The Café (British TV series)

The Café
Genre	Comedy-drama
Written by	Ralf Little Michelle Terry
Directed by	Craig Cash
Starring	Ellie Haddington Michelle Terry June Watson Ralf Little Daniel Ings Phoebe Waller-Bridge Kevin Trainor David Troughton Seeta Indrani Brian Murphy Marcia Warren Carolin Stoltz Jack Roth
Composer	Adam Lipinski
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	6 (list of episodes)
Production
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	30mins (inc. adverts)
Production company	Jellylegs Productions
Original release
Network	Sky1
Release	23 November 2011 (2011-11-23) – present

The Cafe is a British comedy-drama written by Ralf Little and Michelle Terry. It is one of the few new television comedy series that has been commissioned and aired on a digital only channel Sky1.

Premise

The Café is set in and around a café in Weston-Super-Mare run by generational trilogy Mary (June Watson), Carol (Ellie Haddington) and Sarah (Michelle Terry).

Acting as the social hub of the seafront town, the café sees all walks of life pass through and gives viewers an honest portrayal of life in a typical British seaside resort.

Production

The series is co-written by two of it's lead actors, Ralf Little and Michelle Terry. The six-part series is directed by The Royle Family writer and star, Craig Cash. The series was filmed in Weston-Super-Mare. The Cafe shop was built for the filming. Craig and Ralf both worked together on The Royal Family and Rafle meet Michelle two years ago whilst they performed a sketch together at the Bush Theatre for the Latitude Festival.

Cast and Characters

• Ellie Haddington as Carol Porter
• Michelle Terry as Sarah Porter
• June Watson as Mary Ellis
• Ralf Little as Richard Dickens
• Daniel Ings as John Streatfield
• Phoebe Waller-Bridge as Chloe Astill
• Kevin Trainor as Keiran Barker
• David Troughton as Stan Astill
• Seeta Indrani as Brenda Kiely
• Brian Murphy as Frank Dobson
• Marcia Warren as Alice Dobson
• Carolin Stoltz as Ava Lipinski
• Jack Roth as Big Issue Frank

Episode list

Episode	Title	Directed by	Written by	Ratings	Original air date
1	"There's No Place Like Home"	Craig Cash	Ralf Little & Michelle Terry	TBA	23 November 2011 (2011-11-23)
Quiet life in the sleepy seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare, and its even sleepier seafront café, Cyril's, is thrown into a state of mild disarray when a flashy events manager from London comes to visit his ill mother.
2	"Afternoon Tease"	Craig Cash	Ralf Little & Michelle Terry	TBA	23 November 2011 (2011-11-23)
Sarah chases some literary agents, and the Dobsons spark a heated debate about jam and cream. Something's going on with Carol and the cafe too.
3	"Out With The Old"	Craig Cash	Ralf Little & Michelle Terry	TBA	30 November 2011 (2011-11-30)
Carol is in good spirits as she proudly presents her new menu, but are the regulars ready for the change? It's the night of the pub quiz too.
4	"A Note To Follow"	Unknown	Unknown	TBA	7 December 2011 (2011-12-07)
Excitement is in the air as the regulars get ready for Sing-Along Sound of Music. A stressed Carol is about to receive some bad news.
5	"Fragile, Handle With Care"	Unknown	Unknown	TBA	14 December 2011 (2011-12-14)
Everyone wants to know how Sarah's meeting with the literary agent went. Brenda makes her an offer, but Carol's got bigger concerns.
6	"Episode 6"	Unknown	Unknown	TBA	21 December 2011 (2011-12-21)

Reception

Mark Webster of Sabotage Times had this to say about the doubled-billed premier. "Over the last couple of years or so, Sky One have clearly made a consolidated effort to present themselves as a channel that wants to do its business just like their buddies over on terrestrial, and in giving this gently lapping little comedy space alongside the likes of ‘Ross Kemp On..’, ‘A League Of Their Own’ and David Walliams ‘Wall Of Fame’, they are proving they’ve got the chops to do it."

thestage.co.uk gives the series a posotive review stating that, "Director Craig Cash imposes his trademark naturalism and attention to detail to the proceedings whilst terrific dialogue, always funny but never forced, pings around the walls of the cafe like a demented squash ball" and "The Cafe might just prove a similar comedy classic".

Tom Sutcliffe of The Independent gave the series a negative review, "Ralf Little and Michelle Terry's new comedy for Sky, The Café, is one of those sitcoms that despises the belly laugh and the punchline. In fact, you're unlikely to get a punchline at all unless one of the characters tells a knowingly corny joke, and in that case the whole point is that it isn't funny.

Tom Meltzer of The Guardian gave the series a mixed review. "In fairness to the writers, their performances are both consistently excellent, and the direction is both naturalistic and nicely understated. But while, as the name suggests, the show owes a clear debt to The Office in its style, it sadly failed to nick Gervais and Merchant's knack for writing characters, stories and, crucially, jokes."

External links

• Official website
• The Cafe at British Comedy Guide
• The Cafe at IMDb