How Not to Live Your Life

How Not to Live Your Life
Genre	Situation comedy
Created by	Dan Clark
Starring	Dan Clark David Armand Leila Hoffman Sinead Moynihan Finlay Robertson Laura Haddock
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	11 (as of 13 October 2009)
Production
Producers	Dan Clark Gary Reich
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	BBC Three BBC Two (repeats)
Release	27 September 2007 (pilot) 12 August 2008 – present

How Not To Live Your Life is a British sitcom, written by and starring Dan Clark, about a neurotic twenty-nine year old man who is trying to navigate his way through life but is not helped by his bad instincts.

Background

In 2006, Clark was commissioned to write two short comedies for Paramount Comedy 1 – Dan Clark's Guide to Dating and Dan Clark's Guide to Working, both of which he co-wrote with Gary Reich. Clark was the main character in both shows, and Isabel Fay appeared in Dan Clark's Guide to Dating, which was shown as ten one-minute clips on the channel, with lists of ten things people shouldn't do on a date, such as "Ten things you shouldn't wear on a date". The clips began to appear on the Internet and the BBC approached him about doing a 30 minute show in the same format. The result was the pilot for How Not To Live Your Life, using the same style of short clips within a traditional sitcom. The pilot was filmed in a real house in London and first aired on BBC Three on 27 September 2007.

The pilot featured a number of actors who did not appear as regular characters in the series – Sally Bretton, Rich Fulcher, Claire Keelan and Bruce Mackinnon. Although, Isabel Fay who also appeared in the pilot was in the final episode of the first series, "The Break Up", as Fiona. The BBC then commissioned a full series, which was filmed in a studio in Glasgow. Clark wrote each episode and directed four episodes. The first series started broadcasting on BBC Three on 12 August 2008 with the first episode, "Home Sweet Home", which introduces the four main characters of Don, Abby, Karl and Eddie. BBC Three showed the first series on Tuesday evenings at the 10:30 p.m. slot.

The series often features the character of Don giving a narrative and talking to the camera, as well as cut away dream sequences where he gives alternative scenarios such as put downs or physical moves he wished he had thought about at the time. For instance, in episode four of series one, "The Young Ones", these include, "Eight Ways Don Shouldn't Dance", "Alternative ways to deal with annoying teenagers" and "What Don wished he had said to his flatmate, Abby, while she was necking with her annoying and square boyfriend Karl on the sofa".

Series one

Don is a neurotic, single Twenty-nine year old, failing to navigate his way through the very basics of life. His biggest enemy is his overactive mind, which plays out countless scenes of things he shouldn't do or say. When he moves into a house left to him by his recently deceased grandmother, he meets Eddie, her over-enthusiastic carer who doesn't want to leave. Don soon realises there are advantages to letting him stay. To help pay off the huge back payments on the house, Don decides to get a lodger. He ends up choosing Abby, the girl he was in love with as a teenager and who he still fancies. However, Abby isn't single. She has a snobby boyfriend, Karl.

Series two

In Autumn 2008, BBC Three commissioned a second series of How Not To Live Your Life, which was filmed in the Spring of 2009. It started on 15 September 2009. The plotline is somewhat different from the first series. Abby and Karl will not feature in this series, and Mrs. Treacher (Don's neighbour) will become a main character as well as more amarous humour towards Don, along with a new character named Samantha. The series featured Julian Barratt as a minor character, Jackson.

