Waiting for God: Season One

Situation comedies focusing on the elderly are sufficiently rare in our youth-centered age to make the 1990 first season release of this British series a welcome event. Waiting for God is set at the Bayview Retirement Home, where new arrival Tom (Graham Crowden), a spry and inventive troublemaker, joins the irascible Diana (Stephanie Cole) in exasperating their relatives—his well-meaning son and harridan daughter-in-law, and her niece (whose car she often commandeers)—and the institution's penny-pinching manager Harvey Bains (Daniel Hill). Also on hand is Janine Duvitski as Jane, Harvey's dreadfully plain assistant whose hangdog expression masks her obvious adoration of her boss. It takes a while to warm to the lead characters here—Tom is initially more irritating than charming, and Diana is rather nasty—but Crowden, whose prominent teeth and mischievous expression make him look like a taller version of Alastair Sim, and Cole, with her air of dry disdain, eventually win you over: by the end of the seven episodes his leering enthusiasm and her contemptuous demeanor create an amiable comic duet. This Golden Girls-style tribute to septuagenarian feistiness—presented on an extra-less disc—is happily recommended. (F. Swietek)