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Don't Start

Comedy: Sitcoms

Sharp comedy from Frank Skinner - a masterclass in the great art of arguing

Sharp comedy from Frank Skinner - a masterclass in the great art of arguing. Starring Frank Skinner and Katherine Parkinson

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Frank Skinner

Katherine Parkinson

Don't Start: Series 3: Episode 2: The Bath

Episode 2

Episode 2: The Bath

Series 3

The Bath

BBC Radio 4 - Don't Start, Series 3, The BathSearch BBC

Cardamom-scented candles, kumquats and a debate over the virtues of shared bathing.

What do long term partners really argue about? Frank Skinner's sharp comedy with Katherine Parkinson. From 2016.

Cardamon scented candles, kumquats and a debate over the virtues of shared bathing compared to shared showering occupy Neil and Kim.

Frank Skinner's sharp comedy starring Frank and Katherine Parkinson.

What do long term partners really argue about? 

Don't Start is a scripted comedy with a deceptively simple premise - an argument. Our couple fall out over another apparently trivial flashpoint and the stakes mount as Neil and Kim battle with words. But these are no ordinary arguments. The two outdo each other with increasingly absurd images, unexpected literary references and razor sharp analysis of their beloved's weaknesses. Underneath the cutting wit, however, there is an unmistakable tenderness.

The first two series of Don't Start met with instant critical acclaim:

"That he can deliver such a heavy premise for a series with such a lightness of touch is testament to his skills as a writer and, given that the protagonists are both bookworms, he's also permitted to use a flourish of fine words that would be lost in his stand-up routines." Jane Anderson, Radio Times

"Frank Skinner gives full rein to his sharp but splenetic comedy. He and his co-star Katherine Parkinson play a bickering couple exchanging acerbic ripostes in a cruelly precise dissection of a relationship." Daily Mail

"...a lesson in relationship ping-pong..." Miranda Sawyer, The Observer

An Avalon production for BBC Radio 4 first broadcast in January 2016.

Don't Start: Series 3

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