One day, someone will take a chance on Danny Dyer. They will decide that he has more to offer, and they will cast him as Hamlet or Jude the Obscure or the Count of Monte Cristo. They will not require him to talk about getting off his nut. Harold Pinter, of all people, saw Dyer’s talent and cast him in productions at the Almeida and the National.
But until someone else comes along with a vision, we will have shows like Mr Bigstuff (Sky Max), a comedy in which Danny Dyer plays Danny Dyer again. The premise is fun. Glen (Ryan Sampson, who writes the show) is a mild-mannered carpet salesman. One day, Danny Dyer – or rather, his character, Lee – turns up to wreak havoc in Glen’s life.
The two are brothers, estranged and with nothing in common. Lee seems to be on the run from some unspecified business and is living in his car, which is knee-deep in empty lager cans and fag butts. Reluctantly, Glen says that his brother can stay for a few days, with chaotic results.
Lee does all the things expected of a character played by Danny Dyer. He swaggers. He swears. He headbutts a man in the DIY shop who takes the last packet of washers. He calls people “geezer”. He sits down in a Chinese restaurant and tells his fellow diners: “Can’t have you slags mullering all the prawn crackers.” This isn’t peak Danny Dyer, this is scaled-the-peak and heading for the moon Danny Dyer.
Of course, Dyer is aware of all of this, and he embraced self-parody some years ago. So Lee spends a lot of the time wearing a woman’s dressing gown (an idea borrowed from EastEnders), and he gets as aggressive about non-recyclable packaging materials as he does about everything else.
The supporting players are solid comedy performers, including Harriet Webb as Ryan’s shoplifting wife and Adrian Scarborough as his boss. Everyone seems to be having fun. The problem is that it’s too predictable. When one of Ryan’s hijab-wearing colleagues comes out with a stream of expletives, it’s unexpected, and momentarily funny.
However, too many of Dyer’s scenes seem tailor-made to amuse the kind of “lager, lager, lager” lads who would cheer every time he addressed someone, as he often does here, as a “c---”. Dyer’s next role is in the Disney adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s Rivals, playing a lovable Cockney millionaire. It’s a step in the right direction. But the really bold choice would have been to cast him as Rupert Campbell-Black.
All episodes of Mr Bigstuff are available on NOW
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