Category: Reviews

Mongrels: Series 2-Episode 2

The main movie parody here is Shaun Of The Dead. Destiny is in heat and it has turned every local dog into a sex-crazed zombie. Nelson, Destiny, Marion, and Vince lock themselves inside the pub.

I didn’t really like the main plot involving Nelson and Destiny, that could be because I haven’t seen the first series. I didn’t quite believe that a fox-like Nelson would fall for a dog like Destiny. It felt forced as if it were crafted just to suit the plot of this episode.

Nelson is trying to date Destiny, Destiny is hungry and knows that Nelson has access to food. There is an amusing moment which was a parallel to prostitution and what she would do for a dog biscuit.



It was the subplots that I found most interesting. It is Kali’s birthday so she celebrates by eating a badger on the road. A rickshaw driver runs it over and she wants revenge. She decides that the best way to do this is to blow him up. She then realises that the rickshaw driver had a seven-year-old son and feeling guilty she hits the bottle. Well, a brandy filled straw.

She decides to attend his funeral, so guilt-ridden she sits on his coffin and confesses. However, the rickshaw driver was a bird lover. The widow and her son think that Kali is the reincarnation of the driver and are overjoyed to see her. Kali’s mood is then lifted and she flies away, hitting the son in the face.

It was great to see an aloof character like Kali realise the consequence of her actions. The writers managed to capture her depression extremely well, I genuinely felt sympathy the murdering bird.

Back in the pub Marion has discovered a karaoke machine and attempts to throw a party which doesn’t go to plan. Vince hogs the karaoke machine after he discovers it helps with his Tourette Syndrome. Seeing a character like Vince belt out show tunes was funny. It was nice to see a softer side of him, even if it was just temporary.

The pop culture references are great in this episode, as well as the obvious Shaun Of The Dead, there is a nice moment where Marion reveals he lived in a house with the Being Human characters. This included a cameo from Russell Tovey, which now means he has starred in all three of the only three shows worth watching on BBC3. Whilst not as laugh out loud as episode one, episode two raised more than a few smiles. I hope Mongrels clears up come comedy award season.

Mongrels airs on Mondays at 10:30 pm, on BBC3



Life’s Too Short-Episode One

While I never got into The Office, I have always been a fan of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s other work, like their X-FM radio show, their podcast and Cemetery Junction. So, when they returned to their mockumentary-style sitcom format with Life’s Too Short, I was excited to see what they had in store.
Unlike the ordinary people who got their 15 minutes of fame in the late ’90s, the show focuses on a Z-list celebrity, Warwick Davis, playing a fictionalized version of himself. Davis is in a financial mess, with debts amounting to £250,000 and a divorce that’s taken its toll. He begs Gervais and Merchant to cast him in a new project, but they try to shake him off.

While the first episode didn’t make me laugh out loud, it was still enjoyable and funny. I think comedy is a challenging genre to get right, which is why I prefer to write reviews instead of sitcoms. Nevertheless, the show had its moments, like Liam Neeson trying out improv comedy about AIDS, with his quip about being cast in Schindler’s List because he always makes lists being a particular highlight. Davis also showed some impressive comic timing, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he won a few awards in 2012.

Overall, while the premiere was a bit shaky, Gervais and Merchant on an off day are still better than most of what’s on TV. I’m going to stick with Life’s Too Short and see where it goes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Mongrels

I’m a newcomer to Mongrels, somehow I missed the first series, which is strange as this is one of only a few shows worth watching on BBC3.

So, what’s Mongrels about?

It is a puppet-based show for adults, as a grown-up Sesame Street and is the closest thing we have in the UK to Family Guy.

Mongrels follows the exploits of a middle-class fox called Nelson (Rufus Hound), Nelson’s foul-mouthed cousin Vince (Paul Kaye), Streetwise pigeon Kali (Katy Brand), a dumb cat called Marion (Dan Tetsell) and a dog called Destiny (Lucy Montgomery). They all live in a pub garden on the Isle of Dogs.

The episode starts with a flashback to Nelson’s childhood where he witnessed his grandfather die during a fox hunt. Now an adult Nelson is in therapy. A former bully from Nelson’s school days turns up. The bully is dying and wants Nelson to put him out of his misery. Nelson reluctantly kills him and asks Marion to get rid of the body. Nelson and Kali share a psychiatrist who accidentally lets it slip. Kali spreads the gossip around the beer garden and Nelson is seen as a hero in the eyes of his friends.  Nelson is then recruited by a secret society of foxes that are planning to assassinate the four remaining dogs that were part of the hunts. Nelson is promised an iPhone and a £30 House of Fraser gift card if he completes the mission. Nelson tracks the four dogs down, but can’t quite bring himself to kill them, so he takes them back to his den under the pub.



