Chimpomatic

Pulling

Final special

BBC Three

Back for one final hour of drunken romance, jaw-dropping hangovers and scenes of people being superglued to the floor, Pulling is easily one of the best sitcoms we've had in years. It's hard to understand what more they had to do to get another full series commissioned - the characters are hilarious, the situations just the right/wrong side of believable and the one-liners savage. Tanya Franks, Rebekah Staton and co-writer Sharon Horgan all put in excellent performances, with Paul Kaye giving one of the best characters of his career as Karen's disastrous on/off/on/off/drunk/wasted/off/off boyfriend Billy.

Of course, now that BBC Three has morphed from the channel that gave us Nighty Night, Monkey Dust and even the early Little Britain into the home of quality entertainment like Coming Of Age or Horne & Corden, maybe it's better that it's been allowed to die a dignified death and head off into the near-perfect sitcom retirement home (Fawlty Towers was only 12 minutes long blah blah). But it's easy to imagine that Pulling could have become the female Peep Show and ran for a lot longer than just two series and this one hour special. At least it gets to wrap things up enough, and lets us wallow in the wince-worthy antics of Donna, Louise and the mighty Karen once more. 

Donna's dating a braying posho whose idea of a good time is to cover his sheets with cash; Louise is back from a trip round the world with a new loved-up hippy she can't stand, and Karen's somehow settled down with a guy who thinks women should be in the kitchen making him pies. 

It's a total testament to the madness of the modern TV world that this hasn't gone any further, but hey, at least they had the grace to let them back for one last round.

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9th May 2009 - Add Comment - Tweet

Phoo Action

Pilot

BBC Three

London, 2012. The city’s under siege from a gang of mutants, lead by an evil dude with a basketball for a head, who are plotting to convert Prince Harry and Wills to their cause after offing the Queen. Terry Phoo (Eddie Shin) zips in from Hong Kong to help out Police Chief Benjamin Benson (Carl “Apollo Creed” Weathers) with the case, and accidentally hooks up with Benson’s adopted daughter Whitey Action (played by Jaime “Ray’s daughter” Winstone). There's even room for a cameo from Hong Kong cult star Richard Ng as Phoo's TV-loving zen monk master.

It’s based on Jamie “Tank Girl/Gorillaz” Hewlett’s strip Get The Freebies which ran in The Face during the 1990s, with a script by Jess “Spaced” Hynes, Matthew Enriquez Wakeham and Peter Martin.

This is the goofiest thing that’s been on TV for years. It’s infused with the spirit of everything from Batman to Monkey, the Banana Splits (three of my favourite all-time shows), even a bit of Young Ones anarchy. Unlike so many grey British shows, it feels like it’s in total Technicolor, packed with little details like daft news blips running across the screen too fast for you to read and Freebies cereal packets. And even though it’s done with a lot of care and attention to detail, it doesn’t take itself too seriously at all, with car chases obviously filmed against a greenscreen, comedy kung-fu punch-ups, and the odd scene where everyone spontaneously springs into a choreographed dance.

Having caught up on some of the Batman repeats on BBC4 recently, I've been struck by how much fun they are - both to watch, and also to make. It's all so much freer than stuff is now, formulaic and not exactly demanding, sure, but also totally entertaining and good-natured.

It’s running as the first of six pilots from BBC3’s February relaunch – apparently only one is going to get picked up, which is a shame as they all look like they’ve got potential. This is getting the Chimp vote so far – great to see a BBC3 show that doesn’t involve potato products or beer-related humour.

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29th Jan 2008 - 6 comments - Add Comment - Tweet