Men Behaving Badly

Men Behaving Badly was a comedy series that was voted as one of the best sitcoms of all time in Britain, and it ran for about six seasons (seven if you count the final special episodes). It was shown in Australia as well, and also had a bad American version made of it (starring Rob Schneider). I'm a huge fan of this show. Basically, it's about Gary - a real arsehole and generally pathetic man who manages a small security firm in Croyden by day, and becomes a 'drunken lord of misrule' by night' (when he isn't breaking up with his long-suffering girlfriend Dorothy). For most of the shows' six or seven seasons he is joined by Tony - a somewhat more jolly character, though equally as badly behaved. Anyways, this show actually had its start as a novel.

Men Behaving Badly the book was written and published in the early-to-mid 80s by Simon Nye. It was Nye's first novel and it enjoyed only moderate success. A few years later the book's characters and plot would be restructured and launched as the highly popular television series. For a huge fan like me, I found it highly neccessary to find and read the book.

Firstly, I think this book is pretty much out of print at the moment. It was re-printed in the mid-90s when Men Behaving Badly was at the height of it's success, but for the moment it's probably most easily found on Amazon, eBay or your nearest second hand bookstore. It's a fairly slight book, very funny in parts and full of all sorts of smart-arsery, but not without a hint of the tragic about it.

Gary is a bearded loser who runs a stall (much like Tony's stall in the second series of the television show), but aside from this description he is pretty much the same boorish character he is in the show. His flatmate is Dermot, who comes across better in the book than he did in the first series of the show. In fact, I'd go as far as saying that it's Dermot who is the more interesting character in the novel. Dorothy is a somewhat minor character in the book (much in the same way as she was in the show's first series) and Deborah forms the crux of the novel's plot. It basically follows Gary and Dermot competing for Deborah's aloof affections, and some strands of this story would later be used to form the plots for some of the first season's episodes. There isn't exactly much substance in the overall plot but it's the book's characters and the comedy that drives it.

So if you're a fan of the series or are just looking for a light and funny read, you could do worse than picking up this book if you happen to see it somewhere.