“We are aware that there will be those who say ‘What a shame to show us these characters’, but I would always rather be brave.”
– Rob Brydon, The Sunday Telegraph, 2nd September 2001
“You’ve got to carry on swimming. I was really keen not to put this precious character of ours in a cul-de-sac where he only functions in a monologue.”
– Hugo Blick, The Sunday Telegraph, 2nd September 2001
“A Small Summer Party [is] entirely unnecessary. In advance, this was billed as our chance to “find out how the Marion and Geoff story began”. The trouble was that we already knew.”
– James Walton, The Daily Telegraph, 4th September 2001
A Small Summer Party, broadcast on the 3rd September 2001, remains a controversial entry into the Marion & Geoff1 universe. A retelling of that fateful summer barbecue where Keith’s life finally falls apart, I can’t say I really understand complaints that the episode was pointless, simply because we already knew what had happened. I don’t see sitcom as a content-delivery mechanism for plot.
I do have a bit more sympathy with James Walton’s other issues with the show:
“It was in episode six of the original series that Keith (Rob Brydon), speaking more quickly and nervously than usual, told us about the day when it finally became undeniably apparent that his wife was unfaithful and his marriage was finished… As ever, we had to do a bit of thinking to figure out from Keith’s version precisely what had happened – but, as ever, this only made the effect more powerful. Which may be why that 10-minute monologue managed to be funnier, sadder, subtler, and more dramatic than yesterday’s 50-minute fleshing out of the events Keith had described.”
As evidenced by Rob Brydon and Hugo Blick’s comments which opened this article, this is exactly what they were worried about when it came to making A Small Summer Party… and decided it was worth the risk. It’s a risk which I personally think comes off, despite entirely understanding why people fell in love with the monologues. I just think A Small Summer Party has more than enough of interest going on in its own right.
I admit that my favourite thing about the show is fairly obvious: how it plays as a found footage horror movie. A suburban Blair Witch Project, which was a film still relatively fresh in the memory back in 2001. But this surely wasn’t just some clever-clever directorial flourish; framing the show like this was far from an arbitrary choice. To Keith, this really is a horror film: the most horrific day of his life. And to most of the audience watching, this kind of domestic horror is far more likely to be a part of their lives than encountering evil spirits… or even an axe murderer.
A successful piece of television or not, one thing is true: A Small Summer Party has barely been repeated on the Beeb. It got a couple of BBC Choice showings the week after first transmission, and then nothing. Three years later in 2004, it did get a DVD release as part of Series 2… but not in its original broadcast version. Instead, it was an extended edit – specifically labelled as a Director’s Cut – increasing the 50-minute special up to a full hour.
Which is perhaps a bit of an strange choice. Even if you enjoyed the show, it was surely long enough in its original form, if not a little too long. It’s at times like this that you wish the release had a commentary, so we could hear all of Blick’s reasoning for the changes. As it is, we’ll have to prod the show ourselves.
You know the drill by now. Let’s take a look at every single change made between the original broadcast version of A Small Summer Party, and the extended DVD edit. All timings given are for the broadcast edit, which is also available on iPlayer.
* * *
(0:51) The broadcast edit features the show’s title card and a snatch of “Ar Lan Y Mor” as Keith approaches his house, neither of which are present on the DVD version:
Broadcast/iPlayer
DVD
The reason for this becomes apparent almost immediately…
(1:21) …because the extended DVD version has a brand new opening, featuring a new title card, and cast credits.
These opening cast credits aren’t repositioned for the broadcast version, but simply omitted entirely.
Note that this opening also reveals that Keith is locked out of his own house at the beginning of the show. I’m sure there’s some kind of metaphor going on there, but I just can’t figure it out.
(2:41) An extra bit in the extended DVD version, showing the inside of Marion’s study.
KEITH: Have a look inside, but don’t tell anyone I allowed you in. Very, very relaxed. Very still, very quiet. A bit like a museum. It’s a very formal room really… and Marion never really mixes work with pleasure with me.
We never see inside Marion’s study at all in the broadcast version, which seems a shame.
(3:23) Now this is unusual. The broadcast version here actually has a longer section of Keith outside the kids bedroom, with music blasting out, as follows:
KEITH: Breakfast… Breakfast boys… They don’t wanna know! …Leave them to it, leave them to it.
