FX renew LOUIE, WILFRED & IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA

FX have renewed their orders for Louie, Wilfred and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. This is particularly good news for Wilfred, their remake of an Australian series about an introvert who sees his attractive neighbour's pet dog as a gauche man in a dog-suit.

I wasn't sold on Wilfred's pilot, you may recall, but it's developed into one of the most interesting and bizarre comedies around. It did that by not lazily emphasizing the obvious "man-as-dog" jokes and instead focusing on its off-kilter tone and some twisted ideas. Plus Elijah Wood and Jason Gann are great, both individually and as a weird double-act.

Meanwhile, Louie has grown in popularity in its second season. It's another comedy I enjoy, although I sometimes think people daren't criticize it because it's widely seen as a masterpiece. Sometimes it's not especially funny, very indulgent, and the pacing drags, admit it. Sometimes. But it's still a comedy that's definitely pushing barriers and doing something unusual, uncomfortable, and memorable.

And as for It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia... well, I've never seen it, so I have nothing to say. But FX have ordered another two seasons, despite the fact season 7 hasn't even premiered yet, so that's an astonishing show of faith. Any fans out there?

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Review: TROLLIED (Sky1)

Having already cornered the majority of the British marketplace when it comes to sports, movies and premium US drama, Sky are now making headway into domestic comedy and drama. Eight-part supermarket comedy Trollied is their latest venture (with Mount Pleasant, Hit & Miss, This Is Jinsy, and Spy still to come), ironically starring a few actors from Asda/Tesco commercials, set in the fictional north-west supermarket Valco. The store's tagline is "serve you right", but thankfully I wasn't left thinking the same thing to myself after watching it.

Jane Horrocks plays acting Deputy Manager Julie, a brittle woman covering for maternity leave but determined to keep the job, which means trying to impress Store Manager Gavin (Jason Watkins) at every opportunity. They're joined in the store by lonely heart butcher Andy (Mark Addy) and his laddish young assistant Kieran (Nick Blood); stuck-in-a-rut checkout girl Katie (Chanel); lazy, disobedient shelf-stacker Colin (Carl Rice); aged, dotty store assistant Margaret (Rita May); gossiping customer service duo Sue (Lorraine Cheshire) and Linda (Faye McKeever); and spaced-out trolley collector Leighton (Joel Fry).

They're a believable and amiable bunch of actors/characters, and certainly the prime reason to keep watching Trollied—which only suffers because it's at that embryonic stage where it almost has to empty its system of obvious supermarket-themed jokes (customers returning half-eaten produce, staff getting stage fright when asked to use the public address system, etc.) It'll be interesting to see how Trollied fares when it's exhausted that top layer of unavoidable japes the audience are almost expecting to hear, and is then forced to get imaginative and rely more on the characters for material that isn't tethered to the environment.

This is still a show where the familiar milieu is the star, see—partly because we don't know the characters that well yet, but I'm hopeful the writing will get stronger. There are definitely signs of potential greatness: such as the wonderful, easy chemistry between butchers Andy and Kieran. In particular, a scene where middle-aged Andy was challenged to chat-up a customer to prove he's still a virile man worked very well. Those characters also walked off with the premiere's funniest moment: having fun at Julie's expense with the homonym "interim-ing" and "into rimming". A laugh-out-loud misunderstanding that, frankly, kept me watching and actively willing the show to deliver a few more belly-laughs like that. None really came, but it wasn't a bad viewing experience. In fact, Trollied is already the best new British comedy I've seen in a very long time, but perhaps that just underscores how uninspired recent British comedies have been.

It's also nice to have a sitcom on TV that stands a real chance of becoming that rare thing in the UK comedy landscape: a show that speaks to multiple generations, thanks to how supermarkets are themselves melting pots for millions of different people. Younger viewers can attach themselves to the ennui of checkout operators, middle-aged viewers can enjoy the management shenanigans, and the elderly can enjoy seeing a few people their own age being represented. The supermarket backdrop also ensures a steady and ever-changing supply of one-off and recurring guest-star customers, albeit without much scope for big storylines because shopping's generally a brief activity.

Trollied certainly got the atmosphere of a supermarket just right, too. It was filmed on a replica set in Bristol, but you'd never tell. The performances were also good—although there were times when it felt like a few of the actors (Horrocks, Watkins) were playing things a little broader than their colleagues. Maybe some people were convinced this is the retail equivalent of The Office (seeing as they've even gender-reversed that show's Tim/Dawn/Lee love-triangle), while others are treating it as something more lightweight and cartoonish. Like a sitcom version of Coronation Street's Bettabuys storylines from the '90s, with gurning Reg Holdsworth and gangly Curly Watts. And to be fair, the show itself felt a little unsure what the tone should be. Fairly adult jokes about sexual acts like "rimming" suit the post-watershed 9pm timeslot it was in, yet the overall tone and style of the show was screaming family-friendly 8pm.

If Trollied can settle on what kind of show it wants to be, while also remembering that all the great sitcoms had complex characters you cared about or sympathized with, I envisage this working rather nicely when the birthing pains are over. I'm not sure the writing's good enough for it to become Dinnerladies-in-a-supermarket, but thanks to a strong premise and excellent cast, I think this could grow to become a perfectly decent and inoffensive sitcom.

written by Julie Rutterford / directed by Paul Walker / 4 August 2011 / Sky1

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Review: BEAVER FALLS (E4)

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Review: SHOW ME THE FUNNY

Unfortunately titled, considering the scarcity of laughs. Jason Manford presents The Apprentice-for-comedians, as 10 stand-ups compete for £100,000, a DVD deal, and a nationwide tour. Show Me The Funny's judges are comedian Alan Davies (a man whose stand-up comes a distant third to panel show appearances and acting these days), Kate Copstick (a respected comedy critic, whose nonetheless best-known as a panelist on '80s quiz Crosswits), and a weekly guest judge (this week, comedy dinosaur Jimmy Tarbuck). Are the warning lights flashing yet?

Every week the stand-ups travel to a different city, perform totally unnecessary tasks (on the streets of Liverpool some were asked to find passersby with names from a Beatles song), and soak up local knowledge to inspire a five-minute set of brand new jokes. Each comedian then performs to a local audience (comprised entirely of women this week), while assessed by the three judges, and the worst performer sent home.

The format's a key problem here. The street tasks didn't influence most people's comedy, beyond one person who unashamedly stole a joke a hairdresser told him about posh Scousers from the Wirral picking their noses with cutlery. It was instead just a way to kill time. After an unforgivable half-hour (including two ad breaks) we'd seen precious little comedy or jokes (there are disputed rumours that host Manford's jokes were cut for legal reasons). And when the stand-up finally arrived, the quality was understandably poor because it was new material hastily written in 24-hours. Few comedians work under those exacting conditions, particularly new ones hoping to make a splash. It can take years to hone some material down into a decent 5-10 minute set, so why not judge them on their existing material instead of forcing them to write five minutes of imprecise local gags?

