Watch The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff

The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff was a British television series that aired on BBC Two in 2011 and on BritBox in 2012. The show was a comedy sketch series that followed the story of Jedrington Secret-Past, a hapless Victorian shop owner who was constantly getting into strange and unusual situations.

The show was created by Mark Evans, who had previously worked on other British comedies such as Not the Nine O'Clock News and The Day Today. The cast was led by Robert Webb, who played Jedrington Secret-Past, and Stephen Fry, who played the villainous lawyer Malifax Skulkingworm. Other cast members included Katherine Parkinson, who played Jedrington's wife Conceptiva, and David Mitchell, who played Jedrington's rival, a sinister toy maker named Mr. Gently Benevolent.

The premise of the show was that Jedrington Secret-Past ran a small shop in Victorian London that sold a variety of strange and unusual items. Each episode would feature Jedrington and his friends getting into bizarre and often dangerous situations as they tried to sell their wares to the eccentric and sometimes malevolent denizens of the city.

One of the show's recurring features was its use of spoof advertisements for fictional products such as the "Freedman's Wind-Relief Elixir" and the "Hansard's Advanced Quackery Kit." These ads would often be introduced by Stephen Fry's character, Malifax Skulkingworm, who would use them to taunt Jedrington and his friends.

Another frequent element of the show was its use of wordplay and puns. For example, the shop's sign read "Jedrington Secret-Past's Bleak Old Shop of Stuff and Things," which summed up the tone of the comedy very well. The show's writers were clearly inspired by classic British comedies such as Monty Python's Flying Circus, and they used similar absurdist humor to great effect.

One of the show's most memorable episodes was "A Christmas Peril," which was a parody of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. In this episode, Jedrington was visited by three ghosts who tried to teach him the true meaning of Christmas. However, instead of the traditional ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, Jedrington was visited by a ghost of Christmas that was yet to pass, a ghost of Christmas that was sort of passing, and a ghost of Christmas that had sort of almost passed. This episode was a great example of the show's wit and cleverness, as well as its ability to spoof classic storytelling tropes.

Overall, The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff was a funny and entertaining show that poked fun at Victorian England and its many peculiarities. The show's cast was excellent, with Robert Webb and Stephen Fry in particular turning in fantastic performances. The show was unfortunately short-lived, with only six episodes being produced, but it remains a cult favorite among comedy fans. If you're looking for a quirky and offbeat British comedy, then The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff is definitely worth checking out.

The Bleak Old Shop of Stuff is a series that ran for 2 seasons (4 episodes) between and on BritBox