The DVD version cuts this down to simply:
KEITH They don’t wanna know!
A good change, I think – much punchier and funnier.
(3:52) An small extra section on the DVD, with Keith walking into the bathroom:
KEITH: This is the bathroom. In most houses, the bathrooms are just bathrooms. Same here, but with a little extra, because if you come inside… da-da!
Both versions then immediately pick up in the same shot with Keith pointing at the Sales Week cover hung up on the wall. “There she is, that’s Marion. That’s my girl!”
(13:44) After the first scene of Marion’s father Nev and associated cohorts driving to the party, there then follows four short scenes only present in the extended DVD version.
Firstly, there’s Karen the neighbour skulking around in the driveway, being recorded from the upstairs window. This is followed by more from the car journey:
BRYN: I’m not accusing anyone, I’m just asking, that’s all.
NEV: Solid as a rock, mate. Solid as a rock. I mean alright, fair play to her, there was a little local difficulty a while back, but er… that was just adjusting to their roles.
We then cut back to both neigbours measuring what look like tyre marks in the driveway of the house. Finally, back to the car:
NEV: When you’ve got a wife as stratospherically successful as our Marion, it’s bound to cause a little difficulty. Anyway, we sent them off to our villa in Portugal, and everything is sorted. Bingo.
Nev, you’re talking horseshit.
(20:52) A small extended moment on DVD, as Bryn attempts to get out the car once they’re at the house:
BRYN: Nev! Open this bloody door, will you? Open the door!
EDIE: Oh, it’s the kiddie locks.
BRYN: Kiddie locks… [gets out] Come on, Euros.
This feels like a deliberate parallel with Keith being locked out of his own house, which was also excised from the broadcast version.
(21:19) The DVD version lingers on the clock in the hallway a little longer, and then pans across to a photograph:
EDIE: And Auntie Nesta, bless her.
It’s not that this moment is especially necessary, but the broadcast version is a little choppier here.
(26:14) One of the scenes in the kitchen is extended in the DVD version:
NEV: People round here are pretty upwardly mobile, aren’t they? On their way up.
BRYN: What are you talking about?
NEV: Well, I’m talking about these round here, people, round here. Upwardly mobile…
DOROTHY: People in this part of England.
NEV: …in this part of England!
BRYN: Upwardly mobile?
NEV: That’s the English expression.
DOROTHY: He’s right.
CHARLES: It’s slightly out-of-date now.
NEV: Is it now? Well, maybe I’m out-of-date.
BRYN: [mimicking Charles] Slightly out of date now…
The broadcast version then picks up from this point, with Dorothy’s “Don’t take notice of him, he’s teasing you…”
(26:38) An entirely new scene set in the living room is added for the DVD version, and shows the moment where Nev first leaves to go and check on Marion. The broadcast version just cuts to him at Marion’s door.
Honestly, I think they all deserve a slap.
Clocking in at over two and a half minutes, this is the single biggest addition made to the DVD version of the show. Combined with the new opening, these two sections alone are responsible for a full 50% of the extra running time of the DVD edit.
(27:23) Now this is an odd one. After Nev returns from checking upstairs, the broadcast version includes the following extra wide shot:
This was removed from the DVD version. The effect of the removal is negligible, so it seems an odd thing to bother doing, but I’m sure it felt important at the time.
(29:25) The scene in the garden between Keith and Euros is extended in the DVD version, with an entirely new second half:
KEITH: But if we… who knows how you’re gonna roll your cards? You just don’t know. I mean… er… we’re alright now. We’ve done alright. I’ve got my little smashers. You’ve got everything you’ve got. Yeah? That’s it. So it’s gonna be a lovely day, yeah? I think that’s what you’re trying to tell me. And let’s put it all… let bygones be bygones, yeah? Is that what you’re saying? Are you sure I can’t tempt you with a beer? No? Alright. Well I’m glad we’ve had that. I’m glad we had that chance.2 Excellent.
In some ways, this does improve the scene – you want it to be as long and excruciating as possible. Sadly, both versions suffer from the fact that they’ve had to dissolve between different sections of the take(s) to make things work, which really diminishes the tension. The scene was really begging for one uninterrupted shot.
