Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This (TV Movie 2014)

Tommy Cooper: Not Like That, Like This: Directed by Benjamin Caron. With David Threlfall, Helen McCrory, Amanda Redman, Gregor Fisher. With his trade-mark fez and bumbling stage persona involving clever conjuring tricks which appear to have gone wrong Tommy Cooper is one of Britain’s most popular comedians, respected by his peers. However behind the public image is a curmudgeonly man who drinks too much. Mother of his children Tom Junior and Vicky, his wife Gwen – known as Dove – frequently travels with him to his performances but now feels that her place is at home with the children. Afraid of loneliness Tommy asks the married stage manager Mary Kay to join him on tour . Whilst Dove is concerned that his drinking and late nights are damaging to his health and a sign for him to give up, Mary is encouraging – partly as she sees Tommy as being helpful to her husband’s writing aspirations. Soon Tommy is declaring his love for Mary whilst remaining married to Dove, with whom there are violent domestic exchanges. Surprisingly Tommy is able to sustain relationships with both women until his death on stage in 1984, a fact which causes sarcastic comments from Miff, his plain-spoken agent, who is not afraid to tell Tommy exactly what he thinks of him.

“This is the latest example of British television dramatising the life (or, as on this occasion, part of it) of a familiar TV or film star from the golden age 50u0026#39;s and 60u0026#39;s, in fact just of the top of my head I can recall seeing programmes on Tony Hancock, Sid James, William u0026quot;Dr Whou0026quot; Hartnell, Hughie Green, Hattie Jacques, Shirley Bassey, Morecambe and Wise and most recently Cilla Black. In fact, Iu0026#39;m willing to bet someoneu0026#39;s already waiting in the wings to give us the Bruce Forsyth story! Itu0026#39;s probably fair to say that there was no more identifiable TV personality of the time than the gentle giant Tommy Cooper, certainly he was the most impersonated man on TV at the time and everybody knew his u0026quot;Just like thatu0026quot; catchphrase.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOf course the key to making a drama out of such a familiar figureu0026#39;s life, as opposed to another typically fawning documentary with loads of clips and all-star tributes is to highlight some human interest aspect of their life to give it that u0026quot;soap-operau0026quot; element and they didnu0026#39;t have far to look with Cooper. On the surface, a happy husband and devoted family man, in 1967 he hooked up with a younger, also married, female assistant, Mary Fairfield and for the last 17 years of his life, conducted an affair with her, never letting in to his devoted but combative wife, Dove.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eSimon Nye doesnu0026#39;t pull his punches in this portrayal of the popular Cooper, showing his miserliness, alcoholism, ill-health and ultimately of course his infidelity but this latter trait isnu0026#39;t portrayed as arising from selfishness or nastiness but more from need. At no point did Cooper apparently ever consider abandoning his family but in order to continue his tireless life on the road and on TV shoots to have required the female companionship his stay at- home was denying him. Iu0026#39;m not sure though that I sympathise too much with the comicu0026#39;s actions, indeed I would say that he was acting selfishly in deceiving so many people so that again weu0026#39;re asked to excuse him purely because he was a comic genius which gives him licence to live differently from the rest of us.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI felt some of the scenes looked apocryphal, none more than the big final scene where the two women in his life pass by each other at the hospital where heu0026#39;s just famously expired on live TV, plus Iu0026#39;m not sure from what Iu0026#39;ve read that Cooperu0026#39;s son, shown as replacing Mary on the road as his assistant after the affair became known, was so accepting of his fatheru0026#39;s lover when she came back to assist his shambling efforts.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eDavid Threlfall tries hard to inhabit Cooperu0026#39;s massive boots but it was always going to be difficult to cast a physical lookalike with the talent for imitation and interpretation. The supporting cast, especially Helen McCrory and Amanda Redman as the women in his life, come over better, partly because their unfamiliarity with the viewer makes their characters seem more real. The depiction of the northern club circuit, cheap bed and breakfasts and backstage of television shows were all well drawn, particularly the extended sequence leading up to his death u0026quot;on-airu0026quot;.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOf course thereu0026#39;s always an abiding interest in the tears of a clown as we see behind the facade of another giant TV funny-man and this well-written and well-acted show catered to that even if ultimately it didnu0026#39;t quite answer all the questions about Tommy Cooperu0026#39;s complicated life.”