The Power of Parker review: An intriguing romp with echoes of Steve Coogan and Victoria Wood
The IndependentFor free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. This is all despite his cheesy local TV ads, which give the BBC One show its name – “Cheapest prices this side of the Pennines; that’s the power of Parker.” Martin is under pressure. Written by Gibson and Paul Coleman, who also collaborated on Peter Kay’s Car Share, it seems to have been inspired by bits of the work of Kay himself, Steve Coogan, Ricky Gervais, Peter Serafinowicz, and Victoria Wood, but laced with some very dark vibes about women betrayed: a bit like Dinner Ladies crossed with The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, perhaps. Keeping things on just the right side of tragedy, Gibson and Coleman are also careful not to make Martin into what he himself denies being, that is to say “a complete bastard”, leaving us to conclude that he’s just idiotic, sex-mad and vain, rather than outright evil: the sort of man who would indeed tell his worried accountant that he’s not going to sell the car because “it’s all about image in my game. It’s also replete with some warmly redolent period touches – this is a world of Breville sandwich toasters, cheese and pineapple snack “hedgehogs”, casual sexism, pink bathroom suites and smoking at your desk.