--- title: "Drop the Dead Donkey" year: 1990 kind: "series" canonical: "https://film.one/tv/drop-the-dead-donkey" fi1m_score: 74 critics_reviews: 1 published: "2026-09-16T21:48:39.467703+00:00" updated: "2026-09-16T21:48:53.080475+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Drop the Dead Donkey (1990) Created by Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin · 24m · Comedy **Fi1m score: 74** · Critics: 1 of 6 reviews so far *In a sentence:* Old news, good company, and several people we would avoid in the office > *Drop the Dead Donkey* is worth an evening for its carefully drawn newsroom ensemble. The topical material is the caveat: the characters are good company, but an appetite for old news helps. ## Synopsis A newsroom provides the setting for *Drop the Dead Donkey*, a topical comedy created by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin. Dave Charnley (Neil Pearson), Sally Smedley (Victoria Wicks) and George Dent (Jeff Rawle) feature alongside Henry Davenport (David Swift) and Damien Day (Stephen Tompkinson). The ensemble also includes Gus Hedges (Robert Duncan) and Alex Pates (Haydn Gwynne). The programme brings its characters together around the news, in 24-minute episodes, with the first of its six series beginning in 1990. ## Review *Drop the Dead Donkey* is a good workplace comedy whose characters are its strongest reason to watch. Created and written by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, it uses a newsroom to bring a sizeable ensemble into regular contact. That setting is useful for comedy: the work is important, which gives personal shortcomings plenty of opportunity to become somebody else’s problem. We recommend it for the company, with a reservation about how much pleasure there is in returning to yesterday’s topical material. Its first series began in 1990 and its sixth in 1998, so those topical ambitions come with an obvious difficulty. News stories lose their urgency, and a reference can need explaining before a joke has a chance to land. We would not choose this programme chiefly for its relationship with the headlines; reconstructing why something once mattered is not how we generally want to spend an evening. The attention to character is what makes the recommendation possible without requiring an enthusiasm for that period’s news. Neil Pearson’s Dave Charnley, Victoria Wicks’s Sally Smedley and Jeff Rawle’s George Dent give the ensemble much of its appeal. David Swift as Henry Davenport and Stephen Tompkinson as Damien Day make the casting feel equally well considered beyond those central names. We warmed to these people more than we expected, because the care given to their individual personalities makes them worth following beyond a topical gag. There is pleasure in having several performers worth attending to, without needing one favourite to justify the next episode. Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin deserve credit for giving the cast characters with enough definition to support that interest. A newsroom sitcom could easily reduce its staff to competing opinions about the news, with somebody assigned to deliver each side of a debate. Their writing gives us a better reason to pay attention to the people involved. We would still be cautious about recommending the programme chiefly as satire: the strength of the ensemble should not be used to wave away the limitations of topical humour. Liddy Oldroyd’s direction deserves a share of the praise for that ensemble. Keeping performances compatible without making the characters interchangeable is a substantial part of directing comedy, and the balance here serves the programme well. The 24-minute episode length is also an advantage for an evening’s viewing, allowing an introduction to the company without demanding a large commitment. The modest length suits a comedy whose principal attraction is spending time with its cast. Measured against workplace comedy, character and casting are sound reasons to give this a try. Our caveat matters more for anyone attracted primarily by the promise of topical jokes, especially if revisiting old headlines already sounds like homework. We would take it an episode at a time, allowing the ensemble to establish itself without treating six series as a task to be completed. Give the staff an episode before committing to the archive. *Fi1m score 74, published 16 September 2026.* ### Reviews we read (1) - **The Times** (70/100, inferred): The first series of the topical newsroom sitcom makes a belated debut on DVD. Its real strengths were impeccably drawn characters and as good an ensemble cast as has been seen in a British comedy series. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/tv-radio/article/drop-the-dead-donkey-the-complete-first-series-12-b22srq9q5rv) ## Details - **Created by:** Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin - **Creator:** Andy Hamilton, Guy Jenkin - **Director:** Liddy Oldroyd - **Writer:** Guy Jenkin, Andy Hamilton - **Producer:** Guy Jenkin, Andy Hamilton - **Cast:** Neil Pearson as Dave Charnley; Victoria Wicks as Sally Smedley; Susannah Doyle as Joy Merryweather; David Swift as Henry Davenport; Stephen Tompkinson as Damien Day; Jeff Rawle as George Dent; Robert Duncan as Gus Hedges; Haydn Gwynne as Alex Pates - **Runtime:** 24m - **Release (the US):** 9 August 1990 - **Genres:** Comedy ## Where to watch in the US - Tubi: free, sd *Checked 2026-09-16.* Also available in: CA, GB, IE, PH, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Network* (1976), Fi1m 86: For a much angrier account of television and the people selling it — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/network.md) - *Broadcast News* (1987), Fi1m 84: For newsroom loyalties, professional vanity and people who cannot leave work alone — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/broadcast-news.md) - *The Thick of It* (2005), Fi1m 89: For institutional panic and language designed to prevent anyone accepting responsibility — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/tv/the-thick-of-it.md) - *Borgen* (2010): For a Danish drama equally interested in politics and the newsroom - *W1A* (2014): For a gentler workplace comedy about broadcasting and the avoidance of decisions --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/tv/drop-the-dead-donkey