Men Behaving Badly minutes longer. "Men Behaving Badly" is based on Simon Nye's 1989 book of the same title. Producer Beryl Vertue first considered it for a film before deciding it was suited for television adaptation. Harry Enfield, already a well-known comedian, was cast first. He had seen Martin Clunes perform in a play and recommended him for the other lead. Enfield felt out of place in the sitcom and announced he was leaving after the first series. When Thames Television found out, their immediate reaction was to end the series, and they had to be persuaded to put on a second series,
Chalk (TV series) to 22:20. The second series received an unstable timeslot, being replaced in its more mainstream slot by "Men Behaving Badly". Commenting on the second series, the Glasgow "Herald" said, "the manic depute head of Galfast High, Eric Slatt, is looking more and more like Basil Fawlty on a bad day. So are those of us who remain glued to it in ghoulish fascination to see if it can get any worse." Tabloid newspaper "The Mirror" published a damming review of the show's second series opener: The head of comedy at Television Centre deserves six of the best for bringing back