For much of the past ten years British television viewers have enjoyed the trials and mishaps of Paul Ritter’s Martin Goodman, an eccentric, partially deaf and often shirtless father whose middle-class, Anglo-Jewish family come together for their weekly Shabbat meal in the sitcom Friday Night Dinner. Their evening is invariably interrupted by misunderstandings and moments of social awkwardness.
Playing Ritter’s wife Jacqueline was Tamsin Greig, whose main course at dinner he compliments with the line: “A lovely bit of squirrel, Jackie.” Another of his catchphrases was “I’m bloody boiling”, uttered with fine comedic timing to nobody in particular.
Going topless required him to be reasonably strict about his diet. “I do steer clear of the very tempting puddings that the Friday Night Dinner