It was also blatantly obvious who the worst stand-ups were out of the 10 (a half-Spanish man feebly peddling a "lothario" image, and a black man who unwisely persisted with an excruciating Scouse accent), so the judges weren't saying anything we didn't know already. You could say that Simon Cowell likewise states the blindingly obvious (bad singing is bad singing, right?), but there's more of a grey area with wannabe popstars. In comedy, you're either funny... or you're not. There's very little wriggle room. The judges comments weren't particularly constructive or helpful, anyway. ITV could have opened a phoneline for 15 minutes and ended with the same result.

Show Me The Funny's sole positive is how it acknowledges the lows that come from stand-up comedy. On TV, stand-up is understandably edited so performers always look successful at what they're doing, for fear of killing the mood, or just features performers who've reaches a standard where their material is generally more hit than miss. But this show gave a more honest view of the art from a lower rung, with most people suffering through stony silence or bemused tittering. It made you squirm in your seat at times, guffawing out of embarrassment as people's jokes hit the floor like dead fish.

But that doesn't forgive the fact that this was a stand-up comedy show that took half-an-hour to actually feature any stand-up, and then its comedy "highlights" were ironically the lowlights. Show Me The Funny feels like a show that's been thrown together by committee. People like X Factor, The Apprentice and stand-up comedy these days, so let's throw them in a blender and serve it up! Will audiences even embrace the winner of this show when they're announced in six weeks? Buying their DVD and booking tickets for a tour? I just can't see it. Tesco bargain bins and some gigs at Butlins is the most likely outcome.

Show Me The Funny / Mondays / ITV, 9pm

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THE TRIP heads for Italy

According to the British Comedy Guide, The Trip's co-producer Andrew Eaton has revealed a second series is being made, to be set in Italy. Eaton let slip the news during a BAFTA talk, where he was joined by stars Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon at Latitude Festival's Film & Music Arena.

The first series of The Trip aired last November on BBC2, where it lost half its 2 million viewers over a six-week run, although it was critically-adored and has retained a strong fan-base. The series, directed by Michael Winterbottom, was also re-edited into a movie that became a success in North America at various film festivals.

The show saw Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon playing exaggerated versions of themselves (as they did in Winterbottom's movie A Cock & Bull Story), as Brydon accompanied Coogan on a tour around the Lake District, sampling meals at posh restaurants for a Sunday newspaper column. It's not yet known if this concept will form the basis of series 2, albeit with a switch to sun-kissed Italy, but that does seem very likely.

What do you think? Did you enjoy The Trip last year? I did. Or were you one of the million people who abandoned it during its run? Have you seen the movie version? Will you be tuning into an Italian follow-up, or are you only interested in watching clips on YouTube (some of which became very popular around the world)?

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Channel 4's COMEDY SHOWCASE returns

Comedy Showcase: CHICKENS

I've been covering the annual Comedy Showcase season on Channel 4 since it started four years ago. I think the idea of airing what are effectively pilot episodes, then deciding which ones to take to series based on viewer response is brilliant. It's just disappointing when Channel 4's actions often go against that perceived methodology: Pete vs Life went straight to series despite being announced as a Comedy Showcase offering, PhoneShop was granted a series the day before its pilot aired, and was Todd Margaret ever in danger of being discarded, given the fact it stars David Cross and Will Arnett from Arrested Development?

To be frank, I'm now unconvinced Channel 4 care what the critics or public make of their Comedy Showcase. I'm sure they're aware of which ones have "legs" before they air, or which ones can be easily commissioned because of cast/crew availability, and only a vehemently negative response from viewers may change their minds. But there still remains the possibility audiences will latch onto something Channel 4 didn't think would work, and the magic of the internet will force a few rethinks. Let's be positive!

Regardless of how it's run or promoted, today it's been announced that Comedy Showcase is coming back for a third run. Channel 4 have confirmed these seven offerings:

Coma Girl, starring Anna Crilly (Lead Balloon) as a comatose woman called Lucy, who's visited by her school friends (Sarah Solemani, Katy Wix, Katherine Parkinson) in hospital; The Angelos Neil Epithemiou Show, with comedian Dan Skinner as his Angelos character from Shooting Stars; House Of Rooms, written by Milton Jones and Dan Evans, about a middle-aged man (Milton) living with his mother, who falls in love with their new lodger Alice; The Function Room, written by Dan Maier (How TV Ruined Your Life), which follows the exploits of various character who rent a pub's function room for different reasons; Chickens, a WWII comedy written by and starring The Inbetweeners' Simon Bird and Joe Thomas, about the men who didn't leave home to fight the Nazis; The Fun Police, starring Vic Reeves and Rhys Darby (Flight Of The Concords) as members of a local council's health and safety department; and Felix & Murdo, starring Alexander Armstrong and Ben Miller as athletes in the first modern Olympics of 1908.

Most of those actually sound promising. It's almost guaranteed that Chickens and House Of Rooms will go to series, purely based on the talent involved and amusing premises. The latter sounds particularly intriguing; a kind of Rising Damp meets Sorry. I'm excited to see what Milton Jones has in store for us there.

The Reeves/Darby sitcom may also be good, maybe as a nuttier version of Parks & Recreation? Coma Girl and The Function Room will need to prove they have longevity, as they sound like something more suited to a single comedy-drama. And I fully expect the The Angelos Neil Epithemiou Show to be atrocious, as I hate that character on Shooting Stars, but we'll see.

This sounds like a much stronger lineup than previous Comedy Showcase's, though—what do you think?

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Coming Soon: BEAVER FALLS, E4

E4 have a brand new comedy-drama on the way, which they're hoping will replicate the success of The Inbetweeners. Beaver Falls is the story of three British friends—Flynn (Coronation Street's Samuel Robertson), A-Rab (Four Lions' Arsher Ali) and Barry (Lark Rise To Candleford's John Dagleish)—who graduate from university and decide to travel to the US for a carefree holiday working for an elite summer camp called Beaver Falls, full of beautiful and rich Californian teenagers.

It's certainly a premise that sounds fun on paper. I just hope the writing and performances are as sharp as The Inbetweeners, because a British teen-comedy set in the US (probably involving an Anglo-American culture clash) is definitely something that appeals to me—despite the fact I'm now in my early-30s!

To celebrate the show's premiere, there's also a competition to win the Ultimate USA trip for a total of three people, who will flown out to the US with £1500 spending money and seats on a RoadTrip American tour from San Francisco to New York City. To be in with a chance of winning, just head over to Beaver Falls' Facebook site and collect "badges" by playing games on the show's official app. Each of the potential 24 badges to win equal an entry into the competition, where the winner will be chosen at random. Hurry, because the contest closes on 27 July. A full list of Terms & Conditions can be read on the E4 site.

A mock promotion for the Beaver Falls summer camp can be seen below:

Beaver Falls will premiere on E4 sometime in July.

This is a sponsored post.

