	Rob Brydon Julia Davis
Starring	Rob Brydon Julia Davis
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Running time	30 minutes
Production company(s)	Baby Cow Productions
Release
Original network	BBC Two
Original release	13 November (2000-11-13) – 18 December 2000 (2000-12-18)

Human Remains is a British black comedy television series written by and starring Rob Brydon and Julia Davis. It consisted of six episodes that aired in 2000. Each episode documented the relationship of a different couple, all of whom were played by Brydon and Davis and all but two of whom were extremely unhappy, in the style of a fly on the wall documentary.

Much of the show's humour is derived from very bleak ideas and situations. Domestic violence, chronic depression and death all feature prominently throughout the six episodes. Julia Davis later used some of these themes in her solo project, Nighty Night. Ruth Jones, who would later work with Davis in Nighty Night, appears in the third episode. She would later co-write the acclaimed series Gavin and Stacey, in which both Brydon and Davis would star.

The series was written by Julia Davis and Rob Brydon (who were so sure of a commission they wrote all six episodes before finalising the deal). They wrote it in a flat in the same building complex which once housed the late Kenneth Williams. It was directed by Matt Lipsey and produced by Alison Mcphail. Executive producers were Henry Normal and Steve Coogan.

After creating the concept for the series, Davis and Brydon set about developing the material for the six episodes. Avoiding more conventional methods of writing the scripts, the pair instead opted to record themselves on camera and in character, to develop their various characters and written material. These recordings were then later on used as the basis for the written scripts.

The apparently bucolic aristo-existence of Peter and Flick is shadowed by an ailment on her part that makes physical intimacy impossible. Still reeling from the death of her true love Geoffrey, Flick has little time for the downtrodden, childish, and possibly mentally handicapped Peter. However, he waits on his reluctant wife hand and foot, nursing her through her struggle with an imaginary illness which, in Flick's own words, means "penile accommodation is absolutely impossible", despite a highly suspicious relationship with her masseur. Flick rarely acknowledges this compassion, utterly exhasperated with Peter's small stature and is more than happy to bury him in the pet cemetery when his time to leave this world comes. Peter's main goal is to win a juvenile showjumping competition he is partaking in, however this falls on his birthday, much to Flick's annoyance who has gone to great efforts to throw a children's birthday party complete with clown and macabre piano music.