What Mongrels excel at is the movie parodies and quick-fire out of the moment sequences that Family guy is famous for. The parody here is any Nazi hunter film that you have ever seen. The dogs speak in German accents and take their own lives when they think Nelson’s bunker is under siege.

The episode’s subplot involves Destiny being signed up to a celebrity dog walking service. She pretends to be Cuba Gooding Jr’s London dog and falls head over heels with John Terry’s dog. After John Terry’s dog turns her down, Destiny decides the only way forward is to treat him mean. John Terry’s dog is completely obsessed with her. Destiny then tells the other dogs to follow her lead, which they all do and this results in the dog’s trust. A passer-by sees the injured dogs and phones the Dogs Trust taking the dogs away.

The episode is genuinely funny. The flashbacks and Grange Hill references had me in stitches, the musical number that Destiny sings is also a genius piece of comedy writing. It’s safe to say that Mongrels has a new fan.

Mongrels airs on Mondays, at 10:30 pm on BBC3



Review: Him and Her

Series 2, Episode 1

Him and Her has returned to BBC3 for a second series. I think it is one of the very few BBC3 shows that are actually worth watching.

It’s hard to explain what Him and Her is actually about. Essentially it is a show about nothing. Nothing really happens, but it’s extremely watchable and funny. The show is set entirely on one location and works all the better for it. The writer,  Stefan Golaszewski, has crafted something that stands heads and shoulders above other sitcoms. Him and Her is so realistic it is almost difficult to watch. It feels so authentic that you feel like a voyeur; you feel like you are in the room for those conversations and awkward pauses, you feel the unease of the characters on screen.



The main strength of the series is the chemistry between the two main characters, Steve and Becky, played by Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani. These two feel like a real couple. The supporting characters are a masterstroke: we have Becky’s sister, Laura (Kerry Howard), her fiancé Paul (Ricky Champ), an older friend Shelly (Camille Coduri). Joe Wilkinson once again constantly steals every scene he is in as Dan the oddball neighbour from upstairs.

The only thing left to say about this show is that the next series deserves to be on BBC2.

Him and Her airs on Tuesdays at 10:30 pm



Episode 46: Doctor Who The Wedding of River Song

Your trio of heroes return and try to discuss the Doctor Who episode ‘The Wedding of River Song’ but mostly end up talking about their favourite Nu-Who companions.

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Review: Fresh Meat, Episode 1

Channel four recently ended their contract for syndication rights to ‘Friends’ which has freed up a bit of money for them to invest in home-grown comedies. The first of which, is ‘Fresh Meat.’



It’s written by Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain, who are the creative team behind Channel 4’s ‘Peep Show.’

It focuses on six “Freshers” sharing a house together. The affable bunch are Vod (Zawe Ashton), Oregon (Charlotte Ritchie), Howard (Greg McHugh), Josie (Kimberley Nixon), Kingsley (Joe Thomas) and  JP (Jack Whitehall).

The characters are the stereotypes we’ve seen a thousand times before:

  • The wild-child with a chip on her shoulder (Vod).
  • The insecure girl who’ll change her opinion to please (Oregon).
  • The strange loner that that doesn’t really know he is strange (Howard).
  • The annoying toff that tries to be ‘street’ (JP).
  • The shy guy that can’t quite talk to girls (Kingsley) and
  • the small-town Welsh girl, fish out of water type (Josie).

Despite the stereotypical characters, there are some great moments: Howard begging a pub full of students for one-twentieth of people’s pint was genuinely funny. As was the post-sexual tension between JP and Josie.

The performances are great all round. The character of Oregon reminded me a lot of Daisy from ‘Spaced’ – I imagine that is exactly what Daisy was like at university.

The person who surprised me the most, however, was Jack Whitehall. Now, I’m not a Jack Whitehall fan; I don’t find him funny and, I’m not alone. To quote a friend, “He makes my piss boil.” But he worked well in this. Okay, he is playing a posh-cock so granted it isn’t much of a stretch for him, but he suits the narrative.

Even with the two-dimensional characters, I enjoyed ‘Fresh Meat.’ I think over time it will evolve into a decent comedy and a worthy replacement for Peep Show.