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Review: WILFRED, 1.1 – "Happiness"

A remake of a critically-acclaimed Australian series, writer David Zuckerman (Family Guy) adapts the bizarre comic tale Wilfred for American audiences. The concept is brilliantly simple: an ordinary guy realizes he's hallucinating his attractive next-door neighbour's dog Wilfred as a grumpy man in a dog costume (Jason Gann), and the pair become unlikely friends. In the original, the "ordinary guy" was exactly that, but the US remake chooses to make Ryan (Elijah Wood) into a social misfit and loner, introduced to us attempting to commit suicide after writing a fourth draft suicide note. I think it's intended to give us some form of explanation for why this fantasy's happening, as we're supposed to feel concern for Ryan's sanity, in addition to enjoying the symptom of his problem. And that's fine, I guess. It gives the show a somewhat darker edge, and Wood proved in Sin City that his feminine looks and turquoise eyes can be used for more unnerving ends. It's just a shame this one-joke comedy, for me, ran out of steam after 15-minutes.

And that's the key to this comedy. If you don't find the central premise consistently amusing, it won't be long before you're bored and wondering how they can possibly keep the ball rolling. The original series only produced a total of 16 episodes over two series (spread across three years), and FX will be producing 13 this year alone. On the evidence of this episode, I'm not convinced the show can go much beyond that time-span, as there's only so long you can poke fun at the idea of a dog that's been anthropomorphized in the head of a lcoal weirdo. It helps that co-creator Jason Gann (who played Wilfred in the original) is back playing the same character in this remake, as he knows exactly what's required and how to play a man-dog. Wilfred's essentially an Australian bloke who likes nothing more than smoking from bongs and doing typical canine things, like digging holes when he's anxious, and Gann makes for an oddly appealing co-lead. It already feels like Gann and Wood work as a double-act, but there still remains the issue of how long this concept can last...

It's essentially a pretty obvious and weak sketch idea, and even with Zuckerman in charge of the show (whose work on Family Guy is great training, as it too mixes traditional storytelling with sketch-like gags and a talking dog), I have a funny feeling Wilfred will counter problems fairly quickly. I was already over the concept's joke before this episode finished, and don't feel compelled to watch more. It doesn't take a genius to imagine the type of jokes we're going to be getting from this show, does it? Dogs have been staples of comedy for so long that we're all very aware of their foibles and areas of comic potential (peeing against lampposts, sniffing anuses, trips to the vet, neutering, burying bones, etc), and frankly I'm already bored with the idea of watching Wilfred undoubtedly tackle all of that—with the only twist being we're seeing a bearded Aussie in a silly costume as "man's imaginary best friend".

Overall, as much as I enjoyed some of the chemistry between Wood and Gann, I just can't see Wilfred becoming anything more than fleetingly amusing. Maybe it'll be worth sticking around for more, just to see how the show deals with various problems (the excuses for Wood to keep looking after a neighbour's dog, say), or if the show will be forced to become more creative and interesting once all the man-acting-like-a-dog jokes have been used up. I'm cautiously optimistic David Zuckerman has something in mind about how to prevent Wilfred becoming a repetitive bore, but after one 23-minute episode I think the joke's over for me.

written by David Zuckerman / directed by Randall Einhorn / 23 June 2011 / FX

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Reviews: 8 OUT OF 10 CATS, KING OF... and WALL OF FAME

The comedy panel show is in rude health, there's no doubt about it. Friday night's are when BBC1's genre stalwart Have I Got News For You airs, and now it's joined by three rivals—two of which are new to the airwaves. First there's old-hand 8 OUT OF 10 CATS, which is fuelled by statistics and opinion polls compiled about the week's news and gossip. There's been no significant changes to the show's format since it began, although team captain Jason Manford's now been replaced by comedian Jon Richardson.

The show itself can be one of the funniest panel shows around, on a good day. While many contemporaries have to balance jokes with a serious satirical agenda, Cats is as trivial as the lists it uses as its source of information. Headed by three comedians who are presently active on the circuit, it's more obviously an excuse to deliver jokes and amusing observations about topics the nation's chattering about. There isn't much in the way of thought-provoking insights and incisive satire, just pub-level joshing and quips with a topical theme. Team captain Sean Lock's found himself the ideal format for his brand of comedy, too—as I don't care for his stand-up but he seems to thrive in this panel show environment. Having some enforced structure and banter with guests appears to give him a boost.

In many ways Cats reminds me of Mock The Week in its approach to skewering the week's news, but there's a much more pleasant atmosphere to it. Mock often feels like six comedians scrambling to outdo each other in a competitive environment, but those involved with Cats are more gracious to their fellow panelists. Plus, in allowing non-comedian guests (here, cage-fighting fame-whore Alex Reid and Countdown's mouthwatering Rachel Riley), it's more fun seeing them poke fun at people who are in the room—as Mock often feels quite cowardly.

Following Cats was brand new panel show KING OF... hosted by the enormously pregnant Claudia Winkleman, who looked ready to pop if she so much as sneezed. Winkleman's become something of a cult in recent years, primarily thanks to her hosting of Strictly Come Dancing's irreverent sister show It Takes Two, where her brand of scatterbrained madness has endeared her to many. She's still very much a love/hate personality, similar to nutty face-puller Davina McCall, but King proves she's incapable of hosting what amounts to an optimistic version of Room 101.

The premise is very simple and, unfortunately, incredibly pointless and uninteresting. Winkleman's joined by two celebrity guests over the course of the show, who debate what the "king" (read "best") of any given topic is. King of snacks? King of holidays? King of music? King of pets? King of cities? You name. It's so trifling and inane that it would barely cover a column in Heat, and Winkleman's unable to spin any gold from the discussion.

The opener's guests were Geordie comedian Sarah Millican and presenter/DJ Chris Evans: the former a likable enough person who's extremely overexposed right now; the latter nowhere near funny enough to turn a tedious "what's the king of cheese?" question into comedy dynamite. Maybe it's my cynical British attitude, but there's nothing especially funny or interesting about listening to celebs state a case for something they adore, and essentially list favourites. It's radio's Desert Island Discs with wider topics of discussion, but without an soul. I'd much rather they bitch and moan about something they hate.

Winkleman's on record saying the show's "shit", thanks to a moment of candor a few weeks ago, and it's hard to disagree with her. What's the king of panel shows? Anything but this. I can only assume Winkleman needed the money to decorate her nursery.

Finally, Sky1's success with sporting panel show A League Of Their Own (heir to the BBC's '90s hit They Think It's All Over), has boosted their confidence in this cheap and cheerful genre. So now they've followed it up with a celebrity/gossip-based panel show hosted by Little Britain's David Walliams called WALL OF FAME. It doesn't really have much of a format, but realizes half the success of these shows are assembling eclectic guests, but relying on comedians. That said, considering they managed to book N Dubz singer Tulisa (a new judge on X Factor many viewers will be curious about), Wall Of Fame didn't capitalize on that signing. And to be honest, Tulisa looked half-bored throughout—even more so than teammate Jack Dee, who at least had the excuse that's his TV persona!

