Harman Patil (Editor)

Cradle to Grave

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4/5
The Telegraph

Directed by
  
Sandy Johnson

Original language(s)
  
English

Network
  
BBC Two

Director
  
Sandy Johnson

8.1/10
IMDb

Genre
  
Sitcom

Country of origin
  
United Kingdom

First episode date
  
3 September 2015

Executive producer
  
Danny Baker

Written by
  
Jeff Pope, Danny Baker

Cradle to Grave Peter Kay is fabulous in Danny Baker39s life story Cradle to Grave

Starring
  
Laurie KynastonPeter KayLucy SpeedFrankie WilsonAlice Sykes

Theme music composer
  
Cradle to the Grave (album) by Squeeze

Similar
  
Peter Kay's Car Share, Danny and the Human Zoo, Boy Meets Girl, Phoenix Nights, Raised by Wolves

Plimsoles cradle to grave episode 1 preview bbc two


Cradle to Grave is a 2015 British sitcom set around the life of Danny Baker. According to a social media message posted by outgoing BBC Director of Television, Danny Cohen, the show (which ended in October 2015) has since been commissioned for a second series.

Contents

Cradle to Grave BBC Cradle To Grave Media Centre

Cradle to grave trailer bbc two


Plot

It's 1973 and fifteen year old Danny is our guide through the ups and downs of life with the Baker family. Dad Fred, known to all and sundry as 'Spud' is a proud south London docker with a penchant for rackets, fiddles and schemes, hopefully 'nice and tasty' ones. Wife Bet loves him deeply but longs for the family to go 'straight', and do daft things like pay taxes and put money in the electricity meter instead of always trying to scam it. With eldest daughter Sharon's wedding looming and the docks facing closure and a switch to the dreaded 'containerisation', putting thousands of dockers out of work, times are challenging. So too are Danny's attempts to get closer to the opposite sex. Full of humour, warmth and drama with an accompanying soundtrack combining songs from the era with material from Squeeze's Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook, Cradle To Grave is based on actual events and characters.

Cast

Cradle to Grave BBC Two Cradle to Grave Episode 1

  • Laurie Kynaston as Danny Baker - Spud and Bet's youngest child and son and Michael and Sharon's younger brother. In the fifth episode, Danny leaves school so he can have a relationship with the school's photography teacher Miss Blondel.
  • Peter Kay as Fred "Spud" Baker - Bet's husband and Danny, Michael and Sharon's father. He works as a docker but also sells the things he stocks to earn money. He has been described as "a real life Del Boy". In the fifth episode of the series, his middle name is revealed to be Joseph.
  • Lucy Speed as Bet Baker - Spud's wife and Danny, Michael and Sharon's mother.
  • Frankie Wilson as Michael Baker - Spud and Bet's oldest son and middle child, Danny (with whom he shares a bedroom) and Sharon's brother.
  • Alice Sykes as Sharon Baker - Spud and Bet's eldest child and only daughter and Danny and Michael's sister. In the third episode of the series, she becomes engaged to her boyfriend Roger.
  • Julie Dray as Miss Blondel - Danny's French photography teacher.
  • Alexa Davies as Yvonne - Danny's girlfriend

    • Production

    Cradle to Grave Cradle to Grave BBC Two review 39savvy comedy39 Telegraph

    The series is based on Danny Baker's autobiography Going to Sea in a Sieve, covering Baker's life in south London during the 1970s.

    Reception

    Cradle to Grave httpsichefbbcicoukimagesic480x270p030ld4

    Sean O'Grady of The Independent criticised the cockney accents as "a load of old pony". Jasper Rees of The Daily Telegraph was more positive, describing it as "niftily scripted" and a "savvy, up-to-the-minute comedy" despite its 1970s setting, and "a lot closer to the knuckle – and far funnier – than anything in, say, The Liver Birds or The Likely Lads". Chortle's Steve Bennett was positive about the cast and soundtrack, and described the first episode as "frequently funny, with an episodic structure that delivers wry character-led laughs with the regularity of a sketch show", but noted that it lacked "a consistent tone or strong narrative" whilst Euan Ferguson of The Guardian described it as "enjoyable, but little more".

    References

    Cradle to Grave Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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