Review: BEING HUMAN (USA), 2.1 – "Turn This Mother Out"

I was planning to properly review the season 2 premiere of Syfy's Being Human, but then I watched it and remembered why I stopped bothering last year. It's not a bad show, by any stretch of the imagination, but it is an inessential show... and a world away from the seriousness and ingenuity of the BBC original. It just feels too emotional lightweight to me, and the writers aren't so willing to take risks. This premiere introduced the tedious idea of a Mother of vampires, which is a seriously bland notion for supernatural fiction—and a very disappointing development considering one of last season's few unique successes were the show's trio of Dutch vampire bosses.

Elsewhere, things just kind of happened and my mind wandered on several occasions. I think it's the repetitive music score that does it, because it generally does the heavy-lifting trying to elicit emotion because the characters don't really connect with me. The best part of this US adaptation is the visual effects, which do things the BBC version could never afford to—like actually show a Tunnel of Light beyond Sally's (Meaghan Rath) doorway to the afterlife.

But I'm not going to be so relentlessly down on Being Human USA, because it's a decent version of a British show that's catering for a different audience. BBC Three may be a youth-skewing channel, but what was always impressive about Being Human is how grown-up it feels. Syfy's version is very much aimed at impressing college kids, with far less bite to anything. It's just a semi-engaging show that can build some entertaining runs, but it never quite manages to seal the deal. I'll keep watching because it's good TV wallpaper for when a pile of clothes need to be ironed, but I can't see me coming back to review Being Human USA with any regularity... unless something remarkably ballsy and unexpected starts happening to its tone and the quality of storytelling.

written by Jeremy Carver & Anna Fricke / directed by Adam Kane / 16 January 2012 / Syfy

Review: ALCATRAZ, 1.1 & 1.2 - "Pilot" & "Ernest Cobb"

"Pilot"

"Ernest Cobb"

The latest sci-fi drama from the company behind Lost and Fringe is almost an amalgam of those shows, crossed with the defunct Prison Break and a tincture of Whitechapel. On 21 March 1963, San Francisco's notorious offshore prison Alcatraz was closed and all remaining prisoners transferred off the island, but this series claims that was just a cover-story. In actual fact, everyone vanished in mysterious circumstances one night, and 49 years later those missing convicts have started to reappear and continue their crimes. It's up to plucky SFPD homicide detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones, the pocket-sized Anna Torv) to recapture them on behalf of enigmatic FBI Agent Emerson Hauser (Sam Neill), with the help of comic-book writer and The Rock historian Dr Diego "Doc" Sato (Jorge Garcia), while trying to explain how and why these prisoners have travelled through time.

Stylistically, Alcatraz is as sophisticated and glossy as you'd expect from the team behind the luscious Lost and accomplished Fringe. You can't underestimate the soothing effect of knowing you're in safe hands when it comes to the technical demands of putting a show like this together, and if nothing else Alcatraz doesn't disappoint on a purely aesthetic level (even when, subsequent to its pilot, no filming actually takes place on the real-life Alcatraz). But that familiarity breeds a certain level of problems, because there are chunks of this show that evoke either Fringe or Lost—and not just in terms of production, like the return of composer Michael Giacchino to handle the music, Lost stalwart Jack Bender directing, or Lost's "whooshing" flashbacks being replaced by the "clanking" screen wipe of prison bars. In many ways this is just freshman-era Fringe with mad prisoners replacing mad scientists, chased by another triptych of archetypal characters: the gutsy blonde, the intelligent nerd, and the mysterious older man. Sure there are differences, but there's a pervasive feeling that co-creator Elizabeth Sarnoff (a staff writer for Lost) has taken ingredients she liked from JJ Abrams' other hits and only tried to disguise that fact halfheartedly.

Even the narrative device of flashbacks recalls Lost, as each week's story jumps back to Alcatraz's heyday to provide back-story for the criminals, so we can better understand their motivations and plans. Still, fair's fair, because that's a good format to use for this show, and Alcatraz feels better suited to standalone episodes than Fringe ever did. I just wonder how long the show can take its fugitive-of-the-week procedural formula, with each con eventually being returned to a modern version of Alcatraz secretly built below the original, to continue their sentences. There is a serialized element (namely the central mystery of what happened to the "Sixty-Threes" to deposit them five decades into the future), but how long can Alcatraz string that out for? Unlike Fringe, it's harder to see how this show can be opened up in future seasons, and that's a big concern for anyone wondering if it's worth investing time and energy into Alcatraz. I'm not sure how many episodes I can watch of something that's fundamentally a standard cop show with vague sci-fi underpinning the unseen "prison break", unless that formula proves to be incredibly rewarding in some vital way.

