An Actor's Life for Me (1991) User Reviews

Excellent and underrated comedy

[Robski · 4 August 2000]

An excellent translation of the popular Radio 4 comedy series only made 1 series on the BBC but was excellently written and very funny. John Gordon Sinclair plays Robert, a struggling actor who will do anything for the big break with an incompetent agent, Desmond (played by comedy veteran Victor Spinetti) and his teacher girlfriend Sue, played by Gina McKee who went on to appear in several major dramas.

The series was not recommisioned but was replaced with a very similar series Nelsons Column which was basically the same main character as a journalist this time.

Very funny and highly recommended.

The trouble with actors!

[Rabical-91 · 4/10 · 12 June 2018]

'An Actor's Life For Me', originally a radio sitcom for BBC Radio 2, is a short lived but fondly remembered sitcom, fondly remembered at least by those who saw it. Unfortunately, I am not one of the people who has fond memories of it.

The premise focuses on the attempts of Scottish actor Robert Neilson's attempts to make it big, a premise that had already been done before a few years earlier, and better, in Ben Elton's 'Filthy, Rich & Catflap', which featured Rik Mayall as a failed actor. He has a girlfriend named Sue who does her best to try and make sure he does not get ideas above his station. Robert would stoop to great ( well, more embarrasing ) depths in order to get his way but the consequences were less than entertaining.

Paul Mayhew Archer wrote the show but his scripts sadly were lacking in genuinely funny lines. The character of Robert Neilson, portrayed by John Gordon Sinclair, came across as a one-dimensional clone of Willie Melvin ( who dreamt of being a successful writer ) from Bob Black's 'City Lights', though Sinclair lacked the likability that Gerard Kelly brought to the role. Gina McKee gave a game try with her role as Sue ( a role that was played by Caroline Quentin on radio ) but the sad thing was it was not really worth the effort.

Only one series was ever made, which was two less than its radio counterpart. John's next BBC sitcom was the more successful 'Nelson's Column', also written by Mayhew Archer. Best of all in the cast was the late Victor Spinetti as Robert's agent Desmond Shaw.

An Actor's Life for Me

[studioAT · 2/10 · 13 January 2022]

This is a mildly amusing BBC sitcom from the 90's, but never really builds into being anything more than that.

It's gentle, it's well played, but once you've seen one episode you've seen them all.