Fresh meat airs Wednesdays at 10 pm on Channel 4.



Audio Review-Fight for the Remote

Episode 1: The Oral Fixation Summation.

Fight for the remote is a new audio sitcom from Fantom Films.

Jon (Andrew Hayden-Smith) and Alice (Ayesha Antoine) are a couple in their late twenties living together in London. Alice is ambitious while Jon is happy with his place in life.



This sitcom will strike a chord with anyone in a long-term relationship. On a Friday night, I often have the pizza/kebab chat that Alice and Jon have near the start. At times I actually felt as if the writers, Julia Dawn and Mark Adams, had hidden a microphone in my living room and just transcribed what they heard.

Jon and Alice have friends that help guide them on their journey. Jon has married-Dave (Daniel King) as his sex-obsessed best friend (we all have one of those) and Alice has her man-chasing friend and work colleague Karen (co-director Helen Oakleigh). The performances are great all-round; even the supporting characters get really great lines. The cast was clearly having a great time whilst recording.

We’re introduced to Alice’s mother (Ellen Thomas) via telephone.  She’s a Hyacinth Bucket type that doesn’t believe Jon is good enough for her daughter and feels he is a bad influence that will lead her towards “partaking in the wacky-baccy.”

Happy Azziz (Neil D’Souza) is another great character. Azziz is the local newsagent/kebab shop owner that slightly oversteps the mark every time Jon and Alice visit him (“Happy pleasuring, my friends”). Camp Raymond (Keith Flood) is also great; he’s the inappropriate, permanently-drunk client of Alice.

The thing that makes Fight For The Remote so great is that it is so universally recognisable. Anybody with a live-in partner will instantly identify with the situations and characters; I saw a lot of myself in Jon.

The writers have managed to capture the essence of the long-term relationship perfectly. The script is sharp and well written. It effortlessly manages to bridge together the bigger issues and challenges that couple’s face with the smaller, more trivial subjects such as Deal or No Deal. From the title of the episode, you can guess it’s adult humour which deals with sex, frustration and love. Overall this is a genuinely funny comedy that deserves a lot of success.

Download this episode for free from Fantom Films.



Review: Two and a Half Men

The episode starts with the funeral of  Charlie Harper (Sheen) which is a star-studded affair, filled with a lot of Charlie’s ex-girlfriends who say lines that are clearly the writers attacking Sheen. Present at the funeral is old flames such as Courtney (Jenny McCarthy) and Mia and more recent women like Sherri (Jeri Ryan).

The humour is classic Two and a Half Men. Evelyn even tries to sell Charlie at the funeral.



It’s back at the house during the second act that things get interesting. It’s Alan and the entire supporting cast including Berta, Evelyn, Judith and even Herb.

The thing is, Jon Cryer and the rest of his supporting cast could have carried things without Sheen. Seeing as the actor playing the ‘half-man’ is twenty it would have been a good idea to have Jake become a father, taking the whole thing full circle and becoming two and a half-men, again. But I guess the money men at CBS did not have confidence in their existing cast so they had to bring in the big-name Ashton Kutcher.

But, before we get to Kutcher we get a few cameos from various TV actors including John Stamos and ‘Dharma’ and ‘Greg’ (from Chuck Lorre’s 90’s sitcom) talking divorce.

It’s after the cameos we meet Walden Schmidt (Kutcher). Walden is a depressed billionaire that tried to drown himself in the ocean but couldn’t do it as “The Ocean is really cold.” Walden’s entrance just seems a little too forced but thinking about it, I’m not sure how they could have done it without it feeling forced.

The writers have tried to make us feel sympathy for Walden by introducing him as a broken man whose wife has left him. It doesn’t quite work. I don’t know if it’s Kutcher or if it’s the way the character is written but something just didn’t sit right with me. Walden is meant to be bright but he never comes across like that; he just comes across as lucky. Having said that, this is part one of a two-parter so he may well switch it around.

Two and a Half-Men airs on CBS on Mondays in the US and on Tuesdays on Comedy Central in the UK.



Review: Doctor Who-The God Complex

After the past three episodes, The God Complex had a lot to live up to and on first viewing, I wasn’t sure if I liked it. The set up just seemed a little strange. But on second viewing I think it’s a strong contender for my favourite episode of Nu-Who. It’s written by Toby Whithouse who wrote the second-series story, School Reunion and the fifth-series story, Vampires in Venice.

