Phoenix Nights

2000s British tv sitcom

Brian Potter is a wheelchair driving, ill-tempered, proud owner of the Phoenix club in Bolton. His club offers various kinds of entertainment - from bingo and folk music to bullriding and psychic shows.

The adventures (or rather misadventures) of the staff of the Phoenix club in Bolton, the city that never sleeps. At least in the eyes of the proud owner of Phoenix, the ill-tempered wheelchair-confined Brian Potter. In the past, his club was destroyed in the fire, now rises like a Phoenix from the ashes. Potter has grand plans to bring top-notch entertainment to the place, but for now, all he has to offer is a bit of gloomy interiors and Jerry St. Clair, a talented MC who does his best to keep the things together. The rest of the staff is a mixture of original characters, who feel attached to the place, even though some of them have to take gigs outside of Phoenix to make ends meet.

Phoenix Nights at first seems rough and a little bit gloomy, but once you get used to the characters, the show becomes quite entertaining. The club owner has ideas that go way beyond the reality of Bolton and is not willing to spend any money on bringing them to life, which is the basis of the humour. The plots often aren’t too challenging or realistic, but the contrast between grand plans and gloomy reality works perfectly.

Unfortunately, what worked in the first season (different "special nights" in the club each episode) was dropped in the second season and replaced by the story arch, which was not that involving. Nevertheless, a show worth seeing.

Rating	7.2
Funny	7 / 10
Entertaining	4 / 5
Characters	3 / 5
Nonrepetitive	4 / 5