Phys Ed

Neville Trellis (Nicholas Osmond) is a school rugby coach obsessed with King Arthur and other heroes of legend. Meanwhile, his identical twin brother is a real life rugby superstar. However, with the upcoming inter-school rugby championships, Neville finally has a chance to shine.

While his character idolises the honed statues of Greek Olympians, Osmond uses his own Easter Island-esque facial features to great effect. Reflecting the gym teacher’s focus on ‘poise’, Osmond uses his general physicality and bearing to impart character, modulating between humour and pathos with ease.

It must be said, the idea of a frustrated PE teacher working out childhood traumas is hardly original, and Neville is heavily reminiscent of the unpopular Arnold Rimmer from Red Dwarf. He’s too sympathetic to be truly funny as a caricature. Nevertheless, Osmond makes his whistle-clad, rugger-mad creation enormously likeable.

The story he tells is entertaining, if generic. It builds to a satisfying crescendo on the field, and is stocked with broad characters and emotions. In many ways, this is appropriate. Not only does the show take place in the hyperbolic world of sport, it tries to show how we construct our own private myths.

Phys Ed doesn’t tell the great deeds of great men. It’s about achieving glory wherever you can find it. It celebrates the small, everyday legends, starring a small man who, in his own way, is a hero.