Episodes

Series one

#	Title	Original airdate
0	"Pilot"	27 September 2007 (2007-09-27)
Sitcom pilot about Don, a neurotic single twentysomething British male trying and failing to navigate his way through the very basics of life, and whose biggest enemy is his overactive mind which plays out countless scenes of things he shouldn't do or say.
1	"Home Sweet Home"	12 August 2008 (2008-08-12)
A remake of the pilot, with a different supporting cast and set. Don discovers he's been left a house from his recently deceased grandmother, only to find out it has huge back payments and a strange man who won't leave. He decides to get a lodger to help with the rent - the girl he was in love with as a teenager.
2	"The Field Trip"	19 August 2008 (2008-08-19)
Don goes on a field trip with Abby and the kids from her school. This attempt to show her he's a good, decent man goes horribly wrong when he gets the 10-year-olds drunk in a country pub.
3	"Fake Wake"	26 August 2008 (2008-08-26)
Don finds out he's legally obliged to put on a wake for his deceased nan, with an open coffin for her body. The only problem is that he cremated her a few days before, so he and Eddie audition old people at an elderly centre for the role of Don's nan.
4	"The Young Ones"	2 September 2008 (2008-09-02)
Don meets a girl who is nine years younger than him whilst working as a charity street collector. He hangs out with her and her friends, but soon realises he's not the hip young dude he once thought he was.
5	"Like Father Like Don"	9 September 2008 (2008-09-09)
Don gets a new job working at Karl's dad's company. The competition between the two becomes rife, and Don finds the father he never had in Glen.
6	"The Break Up"	16 September 2008 (2008-09-16)
A night out on the pull with Eddie ends in all sorts of drama for Don. Coming back to the house, Don finds out that his true love Abby has just split up with Karl, and Don ends up upsetting the girl he met in the bar (Olivia Lee).

Series two

#	Title	Original airdate
1	"Don's New Flatmate"	15 September 2009 (2009-09-15)
With Abby gone for six months, Don wants a stripper to move into the spare room who has a Latex fetish, but Eddie insists on a mature student he met. So they take the two girls out to an 80s-themed restaurant called the Nineteen Eaties to test which one would be most suitable.
2	"Don Dates a Cougar"	22 September 2009 (2009-09-22)
Don starts dating an older woman he met in the Aert Gallery where he works who described herself as a MILF. But he can't handle the grown up world she lives in and uses Mrs Treatcher as a pretend girlfriend in order to dump her. Sam has befriended a male friend from university who Don catches in her bedroom masturbating while sniffing her panties. Don tells the friend to disappear or he'll tell Sam what he was doing.
3	"Don the Singer"	29 September 2009 (2009-09-29)
Don becomes jealous of Samantha's new boyfriend Jackson (Julian Barratt) who outdoes Don in musical talent. After listening to Samantha's advice he decides to write a song about Abby, which goes disastrously wrong. Sam eventually dumps Jackson after finding out Jackson slept with Don's current girlfriend.
4	"Don Goes Gay"	6 October 2009 (2009-10-06)
Don is forced to question his sexual preferences when he wakes after a night of heavy drinking to find himself sharing a bed with Samantha's brother Jamie. Unaware he is actually the victim of one of his Samantha's pranks, he decides to open his mind to homosexuality, and asks his apparent bedfellow out on a date. Eventually Don realises he is not gay after Sam's brother performs oral sex on him and he ends up thinking about Sam.
5	"Don Gets Healthy"	13 October 2009 (2009-10-13)
Don joins a gym to prove to Sam and Eddie that he is fit and healthy, but fails to get beyond the running machine without passing out. Sam persuades him to go for a colonic irrigation, where he ends up agreeing to go on a date with the therapist. While sam ends up dating the Gym instructor. Don and the therapist end up in the same restaurant as Sam and the Gym instructor. Don insults the Therapist while Sam the Gym instructor to clear off for being homophobic. Sam and Don end up sharing a table.
6	"Don and the Wedding"	20 October 2009 (2009-10-20)
Don is asked to be best man at the wedding of an old school friend, and persuades Sam to pass herself off as his wife in a bid to impress the groom. However, it quickly becomes clear that Don does not know his pal as well as he thought.

Webisodes

To coincide with the first broadcast of series two on UK television, a number of exclusive web videos were published on the BBC website. The specially shot scenes featured Don, Eddie and Mrs Treacher. A series of songs featuring Don and new character Jackson were also published.

