Entitled, 10 Years And A Lovely Bit of Squirrel, the Friday Night Dinner 10 year anniversary will feature the late, great Paul Ritter. Tissues at the ready
It’s hard to believe but Channel 4’s hit comedy, Friday Night Dinner, is now 10 years old. What started as a bit of a cult hit that targeted a broader audience than The Inbetweeners went on to tickle teenagers, parents and virtually everyone in the family alike, probably because it reflected what many households were actually like.
We weren’t to know it was coming to an end as its sixth season concluded in May of last year, as the death of Paul Ritter (Martin) took everyone by surprise as he kept it fairly secret. In fact, he attended the taping of the special despite battling the brain tumour from which he died on April 5th, aged just 54.
As is to be expected in shows like this, the 10 year anniversary special will see the whole cast and creator, Robert Popper, reflect on six seasons of silly shenanigans, ‘bloody boiling’ moments, the odd bit of squirrel and, hopefully, every single one of Ritter’s ‘shit on its!’. However, the special is sure to be emotional, as the entire team have dedicated it to their kooky on-screen dad.
Members of the cast paid their tributes to Ritter the moment the news broke and will no doubt have added some extra messages to the hour-long special. It’s quite incredible the actor managed to turn up at all, as Tamsin Greig (Jackie) herself said that she had to convince him not to bother given his health, but he pushed on anyway.
Speaking to Metro, she described it as a “testament to Paul’s courage and generosity and dignity and complete lack of vanity that he wanted to participate in the documentary, to do an interview, and to really celebrate this little world that he’s been a part of and that he’s enjoyed so much over the years.”
Friday Night Dinner: 10 Years And A Lovely Bit of Squirrel airs this Friday and we’ll be sat on the sofa with our shirt off and eating crumble in honour of Paul—well, Martin, to us. We’re all his bambinos.