The pilot is surprisingly poor, which I really wasn't expecting to be true. There isn't too much to explain to viewers, but the episodes makes the mistake of spending far too much time on our first criminal—murderer Jack Sylvane (Jeffrey Pierce)—rather than get us interested in the show's regulars. After the first hour, I had alost no real feelings or positive opinions of Madsen, Hauser and Soto, and could barely even remember their names. Things don't improve that much for the second episode, "Ernest Cobb", although that story was much more enjoyable because the eponymous con's back-story and modus operandi was simply more entertaining than Sylvane's. There was also a decent ending which intrigued me enough to be considered a success.

Essentially, Alcatraz's first few episodes laid out its premise and planted a few seeds that could grow into something interesting, plus it looks and sounds great as a piece of television, but the stories did a bad job of getting us interested in either of the three main actors, and I'm very wary of SF shows that intend to be mostly episodic. That was exactly the thinking behind Fringe when it first began, until the writers realised that the key audience were responding more to the mytharc than the freak-of-the-week cases. Can Alcatraz course correct in a similar way, given its more rigid concept? Maybe, but it won't be as easy. Will audiences stick with it through these self-contained stories, if only to catch the occasional clue about the bigger mystery? Is it even possible that the big mystery won't be fairly predictable, like a company using Alcatraz's inmates in secret government trials into time-travel? It's always very hard to outwit fans of this genre, especially in this day and age when fan theories spread like wildfire online... and, as we saw with Lost, sometimes eclipse what the creators had in store for us.

Overall, "Ernest Cobb" was entertaining enough to draw me back, even if I can't shake my doubts about this show's overall chances of success. It helps that it's a mid-season replacement, so there aren't too many episodes ordered and less chance for audiences to get bored, and there's obviously time for the writers to make us care about the investigators. But this is the second weakest pilot of a JJ Abrams-affiliated show, behind Undercovers, and I was expecting something far more compelling and exciting.

written by Steven Lilien, Bryan Wynbrandt & Elizabeth Sarnoff (1.1) & Alison Balian (1.2) / directed by Danny Cannon (1.1) & Jack Bender (1.2) / 16 January 2012 / Fox

TV Picks: 23-29 January 2012 (God Bless Ozzy Osbourne, National Television Awards, Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy, Skins, Top Gear, We'll Take Manhattan, etc.)

SKINS - E4, Monday, 10PM

MONDAY 23rd

Secret Location (Channel 4, 11am) New property show with the twist being that house hunters have no idea what location each property is in.
Superscrimpers: Waste Not, Want Not (Channel 4, 8pm) Money series where a family who spend big have to live off £50-worth of food in a week. (1/5)
Seinfeld (Sky Atlantic, 8pm) Repeat of the hit '90s US sitcom from beginning to end.
Wonderland: The Real Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines (BBC2, 9pm) Documentary about three teams of microlight enthusiasts.
Party Paramedics (Channel 4, 10pm) Documentary about volunteer paramedics working in Colchester. (1/3)
PICK OF THE DAY Skins (E4, 10pm) Series 6 of the teen drama.

TUESDAY 24th

Farewell Becky (ITV1, 7.30pm) Celebration of the popular Coronation Street soap character.
Junior Doctors: Your Life In Their Hands (BBC3, 9pm) Series 2 of the documentary following newly-qualified doctors.
PICK OF THE DAY Survivors: Nature's Indestructible Creatures (BBC4, 9pm) Wildlife documentary looking at some of nature's most resilient and tough creatures.
The World Against Apartheid: Have You Heard From Johannesburg? (BBC4, 10pm) Series looking at the situation with apartheid in South Africa.
Confessions Of A Nurse (More4, 10pm) Documentary series following a group of Birmingham nurses. (1/4)
Death Row Dogs (BBC1, 10.35pm) Documentary about illegal dog fighting.

WEDNESDAY 25th

PICK OF THE DAY The National Television Awards 2012 (ITV1, 7.30pm) Annual TV awards ceremony, from London's O2 Arena. Presented by Dermot O'Leary.
Sun, Sea & Suspicious Parents (BBC3, 9pm) Series 2 of the show where teenagers take a holiday abroad, unaware their parents are watching.