Still, Brydon making “I’m glad we had that chance. Excellent” sound angry is very funny. It also adds a little bit of foreshadowing to his eventual snapping later on – it’s nice to see one extra crack in Keith before the finale.
(31:31) Some extra dialogue in the extended DVD version, shortly after neighbour Karen arrives:
KEITH: So happy to have you in the house. So happy to have you in the house. I was just saying now I feel like a wall’s been lifted… not lifted, um… I feel like we’ve demolished a wall together. I really feel that…
CHARLES: (trying to say something) I did…
This addition is a mixed bag. The DVD version is certainly less choppy with the additional dialogue. But the biggest change is with Nev’s line to Karen about the secret of a happy marriage:
NEV: A firm set of bedsprings.
In the DVD version, we see Nev saying this line in-vision; in the broadcast edit, we cut away to the landing. Funny though Tim Wylton’s delivery is, I find it better as something we only half-hear; we’ve really had enough of Nev’s penis by now.
(33:47) Yet more extra stuff in the living room in the DVD version, after the nonsense with Euros chucking the camcorder around in the garden.3
Everyone sighs.
NEV: What you think of that, then?
KAREN: That was lovely, wasn’t it?
CHARLES: Very nice piece of music.
NEV: Passionate. That’s what you need. You can’t live without it, can you?
At this point, I think it’s clear that how much you enjoy the extended DVD version is highly dependent on whether you want to spend more time with Nev & Co. The broadcast edit prioritises our time with Keith, in the main.
(36:43) A whole extra section in the DVD version, shortly after the presentation in the front garden.
This is the climax of the ongoing tension between Nev and Bryn, but to be fair, it makes sense that it was deleted in the broadcast version – there hasn’t been enough of the ongoing tension in that edit to make this pay-off worth keeping.
(42:56) A very obvious change in one of the key scenes of the episode, and clearly made for editorial reasons rather than for timing. After Nev tells Geoff “Don’t you dare turn your back on me!”, in the broadcast version he continues to berate him:
NEV: You disgusting, filthy things!4
GEOFF: That kind of thing’s bad for your blood pressure.
At this point, Nev pushes Geoff in the pool.
The DVD edit plays things differently. After “Don’t you dare turn your back on me!”, we cut to inside the house, and our greek chorus of Bryn, Charles and Karen watching proceedings:
CHARLES: And they’re approaching the paddling pool… they’ve stopped. Oh!
We then cut back to Nev pushing Geoff in the pool, as per the broadcast version.
Personally, I prefer the broadcast version here. By this point, we’ve already stopped being circumspect, and are openly seeing Steve Coogan’s face. Given that, I’d rather just stay in the moment than withdraw from it.
(43:41) A tiny extra bit on the DVD version, as neighbour Charles goes racing through the house to upstairs. “Quick quick quick quick!” That’s literally it.
(43:49) And finally, the most significant – and for me, the most successful – change of the lot.
As the showdown starts between Keith, Geoff and Marion, the original broadcast edit contained out-of-vision commentary from Charles and Karen, as they recorded the scene unfolding from the bedroom window.5 The following lines are completely removed for the DVD edit:
CHARLES: OK. We’re filming from upstairs down.6
KAREN: He’s freezing!
CHARLES: Good.KAREN: Someone should get him a towel.
CHARLES: He’s been screwing that guy’s wife!CHARLES: (as Marion approaches the pair with the knife) Oh my God. We’re gonna make the papers. We’re gonna make the papers.
KAREN: What are they going to do now?
CHARLES: They’re getting into the BMW.CHARLES: Let’s listen to the screech.
KAREN: OK.7KAREN: (as the car drives off) Oh, there we go. There we go. That’s exactly what we mean. The ribbon trailing behind for the children to trip over, that’s exactly what we mean.
Remaining in the DVD version – although repositioned slightly – is more of Karen complaining about the ribbon: “See? Exactly in front of our house… go down and tell him!” Added in the DVD version is Geoff telling Marion to “Just go”, just before Keith hands her the burger. All these audio changes add up to make a significantly different scene.
The clear intent in the original broadcast version is to contrast the epic showdown taking place in front of us with the petty mutterings of the neighbours. But to me it feels a little overegged compared to the DVD edit, particularly the line “We’re filming from upstairs down” – who the hell is Charles explaining this to? How is this anything other than incredibly obvious? I suspect Blick came to agree.