In Wall Of Fame, two teams answer questions based on a grid of famous faces on the titular wall. It's that simple. The outcome was like watching a hybrid of Celebrity Juice (minus the Shooting Stars-esque lunacy and some actual structure. It was diverting enough because most of the panelists (including comedians Andrew Maxwell and Mickey Flanagan) were giving it their best, and we'll overlook the weird decision to make Daybreak's Kate Garroway a team captain.

The biggest problem is that I'm not convinced Walliams works as a host, mainly because he can't resist putting on a very odd "serious face" whenever he's in charge. Walliams works much better as a rascally panelist, free to be cheeky and drop sexual innuendo, but as emcee he's restricted by the role's autocue-reading demands. I'm amazed Sky didn't realize this after seeing Walliams on the recent Comic Relief special 24 Hour Panel People, frankly. He was just as stiff on that whenever he hosted a segment, even before the excuse of sleep deprivation.

8 Out Of 10 Cats: Friday, Channel 4, 9PM / Wall Of Fame: Friday, Sky1, 9PM / King Of...: Friday, Channel 4, 9.30PM

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Review: ANGRY BOYS, 1.1 – 1.6

Given the title, it's ironic the two best characters are softly-spoken women in Chris Lilley's latest mockumentary. A gifted impersonator (and the funniest thing to come out of Australia since, um, Steve Irwin?) Lilley's Angry Boys is his biggest project to date: a HBO co-production with an international flavour to proceedings. Unfortunately, that scope comes at the expense of the focus that informed his previous work We Can Be Heroes and Summer Heights High. It's hard to tell what the point of Angry Boys is, basically, beyond enabling Lilley to spread his creative wings and play a wider range of characters than ever before—albeit with varying degrees of success...

Wisely introduced over the course of the first four episodes, we meet the show's oddballs: 17-year-old Daniel and his hearing-impaired twin brother Nathan, who spend their days antagonizing each other on their family's remote South Australian farm; juvenile detention supervisor Ruth "Gran" Sims, a matriarchal figure to the teenage offenders she makes wear superhero pajamas to bed; dictatorial Japanese mother Jen Okazaki, who's micromanaged her American-born son's life to turn him into a gay skateboarding superstar in Tokyo; one-time champion surfer Blake Oakfield, a 38-year-old man who spends his days embroiled in a childish turf war against a rival surfing clique; and African-American rapper S.mouse, who became an overnight sensation with hit song "Slap My Elbow" but is struggling to maintain his embryonic fame due to his negligible talent and irrepressible egotism.

There's a lot of like about Angry Boys—in Lilley's excellent performances, its simmering outrageousness, and the slick production values—but there's also an unshakeable feeling that it's broader than his previous work (more profanity, lots of toilet humour), doesn't contain as many laugh-out-loud moments as you'd expect, and a few of the characters just don't feel worthy of the attention. In particular, there's little about surfer dude Blake that justifies spending more than an episode on him, as the joke he's a man-child clutching to a reputation earned in adolescence, ran out of steam inside of the half-hour he was introduced in. And the character of S.mouse doesn't offer much beyond obvious satirical targets (he's an immature young man called Shwayne from a privileged family, not a street kid from the ghetto), a few broad swipes at fleeting fame, and the crude inanity of many rap songs.

That leaves just four character to carry the weight of the show on their shoulders. Fortunately, they're strong enough to keep Angry Boys afloat. Daniel and Nathan are warring twins whose horseplay (cruel pranks, shouting, rude hand gestures) will be familiar if you have brothers—and despite the fact poking fun at deaf people isn't clever, Lilley finds some amusing takes on it. It helps that a key part is knowing how Daniel is secretly upset his withdrawn brother might be leaving home to attend a school for the deaf. But I especially enjoy Lilley's female tyrants in Gran (an upbeat, finicky guinea pig lover who demonstrates a nonchalantly cruel streak when dealing with teens), and Jen (the ultimate "pushy mum" who's brainwashed and bullied her son Tim into becoming little more than a lucrative product). The latter's such a soft-spoken menace that you feel genuinely upset for her long-suffering boy—who has to pretend he only speaks pigeon-English and is attracted to men, while endorsing "Gay Style" tie-in merchandise that includes penis-shaped drink bottles.

Overall, Angry Boys is good fun and showcases Lilley's talent for character acting very well. Like his British idols Catherine Tate and Julia Davis, he disappears into each role incredibly well, despite having a recognizably oval face and pursed lips—although the black-face on S.mouse can't help but call attention to the artifice. It's just a shame his latest spoof doesn't click as a cohesive project. The title isn't pertinent (half the characters are female, most aren't "angry" per se), and Lilley probably should have considered performing less characters of better quality, because there are some here who feel largely extraneous or based on thin jokes.

It wouldn't be so much of a problem if Angry Boys was as short and snappy as the eight-part Summer Heights High, but the likes of Blake and S.mouse aren't deserving of return visits over 12-weeks. Maybe that's part of the reason BBC Three chose to air the show in double-bills for a few weeks, to combat a feeling of fatigue? Still, Lilley's show knocks spots off the misfiring Little Britain USA (itself an influence, noticeably with the style of opening titles), simply because it's not catchphrase-driven and tells stories instead of recycling one-joke sketches. That makes it somewhat unpredictable every week, as your investment in the characters (even the weaker ones) grows deeper over time. I certainly look forward to each new episode, as it's a pleasurable viewing experience... if not quite as hilarious or incisive as it should have been.

written by Chris Lilley / directed by Chris Lilley, Stuart McDonald & Jeffrey Walker / ABC1, BBC Three, HBO

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Coming Soon: SIRENS (Channel 4)

Channel 4 have a brand new comedy-drama on the way called Sirens. It stars Kayvan Novak (Fonejacker), Rhys Thomas (Bellamy's People) and Richard Madden (Game Of Thrones) as world-weary paramedics Rachid, Stuart and Ashley, who go about their day encountering humanity at its stupidest. Amy Beth Hayes (Misfits) co-stars as Sgt Maxine Fox.

Interestingly, Sirens was inspired by the book Blood, Sweat & Tea by real-life paramedic Tom Reynolds. This formed the basis of the idea for writers Brian Fillis (The Curse of Steptoe, An Englishman In New York) and Tony Basgallop (Being Human).

Hal Vovel, executive-producer:

"[Producer] David Aukin and I had always talked about producing a satire to do with the health service. Then I heard this acerbic, misanthropic character on the radio reading excerpts from his blog about life as an ambulance driver in London and thought it might offer a really original way in. Tom Reynolds, the author of the blog, has a very wry, irreverent tone and his anecdotes about life on the front line are the kind of material you just can't make up."