THURSDAY 26th

Strictly Soulmates (BBC3, 9pm) Documentary series about different faith and their perception of the perfect partner.
PICK OF THE DAY We'll Take Manhattan (BBC4, 9pm) Drama about the relationship between '60s photographer David Bailey and model Jean Shrimpton. Starring Karen Gillan.
Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy (E4, 10pm) Brand new comedy series from the surreal comedian.

FRIDAY 27th

PICK OF THE DAY How Brits Rocked America (BBC4, 9pm) Documentary series looking at how British music conquered the US in the '60s, beginning with The Beatles.

SATURDAY 28th

Nothing.

SUNDAY 29th

Top Gear The motoring magazine returns. Presented by Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond & James May.
Toughest Place To Be (BBC2, 9pm) Series where British workers travel overseas to see how foreigners do their own job. (1/3)
PICK OF THE DAY God Bless Ozzy Osbourne (BBC2, 10pm) Documentary on the Black Sabbath rocker.

CHUCK, 5.10 & 5.11 – "Chuck Versus Bo" & "Chuck Versus the Bullet Train"

Owing to personal events last week, these reviews will be capsule-sized...

"Chuck Versus Bo" started with Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski) deciding to bring her spy career to an end, so she can live happily ever after with husband Chuck (Zachary Levi) and repurpose Carmichael Industries to fight cyber-terrorism, but naturally events went haywire from thereon in. In some ways you could feel this episode straining to reintroduce the Intersect back into the show, together with a new villain in Nicholas Quinn (Angus Macfadyen), the original CIA agent who was destined to become the government's super-spy, but it just about got away with it.

It was actually a fun idea to have Morgan (Joshua Gomez) investigate his own missing memories, realising that he stole and stashed some Intersect glasses while enjoying the high life at a ski resort as the egotistical Intersect version of himself. In some ways this was Chuck's version of The Hangover, with the team trying to piece together what happened with Morgan a few months ago, and there was a fun diversion in the shape of actress Bo Derek (playing herself, which is something that rarely happens with Chuck guest-stars).

The subplot with Jeff (Scott Krinsky) and Lester (Vik Sahay) was also quite funny, as the pair have come close to exposing their friends as spies but keep getting drugged and find themselves waking up halfway to Vegas in a flash car. At first it was very irritating to think the writers weren't going to have those characters realize the truth, but then the episode did a good job making it clear they weren't so easily put off the scent—resulting in a Groundhog Day-style adventure as their efforts kept getting reset to square one thanks to Casey's (Adam Baldwin) Men In Black-style amnesia gas. Unfortunately, this story eventually settled on having Jeff and Lester believing that Chuck and his friends aren't spies after all, which really bothered me until the events of the next episode.

If I'm honest, "... Versus Bo" started to drag after awhile, and I didn't find it a very funny episode (many jokes were ludicrously signposted), but it was entertaining for the most part and had some enjoyable moments. Plus it ended on a great cliffhanger, of sorts, with Chuck kidnapped by Nicholas, forcing Sarah to don the retrieved Intersect-glasses and effectively embrace the spy life she'd almost given up after "one last mission". Incidentally, given the fact Sarah is already physically adept as a character, I thought the stunt coordinators did an incredible job making us realise that "Intersect-Sarah" is practically a martial arts superhero. It certainly won't be easy stopping her from getting her husband back in one piece...

written by Kristin Newman / directed by Jeremiah Chechik / 13 January 2012 / NBC

Indeed, "Chuck Versus The Bullet Train" took less than 10 minutes until Sarah had rescued Chuck from the titular mode of Japanese transport, before Quinn could force him to work on creating another stable version of the Intersect. (I guess he doesn't have a lab in the US?) This was another variation on things we've seen Chuck do before, with most of the adventure taking place in the one location, but it was a really good example of Under Siege 2 in the Chuck universe. They even included unique opening titles, setting the episode up as a cheesy B-movie thriller aboard a high-speed train, and on that level this episode really worked.

Even better, the ongoing subplot with Jeff and Lester finally resolved after so much fooling around, with Casey forced to reveal their secrets when the two Buy More employees became the only hope of getting his daughter Alex (Mekenna Melvin) back safely from two hired goons. I'm relieved the writers have decided to go down this route, if only because it was getting really tiresome having them discover Chuck's secret and almost instantly have their memories erased multiple times.

