BBC Comedy: One Good, one bad

Quick plugs for two BBC comedy series – one to watch, and one to to wince at.

The one to watch is “Shelfstackers”, a one-off comedy which was filmed as five shorts for BBC Switch, and is now available as a 25 minute omnibus shown on BBC Two. Following a day in the surreal life of the staff of Grogan’s Supermarket, it’s gently funny and (as anyone who’s had much to do with retail will know) painfully well observed in places. There’s also a companion website with extra videos and cartoons. Given the cast is largely comprised of young actors making their first TV appearance, this is an impressive effort. If this turned up again as a full series, I’d certainly watch. Given BBC Three picked up the purile – if sometimes hilarious – Coming of Age, it’s to be hoped they look at expanding “Shelfstackers”.

The one to wince at is “Above Their Station”, a one-off (?pilot?) on BBC Three. A comedy about the lives of three plastic plod (Police Community Support Officers) and their relationship with the “real” police at their station, it boasts both Dudley Sutton and Denis Lawson in supporting roles. But it falls flat – horribly flat – largely because it seemed to have decided to turn everything up to 11. Nothing was too zany, apparently. I’m not sure what the normally reliable Lawson was told to do, but his manic performance stops being funny within minutes, and while Sutton has some great gags, he’s otherwise wasted. Of the ostensible leads Luke Gell, Ashley Madekwe, and Rhys Thomas, only Madekw managed to raise a smile; the other two (Thomas also wrote it) came across as alternately annoying and disinterested. If it is going to be made into a series, I hope it gets a lot of reworking!

Just in case there’s any doubt, Above Their Station is better than The Persuasionists – which, given the way the BBC buried later episodes in the broadcast schedules, probably won’t be coming back.