"We wanted to make an anti-procedural show; bold, funny, moving, insightful. Our take was to use the medical aspect as a backdrop against which to follow the lives, loves and misadventures of our three heroes as they grapple with much more serious issues—like how to get laid in the middle of the day after a tough shift, or who out of the three is actually the Alpha Male in the gang, or having an existential crisis after finding a suicide—universal themes that aren't specific to ambulance drivers but are actually finally about things that concern us all; sex, power, fear of death. The aim was to make a darkly comic show about the human condition from the point of view of three utterly original, funny, loveable paramedics—confronted with a view of humanity as seen from the gutter."

"We met the writer Brian Fillis after seeing Fear Of Fanny. Brian had spent ten years working as a school teacher so understands life in the public sector. This, coupled with his unique take on the world, gave us a sense that he might find a really original way in. We gave him the blog and he just ran with it. What was important to us was that it should be comedy coming out of real observation, real comedy and real drama undercutting each other; making it laugh out loud one minute and moving the next."

A few videos can be seen below:

Must Be Something I Ate:

Behind the Scenes:

Sirens begins its six-part run on Channel 4/HD, Monday 27 June @10PM.

This is a sponsored post.

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PSYCHOVILLE, 2.6: cold Lazarus

In a baffling move, BBC2 aired the finale of Psychoville three days early, to make room for Mock The Week, which probably means it slipped the notice of many people. I know we live in the age of digital catch-up services, but it's still frustrating when broadcast dates are changed for seemingly arbitrary reasons, catching loyal audiences on the hop. Regardless of that, series 2's finale was the best installment of this steadily improving half-dozen episodes, and one that made some of my earlier frustrations with the show fade into relative insignificance. I'm still of the opinion that series 1 had better momentum, a clearer story, and more laughs, but series 2 was a pleasing follow-up when taken as a whole...

In the finale, Mr Jelly (Reece Shearsmith) and geriatric sidekick Mrs Ladybird-face (Vilma Hollingbery) arrived in London with the frozen head of Nurse Kenchington's Nazi father, delivering it to Grace Andrews (Imelda Staunton) so she can reanimate it using a scientific formula etched on the chain Kenchington's infamous locket hangs on—likewise delivered into her possession at "Andrews Nanotech" by prissy Nazi toy merchant Peter Bishop (Jason Watkins). Elsewhere, David (Steve Pemberton) grew closer to gawky Emily (Sarah Solemani) after the death of his battleaxe mother; Detective Finney (Mark Bonnar) was sent to kill David to tie up a loose-end, unaware that another loose-end, catatonic Jennifer (Stacy Liu), has alerted David to his presence; and Jeremy (Shearsmith) fell ino a deeper state of psychosis when The Silent Singer visitation returned in force.

The element of surprise was a key part of this finale's success. It was a fun twist to reveal Kenchington's locket as worthless, with the links of its chain the real treasure Grace has been chasing all along. It was likewise unexpected that two characters we'd forgotten about had such important roles to play—from Jennifer helping David catch Finney, to dwarf Kerry's (Lisa Hammond) late arrival to put an end to the monstrosity of the vivified, talking Nazi head. Psychoville's always been about cartoonish oddballs, but it was a great touch to have two of the finale's heroes played by two of its most obviously disabled characters. The fact they were fighting against the return of a Nazi, who had already started preaching intolerance of minority groups, was an added delight. It was the first moment of series 2 where the characters' abnormalities felt like something to be proud of and actually advantageous. Mr Jelly's plastic hand even stopped a lethal injection from Kelvin (Daniel Ings) in a tense storeroom struggle.

Visually, this was a really strong episode, too. Director Matt Lipsey did a tremendous job with the composition of several scenes, and the special effects for the Nazi head were absolutely superb. The glassy plastics of the chamber he was being held in, clamped inside what resembled a giant iPod-style wardrobe, were also impressive from a production design standpoint. The way the resurrection of a frozen head was intercut with a fiery cremation also had a nice duality to it—and although having a priest read from passages relating to Lazarus was a very obvious device, it still worked remarkably well. The fact Finney was actually inside the coffin instead of Maureen, being burned alive to the strains of Black Lace's "Superman" (Maureen's favourite song, reprised from series 1) was also a wonderfully black comic moment.

Indeed, the laughs felt more regular this episode, perhaps because the cast has been gradually trimmed to focus on its two best characters (David, Jelly) and the additions of Bishop and Mrs Ladybird-face in recent weeks have been very beneficial. The latter's random presence and obliviousness arguably stole the show on several occasions.

Imelda Staunton finally got a chance to shine as pepperpot Grace, too, having spent far too long stuck in her office playing variations of the same scene. It was also a nice moment when her obsession with technology, but ineptness using it, came back to bite her—as she exposed her own crimes by accidentally showing a room of investors a viewscreen of people she's had killed over the weeks. Her disdain for the fascist ramblings of the head she's just restored to life was also very amusing.

So where does Psychoville go from here? I was glad the show didn't repeat the mistake of series 1's finale and hurriedly introduce something to enable another run, as I'm not sure there's much more to say about Ravenhill Psychiatric Hospital and its former patients. Series 1 and 2 worked as companions (each dealing with the unexpected return of boogiemen from the past), but surely a potential third series would have to focus on a fresh story of some kind. The door's clearly open for more—as Jelly and David are still alive, and the latter's mother is being kept on ice in a bathtub (awaiting vivification?), and I wouldn't be against seeing those three characters again. If only because they'll undoubtedly be joined by a plethora of new faces because nearly everyone else has been killed of.

Overall, this was a great ending to what's ultimately been a good series, once the plot tightened and momentum was restored after a fortnight's post-premiere lull. Some of my complaints weren't so bad in retrospect and I was probably in the minority for finding a few subplots confusing, at times, although I still think series 2 was treading water for awhile and ultimately lacked the focus and surprise of series 1. Some of that was to be expected, of course, as every sequel faces an uphill struggle trying to justify itself, but I was relieved Psychoville came together surprisingly well in its latter-half

Asides

• You can still watch this finale on Thursday, at the later time of 11.20pm, or catch-up on BBC iPlayer.
• I'd just like to praise Being Human's Jason Watkins' performance as the homosexual Nazi Peter Bishop, who was absolutely brilliant. Sarah Solemani was also terrific as Emily because she utterly transformed herself into an introverted geek. When you remember this is the actress who played extroverted, sexy Becky in BBC3's Him & Her, it's a remarkable transformation in look and body language.

written by Reece Shearsmith & Steve Pemberton / directed by Matt Lipsey / 6 June 2011 / BBC Two

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PSYCHOVILLE, 2.5: say oops frozen head

This penultimate episode of Psychoville retained the momentum of last week and increased the revelations, which made for a very satisfying half-hour. I'm still not finding series 2 as funny as series 1, but I'm glad the story has taken shape recently (after a frustrating post-premiere slump), and looks poised to end on a high next week...

