Dog Park review: Can a comedy survive when the lead character hates everyone?

Having a people-hating curmudgeon as your lead character in a series is always a tricky move.

The show has to try to make you believe that people actually want to hang around with him. If the characters in the show don't like the person, then why should the viewer hang around?

That's the problem facing lead character and major grump Roland in this show.

His wife - who is with him for reasons I couldn't fathom - has gone overseas for work, leaving him to look after the family dog.

That means negotiating the dog park and all the other owners there who, despite his clear dislike of them, persist in trying to be friends with him.

Clearly the setup is that Roland will discover social connections in this dog group, but he is so unpleasant as a character it's hard to understand why anyone is even bothering with him.

This ratings juggernaut is effectively critic-proof.

No one who watches this show really believes the lie that it's designed to pair up compatible couples.

The aim here is to ensure friction between the newlyweds; if everyone really lived happily ever after, MAFS would have died some time ago.

The viewers want drama and they get it in spades so criticising the show on that basis is pointless because, well, that's the only reason anyone watches it.

There is another mature (in terms of age at least) coupling in 51-year-old Rebecca and 50-year-old Steve, whom the publicity refers to as a "silver fox" - which seems to be what we call any old guy with grey hair these days.

One assumes neither will be cheating with another contestant, given the age difference.

For some added spice, this year also includes the bisexual Julia. Previews were not available at the time of writing, so I don't know if she gets paired up with a guy or a girl.

It's a bit jarring to hear what sounds like the voice of Roger Moore - best known for his years as James Bond - narrating this 2024 documentary.

After all, he died in 2017.

However, early on it's explained that it's actually actor and comedian Steve Coogan impersonating Roger Moore, reading out excerpts from his books.

That actually makes it feel a little more jarring, as though there's an element of parody here.

Perhaps Coogan was brought in to try to jazz up what is actually a pretty flat and dull documentary.

The big hook is supposed to be a trove of home movies that Moore shot while he was alive, but they don't really offer much in the way of insight.

They're just full of shots of his family or the various celebrities he hung out with - Moore appears to have been quite the name-dropper.

Perhaps the only interesting aspect is his tumultuous love life that included a wife who refused to grant him a divorce for nine years and another who made him sleep in a cupboard under the stairs.

However, even here his multiple marriages and infidelities are treated as just a jolly old jape with no real depth.

The best conclusion you can draw from this documentary is that Roger Moore was indeed the dullest 007.