#	Title	Original publishing date
1	"Misery"	22 July 2009 (2009-07-22)
Don attempts to write a book while under pressure from the demanding Eddie.
2	"Russian Roulette"	27 July 2009 (2009-07-27)
Don challenges Eddie to a game of Russian Roulette with chilli sauce in cups of tea.
3	"Muffin Challenge"	3 August 2009 (2009-08-03)
Don helps Eddie in his attempt to break the world muffin eating record.
4	"William Tell"	3 September 2009 (2009-09-03)
Don tries to replicate the famous William Tell scene by placing a grape on the head of an unwilling Eddie, and taking aim.

Characters

• Donald "Don" Danbury aka The Double D (Dan Clark) – Don is the main character. Often acting in a socially inappropriate and impolite manner, he received the house, in which the story centres, after his grandmother died. He shows jealousy towards Karl, Abby's boyfriend. He suggests Karl move in with him and Abby at the end of series 1, to prevent Abby moving out.
• Abby Jones (Sinead Moynihan) – Abby used to go to the same secondary school as Don, and now stays with Don in his house after applying for a room to rent, but is currently away travelling during the second series. A primary school teacher, she was dating Karl, however, Abby and Karl split up; the core reason of her going away for six months. She is usually extremely tolerant of Don's inappropriate behaviour.
• Karl Menford (Finlay Robertson) – Karl is Abby's boyfriend. He earns the nickname "cockface" from Don, and the two show visible signs of dislike towards each other. However, Abby often attempts to get Karl to be nicer to Don, and tries to ease hostility between the two. He moves in with Don and Abby at the end of series 1.
• Edward "Eddie" Singh (David Armand) – Eddie was Don's grandmother's carer, however even after her death, he inexplicably continues to work for Don, caring for him in much the same way he'd care for an elderly client - doing housework, preparing meals, and even offering Don sponge baths in bed.
• Mr. Bitchman (Frank Gallagher) – The solicitor of Don's dead grandmother. He is constantly on Don's case making sure all of his grandmother's requests are carried out, otherwise he will evict Don from his house.
• Mrs. "Dot" Treacher[ Mrs 'T' ] (Leila Hoffman) – Don's nosey next-door neighbour who refers to him as "dickhead". In series 2, Eddie has become her carer following her Husband's death. She often tags along to events like Don's Gig in Episode 3.
• Samantha Parker (Laura Haddock) – Don's new roommate for series 2 who is regularly unimpressed with Don's odd behaviour. She is a student at university.

International broadcasts

Country	TV Network(s)
Australia	ABC2
Israel	HOT3
Netherlands	Comedy Central
United Kingdom	BBC Three, BBC Two, BBC HD

Reception

The first series received positive reviews. The British Comedy Guide said of the show, "The 2007 pilot of this sitcom was average at best, lacking both focus and reason. We really enjoyed the full series though - the stronger premise (Don living in his deceased gran's house and plotting to dispense of Karl and win-over attractive Abby) and the new character of Eddie (David Armand in his best role yet) made all the difference." However, Deborah Orr in The Independent newspaper said in a review of the first episode, "It's a dead cert that How Not to Live Your Life will attract no prizes at all. A great deal of humour can be squeezed from observing the lives of stupid men. But Don Danbury is no David Brent and this new sitcom offers nothing except sound evidence that the BBC has now got more airtime than it can fill. This show is an insult to the intelligence of stupid men everywhere." While Harry Venning in The Stage said, "Pity poor Sinead Moynihan. Okay, don't pity her too much, because she's drop dead gorgeous and clearly in demand as an actor. But it must have been galling to get the second lead in sitcom How Not to Live Your Life, only to discover that the full extent of your contribution would be to look pretty and provide a sensible foil to the show's writer/star Dan Clark. Would it have killed Clark to throw the show's only female character the occasional funny line to deliver? This grump notwithstanding, I rather like How Not to Live Your Life. Clark's unorthodox delivery, combined with Don's almost wilful unloveability, takes some getting used to, but this is consistently amusing, frequently hilarious and totally addictive."

External links

• How Not to Live Your Life at BBC Online
• How Not to Live Your Life at IMDb
• British Comedy Guide
• Time Out feature
• Interview on timesonline.co.uk
• How Not to Live Your Life on bbc.co.uk