"Did you masturbate into my tea?" -- Edwina Kenchington

This week, David (Steve Pemberton) took his terminally ill mother Maureen (Reece Shearsmith) "zorbing", having misremembered one of her life's ambitions, before an oddly touching scene with Maureen dying with her devoted son by her bedside. It was a moment played straighter than expected, which worked well, lightened by the bizarre sight of David gesticulating his mother's dead body on the bedroom carpet to the sit-down choreography of The Gap Band's "Oops Upside Your Head." As two of the show's most developed characters, it was surprisingly sad to see Maureen pass away, although given some plot developments elsewhere I wouldn't be surprised if she's magically resurrected next week...

My suspicions were confirmed regarding librarian Jeremy Goode (Shearsmith), who was taken in for questioning by Detective Finney (Mark Bonnar) and indeed revealed to be a former patient of Ravenhill Psychiatric Hospital--originally admitted for mild exhaustion but recruited by Nurse Kenchington (Eileen Atkins) to help her crack "the secret of life" after she noticed his genius-level IQ, in shades of Good Will Hunting. In fact, Jeremy became so obsessed with his work that he faked seeing "The Silent Singer" hallucination in order to stay on at the hospital and complete his research, only for the fanged phantom to become a real issue a few years later--the psychological embodiment of all Jeremy's frustration.

Elsewhere, Peter Bishop (Jason Watkins) and Tealeaf (Daniel Kaluuya) formed an unlikely double-act, tracking down idiot actress Debbie (Daisy Haggard) at a book-signing because they know she owns Kenchington's locket, only to discover she's given it to her makeup artist friend Hattie (Pemberton). Hattie's storyline appeared to reach an end this week, with her drugged "husband" Shahrouz (Elyes Gabel) forced to pose for wedding photos, before being rescued from this ordeal by returning boyfriend Chris (Tom Andrews). I've actually rather enjoyed Hatti's story, as the fact she's only marginally connected to the main mystery meant she offered moments of respite, and her story has actually progressed noticeably every week. And it goes without saying that Pemberton's terrific playing grotesque, weirdly sympathetic women--going back to the days of Pauline the Restart Officer in League Of Gentlemen.

Mr Jelly's (Shearsmith) story was also very revealing and fun, as he disguised himself as dead rival Mr Jolly to gain access to a company dealing with frozen body parts--discovering that Jolly kept his missing hand on ice, together with a decapitated head belonging to Kenchington's Nazi father. I enjoyed seeing Jelly team-up with the old lady from the nursing home, codenamed "Mrs Ladybird Face", as it gave him someone to bounce off and she was very funny in her own right. Jelly's one of the most isolated characters on the show, after Jeremy, and the writing of Psychoville always improves whenever it involves duos--like Oscar/Tealeaf and the Sowerbutts.

In a change to the formula, Finney didn't actually manage to kill anyone this week--as Maureen's death was of natural causes and, in a surprise twist, Peter revealed himself to be a Nazi determined to resurrect Kenchington's dead father, and shot Tealeaf dead after he'd helped him acquire the numinous locket. We seem to be headed towards a finale where the locket's contents (the elixir of life?) will be used to bring Kenchington's father back to life, but obviously Peter's unaware the contents were tipped down the sink by Hattie. Has that ruined his plan? Will Jeremy come to the rescue in some way, or is he on Kenchington's side? Will Peter need Jeremy's help to bring that frozen head back to life? And I'm still unclear about why Grace Andrews (Imelda Staunton) wants the locket, and why she's having Finney kill Ravenhill patients who clearly have no knowledge of it anyway. Hopefully the series finale will explain all, but I'm disappointed Staunton's been tucked away in a few small scenes every week, replaying the same joke that she's easily distracted by gadgets and technology.

Overall, I enjoyed episode 5 because every subplot pushed things forwards, there were some juicy explanations of events via Jeremy's back-story, and finally a clearer idea what the stakes are--as the surviving characters have to stop Kenchington's Nazi father coming back to life. I wish some of this information had been delivered earlier, as some of the earlier episodes just felt disconnected--with no clear sense of what series 2 was doing. Series 1 had a much simpler direction you could immediately invest in (we meet a group of oddballs, each received mysterious letters from a "blackmailer", and they gradually come together as their connection is revealed), but series 2's lacked a story of similar elegance and sense of classic tradition. Only in the last few weeks have we received enough clues to get a sense of what the aim is this year, which has built some much-needed excitement about matters, rather than amused bewilderment.

Asides

• A few familiar faces guest-starred in this episode: Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd) as the manager of the frozen body parts company; and character actor David Cann as Maureen's doctor, who notably played a truly unnerving doctor in Chris Morris' disturbing comedy Jam.
• It's the last episode next week, so do you think it'll end the show or leave a door open for a third series? I'd like to see more from this show, but hopefully the Ravenhill storyline will be concluded. I'd love to see the show come back with brand new characters and a fresh story to tell. The deaths of so many of the characters should make that more likely, although it's not impossible the magical locket will somehow bring everyone back to life next week. What do you think?

written by Reece Shearsmith & Pemberton / directed by Matt Lipsey / 2 June 2011 / BBC Two

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PSYCHOVILLE, 2.4: the Nazi and the nursing home

I've been frustrated with Psychoville because recent episodes haven't develop the backbone of the storyline much, they just brought a few of the characters' lives to grisly ends. A few new characters were introduced with no clear connection to the show's big concerns, and the central mysteries showed no signs of being explained after three weeks. It's indeed a problem with episodic reviews that you're effectively appraising "a chapter of a book" every week, so hopefully my overall opinion will change when all six episodes have aired. And fortunately, episode 4 remedied many of my previous complaints and could be the catalyst for a more focused, illuminating half.

Following the "suicide" of frugal Oscar Lomax, home help Tealeaf (Daniel Kaluuya) was summoned to the Hoyti Toyti toy shop by fey retailer Peter Bishop (a brilliant Jason Watkins), who's noticed that ex-patients of Ravenhill Psychiatric Hospital are dying in unusual circumstances. Even stranger, Peter reveals that Hoyti Toyti's is a front for his real passion--trading in Third Reich memorabilia he keeps in his basement--and that a notorious Nazi war criminal founded Ravenhill after emigrating to Britain with his daughter Edwina Kenchington as part of "Operation Paperclip."

It's a promising step forward that adds another layer to the show's creepy asylum back-story, but we'll have to see where it goes from here. What kind of crazy Nazi experiments were being performed on the patients? Do they explain why dwarf Robert had psychokinesis? Is Grace Andrews (Imelda Staunton) having Detective Finney (Mark Bonnar) kill people to prevent them remembering something about their treatments? What hold does Grace have over Finney, getting him to kill people?

Kenchington's locket also returned, now in the possession of vapid actress Debbie (Daisy Haggard), whom we caught up with preparing for a TV interview with Richard Bacon. Hattie (Pemberton) was also embraced into the main story, at last, as it was revealed she's Debbie's makeup artist and helped her open Kenchington's locket to find a silver powder inside that smells like "sugar puffs", which was swiftly emptied down a sink. Was that some remains of Kenchington's Nazi father? Has Hattie unwittingly released his spirit from captivity?

