Fackham Hall – Review

Puns, jokes, slapstick action, satirical scenes and parody moments are all delivered hand over fist in Fackham Hall, a proper British comedy about life in the upper crust. Taking place in the 1930s, war has torn apart the world, but not for the top classes and snooty rich families, such as the Davenports of the Fackham Hall estate.

Lord Humphrey Davenport (Lewis) focuses on succession; however, he has no living male heirs. The solution thus far is naturally to marry off his youngest daughter Poppy (Laird) to her cousin, Archibald (Felton). Yikes. Good thing Poppy has her eye on the local shit salesman, and runs off to live the life of slinging manure.

Now pressure is on the other Davenport daughter, Rose (McKenzie), and finding her a husband. Maybe Archibald?? Sigh.

Fackham Hall is super silly and makes fun of most all proper behavior and plenty of famous British stories and properties. It stoops as low as fart jokes, while also delivering clever word play and on-screen shenanigans. Overall, I found it quite entertaining, especially as it was leaning in to being stupid on purpose. Dumping some good actors into this material allowed it to have some credence, as a layered comedy like this is decently hard to perform.

While it is a comedy and not all of it will work for everyone, this intelligent take on British society delivers a lot of ridiculousness. Quips are fast and sometimes just as quick to be surpassed by the next flurry of jokes and silly moments. While the actors play the parts seriously, the dialogue is ludicrous and their characters behave in over-the-top ways.

“Mr. Davenport, I apologize that my face interrupted the flight of your hand, and I deeply regret the behavior of my junior colleague.”