Review: The Booth at the End

DVD: The Booth at the End (2011 -)

In a time of gorging on box sets, here’s one you may have missed. The Booth at the End has no movement in it, it is the most stationary piece of television I’ve witnessed. It’s also a revelation in storytelling.

Simply set, a man (Xander Berkeley) sits in the end booth of an American diner. He eats, drinks and constantly scribbles in a large moleskin book with his fountain pen. People approach him, sit, and then ask for something. He agrees on one condition; that they perform some service/feat for him.

The ‘action’ never leaves the diner. Jenny wants to be prettier; she must rob a bank to get her wish. Sister Carmel wants to hear God again; she must get pregnant. James wants his son to survive cancer; he must kill someone. Doris wants her husband to come home; she must make and set off a bomb in a populated place.

It is literally a series of talking heads, but has to be one of the MOST addictive programmes I’ve seen. I literally whizzed through the episodes because I couldn’t wait to see what happened, because of course, all the stories become somehow intertwined.

A hugely enjoyable show that I can heartily recommend.

Review by Tina (co-host of 60 Minutes With) from discs kindly supplied by Aim Publicity.