As an episode showcasing Sarah as the Intersect, it was also a lot of fun seeing her operating on that level, with more very impressive fight sequences, and the inbuilt jeopardy that the Intersect essentially destroys most peoples minds (some people quicker than others, evidently!) gave the episode some welcome stakes. However, one problem with Chuck has always been its reluctance to go through with anything irreversible tragic, so it was hard to really feel that anyone was in danger here—be it Chuck, Sarah, Casey (when he was blackmailed into helping Quinn), or Alex.

As if to combat that fact, I liked how this episode instead ended with Sarah literally splitting from Chuck (in separate parts of the bullet train) and having her memories erased by Quinn, who's now convinced her she's an agent tasked with killing the husband she doesn't remember. While it's still obvious Sarah will get her memories back at some point, it should make for an interesting wrinkle for the young couple... in a season that's been all about them chasing the perfect ending that just doesn't want to come true. Certainly not without a fight, anyway.

written by Nicholas Wootton / directed by Buzz Feitshans IV / 20 January 2012 / NBC

I'm back...

... so things around here should hopefully return to relative normality fairly soon. Thanks to everyone who sent me their kind thoughts about my dad and his cancer—either here, on Twitter, or even by e-mail. I didn't reply to everyone individually, but everything was read and I was touched that so many people offered their support and a kind thought.

Blog-wise, things will undoubtedly change for the near-future. I won't be reviewing as many things, certainly not weekly, and anything that airs at weekends will be prone to delay. I may have to either "capsule" review things more (i.e. shorter reviews), or "double-bill" reviews (i.e write two short reviews covering two episodes). A few short-run shows may also get reviewed as a season/series once they're OVER, rather than episodically. My favourite shows will be the ones that suffer least, most likely.

But there's no hard and fast rule. Some weeks I'll be glad of a distraction with DMD, others it'll feel like a burden I'll have to put aside. I'm sure everyone understands, and I was pleased to see that page-hits didn't take a significant fall over my unscheduled break, too! (This does tend to happen, strangely! Maybe I should stop blogging more often?!) Please do keep checking back here, if only to browse my five-year archive.

I plan to catch-up with Chuck, Alcatraz and Being Human USA over the next few days...

FRINGE, 4.8 & 4.9 - "Back To Where You've Never Been" & "Enemy Of My Enemy"

Back To Where You've Never Been

Enemy Of My Enemy

Owing to personal events and a sudden backlog, I've decided to turn the two latest episodes of Fringe over to you, dear readers. What did you make of them? Personally, I'm glad season 4 finally has a credible use for Peter (as the "variable" of two universes, neither of which he belongs in), and it was a fantastic idea to bring back David Robert Jones (Jared Harris) because he's probably the best recurring villain Fringe ever had. It also makes some sense that DRJ was the person behind the bio-mechanical shapeshifters, fulfilling my old theory that the two universes will unify over a common enemy. The decision to reveal that Walternate isn't such a terrible person, and that Nina's in cahoots with Jones also worked really well, giving me a good feeling about the rest of this season and its general direction.

My only concern, and it's a big one, is that getting Peter back to his own timeline will likely reset Fringe back to the end of season 3... and if that happens, this entire season will have been nothing but a diversion. And if the show is cancelled by Fox this summer (which is a very real possibility because it's now unprofitable on Friday nights), will the producers regret spending their final season on a storyline that's ultimately unrelated to most of the characters we were following until season 3's finale? I hope there's a twist I'm not seeing which will make me feel better soon, but I can't help feeling very uncertain week by week. In some ways this season reminds me of Lost's fifth—great fun at the time, but in hindsight fairly irrelevant to the story, and the bigger picture wouldn't suffer if it was removed.

So those are my brief thoughts on Fringe's past few episodes. I'd love to hear what you're all making of this season. Sound off below!

written by David Fury & Graham Roland (4.8) & Monica Owusu-Breen & Alison Shapker (4.9) / directed by Jeannot Szwarc (4.8) & Joe Chappelle (4.9) / 13 & 20 January 2012 / Fox

A short break...

I'm afraid there's an unscheduled break from today (17 Jan) until Sunday. My dad's very sick, having been fighting cancer for the past four months, and the outlook has taken a turn for the worse a week before a planned operation. In fact, the doctors have said he probably only has months left.

I'm sure everyone will understand that blogging isn't a big priority for me now, although I'm sure it'll be a good way to take my mind off a few things over the difficult months ahead.

