Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Zlatica One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

trevillian didn't see one with a dead body, but loved the episode where they bricked up her doorway. a good example of someone causing themselves the most harm. we are flying in the face of the other reviewers,but we enjoyed the show. we also like fine romance,are you being served,as time goes by, and one foot in the grave. wish more of our american comedy was as much developed and fun.....I have always like the dry British wit. Barbara reminds me of so folks I actually know, that is why it is even more fun. I didn't find it "predictable,and trite" I found it very down to earth. It may not have been good enough for more than 2 seasons, but it was fun to watch anyway.

crawfrordboon It is hard to put into words quite how bad the so-called 'comedy' was. It is equally difficult for me to convey my amazement that this got a second series when the brilliant 'Believe Nothing' of 2002 did not. Check out the other reviews and these will give you a few more details on what exactly makes this show so awful.I came across it after switching off my VCR one night last Christmas, it was early evening, around 6.30, and there was some horrendous middle aged sitcom in ITV1, with a plot revolving around the fact that someone had invited a corpse to a dinner party and spent the evening trying to explain the mute, expressionless, rigomortis-riven state of the body as "a bit under the weather."That, pretty much, is the level we are working at here. Quite honestly, to see that kind of material at that time of day was nothing but disturbing. The sight of a dead body being carted around a living room set, in a shopping trolley, was not only shockingly tasteless and profoundly and totally unconcious of how unfunny if was, but it was also down right offensive. Not only to somebody who may have lost relatives, but to people who enjoy real comedy and had been unsuspectingly given this junk instead.The one plus point would be the appearance of Elizabeth Carling from 'Boon', but she is wasted here as the only member of the cast who can act. True the bizarre and confused scripts, which cross middle class, middle aged domesticity with poorly done ideas that wouldn't be out of place in a disturbing Kubrick film, do not give the actors (if that is an appropriate description) much idea about how to go about their job.I am not against disturbing images on television, so long as they are though-provoking and useful. The images of dead people being merrily subjected to humiliation at chirpy middle aged tea parties is disturbing, but far from provoking any thought, it was just mind-numbingly awful.I watched a few episodes of this, whilst reading, just to get a sense of how bad it really is. And the answer is Very. A total waste of time and money, probably the most ineffective and poorly-thought out TV show I have ever seen.

ciarano112 They say that when you use upper case in emails, it signifies that you are shouting. Well regarding the British TV "comedy" series Barbara, starring Gwen Taylor & Sam Kelly I have to shout it, RUBBISH. This is easily the biggest load of tripe ever to be passed off as comedy, I thought "So Haunt Me" was bad, but this takes the biscuit. British comedy has gone steadily downhill in the last few years, mainly because they don't tackle anything new, and are prepared to lose themselves wrapped up in a middle class chintzy world of Dado rails, Garden sheds, and "More Tea Vicar?" The only good comedies recently, have been the comedy/dramas like Cold Feet and in particular "Teachers" which was buried on C4, and was superb. On the other hand the script writers and producers of "Barbara" clearly think that the best way to make us laugh is to insert canned laughter after practically every sentence,as if to signify to the viewer "OK laugh now". No No we are getting more mature that that now and we expect a comedy to make us think and laugh at the same time.

Syl Long ISland's WLIW aired a British battle for the best British comedy to fill an upcoming empty spot in their Friday night lineup. The other choices were Father Ted, A Fine Romance, Murder Most Horrid, and Barbara. My vote goes to this innovative recent British import. Gwen Taylor is marvelous and the cast is surprisingly good. I wanted it to win but Father Ted won the vote. Maybe next time, Barbara who is played beautifully by Gwen Taylor from another British comedy, Screaming, and her husband is played by the veteran comedian Sam Kelly. Her sister is played by Sherry and the woman who plays her best friend are both Coronation Street veterans. I like the fact that Barbara is a strong woman, a mother, a wife, a sister, and a friend and not perfect in any of them. I love Jean Alexander, another Coronation Street veteran, playing her mother-in-law too. There are great episodes too like her grandson's christening, her sister's wedding, and whatever you could imagine happens. Mark Benton is memorable as her celebrity son-in-law.