Hattie's own story was brief but amusing this week, taking a cue from Misery as her husband-of-convenience Shahrouz (Elyes Gabel) woke to find himself shackled and unable to leave Hattie's house--told there are prying eyes outside who are suspicious about the legitimacy of his sham marriage. I have to mention Gabel's performance, which makes me smile because he plays Shahrouz as a someone who knows Hattie's unhinged but just can't control her. Pemberton plays these monstrous women very well, and it's easy to sympathize with Shahrouz as he's dominated by Hattie's personality. In some ways it's another take on the Herr Lipp/Justin relationship from League Of Gentlemen.

Elsewhere, David Sowerbutts (Steve Pemberton) went to a retirement home to kill the great-aunt of Simon (James Holmes), the man he agreed a Strangers On A Train-esque murder pact with. It didn't go according to plan, naturally, as Detective Finney was also on the scene and killed the old woman before David got a chance--suggesting the great-aunt was a Ravenhill patient on Finney's hit-list? Simon's attempt to kill Maureen suffered a setback, too--as he wound up in dismembered in Maureen's bathtub, having clearly underestimated his elderly target. Great scene with Maureen indifferently asking if David wants to keep Simon's penis as a trophy, too. He agreed, of course. Where will he keep it?

And finally, crazy librarian Jeremy (Shearsmith) became a more serious threat to the family of the woman who hasn't returned "50 Great Walks Of The British Isles Volume 2', goaded by the specter of the Silent Singer to kidnap the family's dog and threaten its life. There's still no sense of a connection to the major plots for Jeremy, but it's feasible he's another Ravenhill patient we weren't made aware of last series--or perhaps he ran the asylum's library and went mad because of the horrors he witnessed? Anyhow, it was great to see Jeremy involved in an actual story, instead of sinister sketches of dwindling impact, and it gave Shearsmith a great opportunity for a subtle Norman Bates-esque performance. As much as I enjoy his angry Mr Jelly and irritable Maureen, it's nice to balance the ghoulish cartoons with a character who's more recognizably human.

Overall, episode 4 was very satisfying and did a good job handling its many storylines. The only residual complaint is that I'm not finding series 2 as laugh-out-loud funny as series 1, perhaps because the majority of characters have lost their element of surprise. But I chuckled more regularly here: at Hattie demanding a window kiss from Shahrouz, Mr Jelly stumbling on an old lady using a vibrator, the Sowerbutts' bathroom aftermath, and David trying to lie to his mother ("I'm going to Madagascar to see a friend.") I'm optimistic the remaining two episodes can continue in this vein, with less need to fly in a holding pattern...

Asides

• Do you think Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton are fans of Fringe, hence Peter Bishop's name? Or is this just coincidence?
• The show's tendency for real-life celebrity cameo's continued with radio/TV broadcaster Richard Bacon, following Christopher Biggins and John Landis.
• I really like how the Sowerbutts' flat often feels like a sparse theatrical set, with dark corners and backdrops. It sometimes feels like they're performing on a half-empty stage, with the faces of a quiet audience just off-camera watching. This must be intentional, given David's affection for musical theatre, right? The Sowerbutts also starred in series 1's splendid fourth episode, the Rope-inspired experiment that felt very much like a one-act play being performed.

written by Reece Shearsmith & Steve Pemberton / directed by Matt Lipsey / 26 May 2011 / BBC Two

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'The IT Crowd' shutting down?

Speaking to Chortle, writer Graham Linehan has said his Channel 4 "geek-com" The IT Crowd will probably end after its fifth series, due later this year.

Graham Linehan:

"I think one more series to really say goodbye to the characters and the fans. I'm not rushing into it because I don't want it to be a zombie series where the show is dead but its body is still moving around."

That comes as no surprise to me. I'm of the opinion that The IT Crowd should have ended after series 2, and that series 4 was a weak run. I'm glad Linehan's decided to draft in some help writing series 5--recruiting scribes via Twitter, geekily enough--but the bigger issue is the growing fame of its cast.

Chris O'Dowd has been stretching out into dramatic roles just lately (lead in the BBC's period drama The Crimson Petal & The White) and his star's possibly ascending in the US (co-starring in the Judd Apatow-produced comedy Bridesmaids.) Meanwhile, Richard Ayoade has moved behind the camera very successfully (guest-directing an episode of NBC's Community, making his movie debut with the critically-acclaimed teen drama Submarine.) I'm sure Katherine Parkinson has some stage-plays to appear in and Maltesers adverts to film, too.

While The IT Crowd isn't a huge commitment for the actors, it's less likely O'Dowd and Ayoade can constantly keep their schedules mutually open to accommodate it. Linehan's on record as saying he finds it a tremendous struggle to write the show these days, and even with help I think the show's past its best. It'll always been slightly overrated, anyway. Any random episode of Father Ted (the '90s "clergy-com" Linehan co-wrote with Arthur Matthews) is twice as funny as The IT Crowd's best effort, if you ask me.

What are your thoughts? Will you be sad if The IT Crowd gets deleted after series 5, or do you think that's a wise move considering the general drop in quality after series 2?

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Review: AL MURRAY'S COMPETE FOR THE MEAT

The idea of a TV gameshow based on a pub quiz, hosted by Al Murray's comic creation the Pub Landlord, must have seemed like a great idea for digital channel Dave. Indeed, whenever Compete For The Meat was relying on Murray talking to members of the public (repartee the comedian's honed over 15 years playing to audiences across the UK), it was on much surer footing--even if Murray's interactions have become annoyingly, half-intentionally predictable.

Compete For The Meat started with a promising 15-minute introduction and set-up, with Murray chatting to the "front row" audience (mocking their names, ages and occupations), before applying the same ridicule to a celebrity "top table" comprised of ex-England goalie Peter Shilton, alleged funnygirl Olivia Lee and gnomic TV consumer activist Dominic Littlewood. From there, four pub team trios were introduced in a Blankety Blank-esque two-tier set, and Murray again poked fun at their gender, nationality and jobs. Three attractive lady retailers, an Aussie, a professional food taster, and a dog groomer inspired decent quips, at least.

So far, so repetitive? Oh yes, but I remember the days of Strike It Lucky/Rich, when a pre-scandal Michael Barrymore's interaction with contestants lasted half the show and was often the main reason to watch. That proved to be true with Compete The Meat, too, but with the insurmountable problem that Meat's quiz was tedious and surprisingly insubstantial considering it had to fill three-quarters of an hour. Questions were asked in a chosen topic, answers were jotted down, papers were collected, scores totted up by ex-Blue Peter presenter/babe Zöe Salmon (who's her agent?), and the lowest-scoring team duly eliminated. Rather confusingly, this meant the shopgirls were asked to stand in a "Sin Bin" skip and be replaced by three people from the audience (who, in this case, had to be referred to as "The Guv's Girls", despite two of them now being men!)