The hotel made for a creepy, atmospheric setting. It was even shot like a horror movie, with elements of the shining added. Visually it is spectacular; director Nick Hurran worked wonders with the setting like he did with the last episode, The Girl Who Waited.



Everything in this hotel screamed creepily. The framed photos on the wall added to this; not only did we see pictures of the current residents but also previous, including some past Doctor Who monsters: there was a Sontaran, a Judoon and a Tritovore.

Almost-companion Rita is brilliant but we’ve seen that set up before and knew she wouldn’t make it. It would have been a nice surprise for her to stay on and travel with the Doctor. Retcon please, Mr Moffat. Maybe Rita was a ganger?

The fear inside the rooms was a really intriguing idea; just what did the Doctor see behind door number 11? The Valeyard? Himself?

Also, what did Amy’s door number mean? 7th Nu-Who companion? Or did the door represent the age she was when she first met the Doctor? Or am I just over-thinking it?

It was interesting after last week to see how Rory had completely lost faith in the Doctor and could have effectively saved everyone by walking them through an exit.

Once again, we get echoes of McCoy’s manipulative, calculating Doctor in Smith’s portrayal. The scene in which he convinces Amy to lose faith in him was very reminiscent of the 7th Doctor and Ace in the curse of Fenric. I also felt that the monster was a reflection on the Doctor himself. We even get the Doctor having to make quite possibly the most grown-up decision he has made in the whole of his travels in space and time: he can see what he has done to Rory; he can see what he has done to Amy. The only thing that didn’t sit right with me is why have Amy and Rory stuck with him for so long? They’ve been through worse. Or maybe this wasn’t the reason but the catalyst for the Doctor to see things how they are.

I feel bad for writing this as the man has just swum 140 miles in sewage invested water for charity but I felt David Walliams was the weak link of the episode. It could just be that he is too famous and I couldn’t get past that to truly buy his portrayal as Gibbis. Which is a shame really as I know Walliams is a life-long fan of Doctor Who. He actually had my favourite line of the whole episode: “We’re lining all the streets with trees so invading forces can march in the shade.”

Overall it’s a great episode, sharp script, great acting and great directing and has made this half of the series four-for-four. Let’s just hope next week’s – Closing Time – makes it five-for-five.



Film Review: Red State

Three virgin high school friends think they’re on to a sure thing. One of them has found a woman online that will sleep with all three of them but they are soon caught in a trap by Pastor Albin Cooper and his Five Points Church. Albin Cooper is based on the real-life head of the Westboro Baptist Church, Fred Phelps.

Five Points protest at funerals with signs saying “anal penetration equals eternal damnation,” etc – Cooper believes that homosexuals are sinners and must be wiped off the Earth.  In its first half, Red State is almost a horror film. A gay man is murdered quite brutally and the three high-school boys are next.  However, halfway through it turns from a horror film into a shoot ‘em up action movie; the transition doesn’t really hurt the film.  What hurts is that the tension that Smith created in the first half completely vanishes in the second; it’s almost two different films. In the first half, Smith showed incredible restraint in not adding much comedy but in the second half, during the middle of the shoot out, characters start cracking jokes and asking for tea. Which is a shame, since the tension could have been cranked up a bit. By far the first half of the movie is the strongest part.



Red state is a massive departure for Kevin Smith. You could even argue that it’s his first grown-up movie. The visuals are stunning which is really impressive for Smith; he has never been known as a visual director.  He’s been criticised in the past for static camera setups and simple lighting but with Red State, Smith has created a style that works incredibly well. Shaky camera work is nothing new but it is a huge step forward for Smith. The film has no background music which really makes it more atmospheric; all we get is the sound of bullets and Cooper singing hymns.

This is easily Kevin Smith’s best work as a director. It’s something different and doesn’t feel like ‘a Kevin Smith movie.’ We are seeing him mature here but he seems to be lacking the confidence he needed for this. The introduction of Five Points isn’t handled in the best way. We learn about them in a classroom and it’s just too much exposition. John Goodman’s character exists only for exposition which is a waste of the actor’s talent.

Overall the film is good, it’s just not great. But it is great to see Smith break away from his comedy roots and try something a bit more ambitious. It’s a shame that he’s announced his next film, Hit Somebody, will be his last as Red State is such a huge step forward for him. It would be interesting to see what else he could come back with. Let’s just hope that Red State and Hit Somebody is such huge, global hits that he’ll change his mind and come out of retirement.