People Just Do Nothing

[Garam]

This started on BBC a year or so ago, it was online only on the iPlayer website at first, but has now moved to TV I think. The writers/actors won a talent competition to make a show I believe.

It's a mockumentary about some immature weed-addicts in their early-to-mid 20s that run a pirate garage radio station on a housing estate in London. Some of them are fathers. There's a Pakistani guy who plays a kind of get-rich-quick dreamer who thinks of himself as an entrepeneur who kind of steals the show as well.

At times it seems a bit too influenced by The Office, but The Office in itself was really not that original a concept - fake documentaries had been done to death in the 90s in the UK, to the point where The Office's 1st series was initially ignored since it was such a hackneyed premise, but in the end The Office rised above it since it had great performances and writing. It's the same with this show. It's not hugely original or breaking new ground, but it has great chemistry among the leads, great lines and the writers seem to really know a lot about this world and have a real love for it. They're always doing real garage sets in character because they obviously love that subculture. As a weed-addict myself for the better half of a decade, I can say they hit the nail on the head with the bulk of their observations.

The mockumentary template is so popular now just cause it's so cheap to make, it's kind of replaced the 3 wall sitcom as the standard cheapo mould for new character-based comedies. That's fine, I really don't think comedies need to be innovative to stand out, as long as it flows well and the central premise is tight. It is. There's a lot of potential here.

It's had 9 episodes and a pilot. I wouldn't worry too much if you can't find the pilot though cause most of it is recycled in the 9 episodes proper, and has been renewed for at least 2 more series of 6 episodes each I think.

It's funny. My favourite new UK sitcom since The Thick of It* started ten years ago. Check it. Best believe.

*not counting Veep cause even though it's the same writers as Thick of It/Peep Show, it's an American setting/cast. It is good though.