For my money, the revised DVD edit is much better here. In fact, if anything was to recommend the DVD edit over the broadcast version, it’s not the extra material with Nev, amusing though it is – it’s the rethink of this scene. I want it played out in grim silence.
* * *
All of which leaves us with just one final question. Which is the “real” version of A Small Summer Party?
I don’t want to get into tedious discussions about “canon”, etc. What I really mean is: which version of the show has lived on in the memory? The version of the show that would come to mind, if you were discussing it with friends/enemies/random people on the internet?
For years, I would have said: the extended DVD version. True, many more people would have seen the original broadcast… but they would have seen it once, and then forgotten it. I brought up the lack of repeats of the show at the beginning of this article for a reason: the show simply didn’t get much of a chance to live on in the public consciousness, at least when it came to the specifics. Anybody who truly cared about the show would have bought the DVD, and that surely became the version which was most-watched over the next two decades.
That is, until December 2023, when all of Marion & Geoff was made available on iPlayer. This was the original 10-part version of Series 1, rather than the half-hour edits… and also, the original, 50-minute version of A Small Summer Party. And with one swift upload by the BBC, the version of A Small Summer Party which most people would find themselves watching flicked right back to its original incarnation.
What’s the real version of a TV show? Maybe it’s the very original TX edit. Maybe it’s the director’s preferred vision. Maybe it’s the version you personally enjoy more. Or maybe, just maybe… it’s whatever most people end up watching.
With thanks to Tanya Jones.
Marion & Geoff, or Marion and Geoff? I’m going for Marion & Geoff unless I’m quoting someone else, because that’s what it’s called on the show’s title card. Bite me. ↩
It is “chance”, not “chat”. ↩
I know exactly why the game of catch with the camcorder is there – the show needs to find a way of getting it to land in the bottom of the pool – but it seems slightly forced. I’m willing to accept a certain amount of dramatic licence in this area, but I can’t help this pushes things a bit too far. ↩
This line is hard to make out, but that’s what the subtitles claim. ↩
At least, the lines all seem to be from Charles and Karen. It’s quite difficult to make out at times, and as they’re out-of-vision, it’s difficult to know for sure. ↩
Definitely “upstairs down”, and not “upstairs now”. ↩
The tyre screech itself is also removed from the DVD version. ↩
2 comments
Smylers on 13 April 2025 @ 9am
You describe changes as being from the broadcast version to the DVD version (which makes sense, as the order you experienced them in), but is there any evidence as to which was made first — or indeed why they bothered to make two versions?
If the longer version were made especially for the DVD release, that would obviously involve far more work than simply putting the existing broadcast version on the disk. So either that was a commercial decision that the DVD would sell more copies (making enough additional profit to pay for the extra work) with the “Director’s Cut”, or Hugo Blick was sufficiently irked by the TV edit that they were prepared to put the effort in to ensure that their vision of how it should be was finally out there.
The commercial potential-reason feels weak to me: the release was primarily of series 2, and surely most potential purchasers would buy it even if all the episodes were as broadcast.
The other possible chronology is that the show was originally made as a 60-minute edit, but the BBC then asked them to cut it down to 50 minutes for scheduling reasons. 2001 was before BBC2’s evening schedule standardized on programmes generally being half-an-hour or 1-hour long (ensuring junctions on the hour), but checking the schedule, it doesn’t seem likely that A Small Summer Party had to be 50 minutes to fit around something else: the following 40-minute programme was … a Big Impression clip show, pretty much the perfect example of something that could be provided in any length required.
(Incidentally, Genome lists the programme as ‘Regional Variations’, mistakenly thinking BBC2 broadcast something different in England to the rest of the UK. For England it lists a programme called A Small Summer Party; for Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland the programme is Marion and Geoff, with the episode title being ‘A Small Summer Party’. Which poses the obvious question: how did it actually appear in Radio Times listings?)
John J. Hoare on 13 April 2025 @ 10am
So in this particular case, I believe that the DVD version was made later, for the simple reason that I think the final scene shows a clear rethink of how to approach things. It feels like a true, after-the-fact Director’s Cut. But I guess the only way to know for sure is to collar Hugo Blick at some point.