I have watched quite a few episodes and to be honest some of the characters are just way too much and ridiculous. I would say Violet and the character of Ash fit that description. He is not a good actor, and his performance is like a 8th grader in a middle school play. The older female actress who plays Violet is just not believable and her character is kind of overdone and juvenile. I enjoy the two main characters and Penelope and Mason. You can tell that they are seasoned actors/actress and are able to make their characters their own and realistic. Unfortunately for me Violet and Ash just seem out of place. I will continue watching the show as I am interested to see what happens to Freddie and Stewart.

In 2011 the BBC debuted Mrs Brown's Boys, an old fashioned sitcom with some earthy language which from a critical mauling and low ratings have gone on to become a ratings juggernaut. At a similar time the BBC had another show Miranda, an old fashioned style sitcom which also did well in the ratings.ITV with green eyed jealousy thought we should have some of that and signed up thespian knights Derek Jacobi and Ian McKellen (gay in real life) to play a pair of bickering old Queens who have been together for five decades and who spend their time throwing barbs at each other growing old disgracefully.Plot. Ah there is a problem there is not one. ITV think that the audience will collapse in fits of laughter because Sir Derek and Sir Ian are insulting each other.You do not care about the characters, the lines are not funny. It lacks the wit, sophistication, craziness and sharpness of a classic like One Foot in the Grave which dealt with misbehaviour of old people much better.

I, for one, can't wait for a second series of "Vicious". The cast is delightful including Stewart's mother who looks like she walked over from a production of Macbeth, and I love the set of Freddie and Stewart's apartment. I wish I had a place like that to which I could just drop by and have a cup of tea with the likes of Violet, Penelope, Mason and Ash. Am I pronouncing that right? Do let me know if ever I'm not. I came upon "Vicious" quite by chance and have now watched all the episodes a number of times without getting tired of them. As others have mentioned it's too bad there are only seven episodes but each one is a gem, and it certainly leaves me wanting more. To some of the reviewers here who seem to have so much trouble with the humour of this program I can only say, "lighten up".

Sir Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi star in "Vicious," also starring Frances de la Tour.McKellen and Jacobi play, for want of a better term, two old queens, and de la Tour plays their upstairs neighbor Violet. McKellen's character, Freddie, was an actor with so-so success who talks about his fan mail ("You only had one fan," Stuart (Jacobi) reminds him. "Yes, but he wrote a lot of letters," Freddie says.) In the episode I saw, the two were mourning, if that's the right word, the death of an old friend who apparently had been the lover of Freddie at one time, though he also managed to have two wives and six children. "Wasn't there a wife?" Penelope (Marcia Warren) asks. "Oh, yes," Stuart says, "but that was only for 19 years." Basically, it's the two guys throwing insults at one another and having a bad reaction when someone opens the curtains and lets in the light. The one-liners for the most part are very funny, delivered by two great actors who are obviously enjoying themselves camping it up.I have to say I found it quite enjoyable, funny, and on a higher level than some of the comedies on TV today.