Matthew Hardy: Willy Wonka Explained

If Willy Wonka promised to take us to a world of pure imagination, then Willy Wonka Explained delivers the crushing disappointment of having a cherished childhood fantasy ruthlessly torn apart by a gleeful older sibling.

Hardy is a comic who is consistently inventive, and while conceptually the show has the potential to become a cult classic, it never delivers on its immense promise.

Based around the idea that both characters are simultaneously receiving therapy, the show has flashes of brilliance, yet the dual narrative fails to deliver any real fluency, with Hardy seeming uncomfortable with such a rigid script.

Never outshone is Julie Dawn Cole, who portrays being a disregarded child star with such a degree of vulnerability that at times it's a struggle to remember this is a comedy. The ultimate tragedy is not Cole as a C-list celebrity desperately seeking one final shot at fame, but rather of a women who can never fully upstage her 10-year-old self.

It is perhaps the most damning indictment of a show that the gag that gets the biggest laugh is about midgets. A series of Hallucinogenic Ooompla Loompa audio visuals hilariously capture Julie Cole forever trapped in a life that is constantly haunted by her childhood memories. At first it's brilliantly crafted but the joke is quickly cheapened by its constant repetition.

All this being said, maybe I'm just being a Veruca Salt, Grumpy and mean spirited, because while for me this was a bad egg; for many it was golden.