Graham Chapman’s half-forgotten 1978 black comedy, recently released on Blu-ray from Severin Films, is a very odd job indeed.
“The Odd Job straddles the line between farce and black comedy, leaning heavily into absurdity but never quite committing to its darker undercurrents… More valuable are the extras, shining a light on both the chaotic production and the peculiar state of British cinema at the time.”
Some films arrive in the world carrying the aura of inevitability, destined to be remembered, quoted, and revisited for decades. Others slip quietly through the cracks, resurfacing years later as strange curiosities. Graham Chapman’s The Odd Job falls squarely into the latter camp: a half-forgotten black comedy from 1978, born of Monty Python’s shadow yet stubbornly its own beast. At once bleak, absurd, and strangely charming, it’s the sort of film that makes you wonder why it disappeared – and then, just as quickly, reminds you why it did.
The project’s roots go back to television. In 1971, Bernard McKenna wrote a short play for the anthology Six Dates with Barker, in which Ronnie Barker starred and a young David Jason first played the role of a soft-spoken handyman with an unusually morbid specialty. Chapman, who was looking for projects to pursue outside of Python, saw promise in the concept and teamed with McKenna to expand it into a feature. With financing cobbled together – including support from figures linked to Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin – the film went into production under director Peter Medak. The Who’s Keith Moon was once tipped to star as the odd job man, but his well-known personal problems made that impossible, and Jason stepped back into the role he had originated on TV.
The premise is simple, and deliciously dark. Chapman plays Arthur Harris, a man whose seemingly stable life collapses when his wife Fiona (Diana Quick) leaves him. Distraught and desperate, he bungles a suicide attempt and instead hires a mysterious handyman – Jason’s titular “odd job man” – to kill him at a moment of his choosing. The arrangement, morbid though it is, offers Arthur a twisted sense of control. But when Fiona unexpectedly returns, he changes his mind. The problem is that cancelling a contract on your own life is not so easy, and from there the film tumbles into a spiral of misunderstandings, panicked evasions, and ever-escalating farce.
Chapman throws himself into the role of Arthur with full commitment. His performance is neurotic, shouty, and occasionally brilliant, but the character itself is a tricky one. Arthur is not particularly likeable; he can seem petty rather than sympathetic, self-pitying rather than tragic. Some critics at the time complained that it was difficult to root for him, and that remains true. Jason, by contrast, is a revelation. His odd job man is calm, precise, and unsettling, yet imbued with a strange charm. Where Chapman veers towards hysteria, Jason’s stillness is the perfect counterweight, grounding the film in a way that makes his presence quietly magnetic.
The supporting cast adds colour, if not always depth. Richard O’Brien, Simon Williams, Bill Paterson, Edward Hardwicke, and Carolyn Seymour all contribute memorable moments, with Seymour’s mischievous performance standing out in particular. But there are times when the film betrays its sketch-show origins. Scenes can feel like extended comedy bits stitched together, some amusing, others dragging on long past their punchline. What should be a tight and urgent narrative – a man racing against his own death – too often ambles along, losing momentum just when it should be tightening the screws.
That tonal indecision defines much of The Odd Job. It straddles the line between farce and black comedy, leaning heavily into absurdity but never quite committing to its darker undercurrents. At its best, this produces moments of biting humour – Chapman’s despair colliding with Jason’s polite menace, for example – but just as often the jokes land with a thud, or vanish into narrative cul-de-sacs. It’s not Monty Python, despite what audiences of the time may have expected, and nor is it a straightforward Ealing-style farce. Instead, it occupies a strange middle ground, an oddity even by the standards of late-Seventies British comedy.
Contemporary critics were far from kind. The Daily Mirror dismissed it as a “plodding farce,” the Sunday Telegraph called it “no good,” and The Observer dismissed it as stale. U.S. distributors deemed it “too English” to market, and the film quietly slipped into obscurity. For years it was available only on rare VHS tapes, treasured by a small handful of Chapman and Jason devotees. Its cult appeal, however, never entirely disappeared, and with time came a gentler reassessment, now given a boost by the recent Blu-ray release from Severin Films, drawn from a 2K scan of director Peter Medak’s personal 35mm print. The transfer is far from perfect – soft in places, with occasional colour fluctuations – but it represents the best the film has ever looked. The audio, preserved in mono, is serviceable if a little hissy. More valuable are the extras: interviews with cast and crew, a reunion with Jason, and commentary tracks that shine a light on both the chaotic production and the peculiar state of British cinema at the time. For fans, these supplements are arguably more entertaining than the film itself.
Revisited today, The Odd Job is neither the disaster some critics claimed nor a lost masterpiece awaiting rediscovery. It is, instead, exactly what its title suggests: an odd job. A strange, lopsided little film, patched together with admirable conviction but uneven execution. Chapman, for all his flaws in the role, brings energy and a measure of pathos, while Jason delivers a performance that remains one of his most intriguing. The story’s premise is still clever enough to intrigue, and its eccentric spirit is unmistakably British.
For those curious about Chapman’s career outside Python, or for fans of Jason looking to trace the roots of his later success, the film is worth seeking out. It will not convert sceptics, but for aficionados of black comedy and cinematic curiosities, it offers a peculiar pleasure. It is messy, flawed, and often frustrating, but it is also undeniably unique – an artifact of a time when a Python could spin a sketch into a feature, when rock bands funded comedies, and when British film was unafraid to be both bleak and silly in the same breath.
In the end, The Odd Job may not be a great film, but it is a fascinatingly odd one. And perhaps, for Graham Chapman, that was enough.
❉ THE ODD JOB Special Features:
● Introduction by director Peter Medak
● Audio Interview with Peter Medak
● The Odd Job Men – Zoom reunion between star Sir David Jason and Peter Medak
● The Unusual Work – Interview with writer Bernard McKenna
● Producer, An Odd Job – Interview with co-producer Mark Forstater
● The Odd Batch – Interview with actor Richard O’Brien
● The Naughty Neighbour – Interview with actress Carolyn Seymour
● Most Peculiar Craft – Interview with actor Simon Williams
❉ ‘The Odd Job’ (Peter Medak, 1978) Blu-ray was released 25 August 2025 by Severin Films. (Cat # SEVBD8876.) Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1. Audio: English Mono. Closed Captions: English SDH. Runtime: 88 mins. Region: A/B/C.
❉ Previously writing as Jay Gent, We Are Cult founder Candy Gent is a writer, editor, and designer whose work explores music, film, TV, and fandom.
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