The format was weak and flawed, as you can tell. Compete For The Meat should have kept things simpler, perhaps cleaving close to what The Big Fat Quiz Of The Year does annually on Channel 4. I'm still perplexed by how this quiz only managed to deliver two quick rounds, before reaching the final--where each team leader just answered general knowledge questions solo. Perhaps Meat's two biggest mistakes was trying to keep things fresh by involving an embarrassingly stupid "pub game" towards the end, where two women had to play a miniature game of curling with food, "greasing" the runway with condiments. It was so unfunny, pointless and protracted that both women looked embarrassed to be taking part, and often didn't want to play the game by its own rules as drizzling gravy had zero effect on any outcome.

And why were there celebrities involved? They weren't necessary. The points the celebs earned during the pub quiz could be distributed to the teams in the final round--so, understandably, in not wanting to pick a favourite and guarantee an easy victory, they spread their points out across every team to instead level the playing field. It was the honourable and sensible thing to do, but it effectively meant success in the previous rounds meant even less.

Overall, Compete For The Meat is a decent idea and a reasonable way to give Al Murray's Pub Landlord a new format to apply his brand of jingoistic idiocy (following stand-up, a Sky1 sitcom and ITV chat-show), but the mechanics of the format need serious attention and 20-minutes of fat carved away. The decision to have a frozen chicken mascot called "Mr Giblets" silently hovering in the aisles was notably stupid, and why not make the whole set resemble an actual pub?

This was mild enjoyment when Murray was chatting with real people, in what amounted to a "warm up" before the first advert break, but Compete For The Meat ironically fell apart when the meat of the quiz arrived on the plate.

Dave, Thursdays, 9PM.

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PSYCHOVILLE, 2.3: Hitchcock's half hour

We've reached the halfway mark and I'm worried Psychoville's proven me right and should have ended after one series. We're still no closer to seeing how the new characters (Jeremy, Hattie) relate to anything (if they even do, as I have doubts), and each of the returning characters are stuck in minor epilogues to series 1--punctuated with their murder (Joy, Robert, now Oscar.) The mysterious locket and covetous Grace Andrews' (Imelda Staunton) mission to find it remain on the back-burner when they should be more central, too. I'm beginning to lose patience because there's no sense of what Psychoville's actually doing this year. Series 1 had multiple storylines to tell and a mystery to reveal, but series 2's just a hodgepodge at the moment.

This week, petulant clown Mr Jelly (Reece Shearsmith) arrived at a fancy mansion to "entertain" the adult guests of a dinner party, only to find himself quickly ushered to a bedroom and told to remove a stout foreigner's kidney with a scalpel and no anesthetic! Weirdly, the donor box was marked with the late Mr Jolly's credentials, hinting that Jelly's nemesis survived the asylum explosion after all? There were some great moments here (Jelly interrupting a dinner party by tooting a childish pirate ditty, and the sheer lunacy of Jelly faking a successful kidney-removal operation with a half-chewed plum), but what the HELL IS GOING ON? Didn't Jelly think it strange to have been summoned to perform an operation? Why was he summoned? I just don't see any logic here. If there are indeed satisfying answers to be revealed later, okay that's fine--but it felt like a random nod to Dirty Pretty Things, and Jelly's blasé reaction was so bizarre it was distancing.

As mentioned, Hattie (Steve Pemberton) and Jeremy's (Shearsmith) storylines have no obvious connection to anything else going on, which is strange and increasingly irritating. I wish I had faith there's a masterplan that's being slowly revealed, but nothing's given me that impression yet. Still, I am quite enjoying Hattie's storyline, as she can't accept she's in a marriage of convenience with her gay friend's lover Shahrouz (Elyes Gabel), and in this episode conspired to sleep with him. The sequence where her "husband" woke up to find Hattie quietly masturbating beside him was exactly the kind of bizarre, distasteful, shocking, hilarious moment Psychoville should be serving us more often.

On the flipside, Jeremy appears to be a one-joke character now: a creepily assiduous librarian who seemingly has to appease horrifying visions of the pigtailed "Silent Singer" by ensuring all overdue books are returned. Lovely idea, but there's not much more to it than that. In this episode, Jeremy broke into a little girl's bedroom and demanded the return of a book (um, that actually belongs to her parents!), as the Silent Singer floated by the window in a nod to 'Salem's Lot. I adore the visual of the fanged Silent Singer twisting around and snarling at Jeremy, but so far we've been given a handful of scenes that follow a very familiar pattern. Is there an actual story to tell with Jeremy, or just a spooky staccato visual to indulge?

If you thought Mr Jelly's storyline was weird this week, Oscar Lomax (Pemberton) trumped it. In a surprisingly quick resolution of clues dropped last week, it was indeed proven true that Lomax fathered a long-lost son who's now trying to get in touch. Even stranger, his connection to British comedy great Tony Hancock is about as bonkers as you can get: Oscar Lomax actually is Hancock, having faked his suicide in Australia! Full marks for an audacious and unpredictable development, but it was so bizarre as to feel oddly forgettable. The fact Oscar became the latest victim of murderous Detective Finny (Mark Bonnar), now confirmed as Grace's hitman, also means that character's reached its end.

Reece Shearsmith is on record as saying he and Steve Pemberton felt they had more stories to tell with Psychoville's characters (which is why series 1 ended with a controversial cliffhanger), but I'm not sure I agree that these are worthwhile stories being told.

More engaging, as usual, were the grotesque Sowerbutts. Maureen (Shearsmith) is now aware she has cancer, and son David (Pemberton) has found himself caught in a Strangers On A Train situation--asked to kill a man's great-aunt for the inheritance, or risk having his previous crimes exposed to the world. Although owing a clear debt to Alfred Hitchcock, at least this is a story with potential and, as I said last week, the fact it means Shearsmith and Pemberton can interact on-screen can't be underestimated. They're a great double-act, so it remains a huge pity Psychoville keeps them apart most of the time. I'm really puzzled by that decision, as there can't be too much of a logistical reason for it.

Overall, episode 3 was the weakest episode of series 2 so far, and one that did little to annul my fear Psychoville should have been a miniseries. Series 2 is almost impenetrable to newcomers, too. Psychoville first aired two years ago, so why didn't the BBC repeat it before this new series began? Each episode has also done a poor job reminding audiences of what happened in series 1, so only committed fans have a hope of understanding what's actually going on.

There are some fun and freaky moments to savour along the way, but I can't deny my general disappointment--speaking as a dedicated fan who's willing Psychoville to succeed. It just doesn't feel like there's a clear, strong idea at the heart of series 2--just some weird plots, disconnected characters, and a frustratingly hazy mystery concerning a locket. I hope the remaining three episodes pull things together quick, before things fizzle out.

written by Reece Shearsmith & Steve Pemberton / directed by Matt Lipsey / 19 May 2011 / BBC Two

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