I will catch-up with missed shows next week (Alcatraz, Fringe, Mad Dogs, Chuck, etc), but obviously there are going to be erratic periods where I'm unable or unwilling to write anything.

Things have taken on a different perspective. Please remember to appreciate the people in YOUR life.

SHERLOCK, 2.3 – "The Reichenbach Fall"

"We're just alike, you and I. Except you're boring." – Moriarty to Sherlock

Considering Steve Thompson wrote the worst of series 1's episodes, "The Blind Banker", and one of the least remarkable Doctor Who's last year, "Curse Of The Black Spot", you could forgive most people from raising eyebrows at the fact he'd been entrusted with writing Sherlock's big finale. However, Thompson acquits himself very well with "The Reichenbach Fall", which was another of the show's elastically-plotted thrills. It helped that this was the first adventure to truly focus on arch-nemesis Jim Moriarty (Andrew Scott), and that the stakes were high for Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) on a personal level, and it all came together brilliantly for a climactic rooftop confrontation and puzzling denouement.

Consulting criminal Moriarty simultaneously opens the Bank of England's vault and Pentonville Prison, while smashing his way into the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London to await his own capture by the alerted police. A quick and easy conviction is expected at the Old Bailey, especially as Moriarty offers no evidence in his defence, yet the jury make the bizarre decision to acquit him... allowing Moriarty to continue the next phase of his masterplan, to solve the "Final Problem" of having a nemesis like Sherlock as a thorn in his side. But it's not really as simple as that, because there's the mutual fascination and respect between the two men, very much opposite sides of the same coin. Moriarty comes across as a super-genius who's become psychotic out of sheer boredom. He's overjoyed that someone like Sherlock exists, yet suspicious that he's not his equal, and in some ways his mind games are just a test to see if Sherlock's worthy of his adversarial status.

The great thing about "The Reichenbach Fall" was realising how Moriarty's plan was going to work, as it became clear he's planting seeds of doubt in people's minds that Sherlock's a totally benevolent genius working for "the angels". After kidnapping boarding school children and feeding them mercury-tainted sweets at an abandoned warehouse, it became less about finding their abductor and more about preventing the police from acting on their suspicions that Sherlock (solving crimes on piffling evidence like a footprint) may actually be the culprit. Throw in the hilariously bizarre moment when Moriarty went to investigative reporter Kitty Riley (Katherine Parkinson) claiming to be children's TV actor Rich Brooke, forced by Sherlock to play the role of Moriarty in a sick fantasy, and the whole episode really started to take on a life of its own. While nothing here was completely plausible, the fact Sherlock exists in only a semi-realistic world really helps, and enables the writers to just have fun with sillier ideas.

As for Moriarty, he's been a divisive figure on the show since he made his entrance in "The Great Game" at the swimming pool, seeing as he's such a departure from most people's idea of that character. This episode definitely helped you see what creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat were after when they devised him (an impish Irish version of The Joker) and Scott gave an engaging performance, but I'm still not completely sure Moriarty should be like this. He's unnerving and obviously intelligent, and a scene where he shared tea with Sherlock while tapping binary digits with his fingers and biting the letters "I O U" into an apple, was absolutely fantastic, but I still find myself wishing he was less of a "character" and more of a "person". It's slightly too cartoonish for me still, although I know others think that works really well against the show's others characters who are played straight.

Similarly to series 1's finale, most people will be discussing the ending over anything else. A marvellous scene with Moriarty and Sherlock on the roof of a hotel (instead of a waterfall in the books), where Sherlock realized the only way to save Watson (Martin Freeman), Mrs Hudson (Una Stubbs) and Molly Hooper (Louise Brealey) is to commit suicide by leaping off the edge—which is the agreed signal to three snipers to lay down their weapons. What's going to puzzle people for many months, is how they've chosen to leave things. Moriarty's seemingly shot himself in the face, after realising he's the weakness in his own plan—but I suppose that's survivable depending on where the bullet went. Or perhaps series 3 will be a prequel to these adventures? More confusing was Sherlock's swan dive off the roof, smashing his skull on the pavement below, ending the show with Watson over his grave... before the last-second reveal of Sherlock watching from afar. How Sherlock cheated death is completely beyond me, and I'm not expecting an explanation that works perfectly when the show returns.

Overall, "The Reichenbach Fall" was a fine resolution of this improved second series. I loved how Sherlock's celebrity status was the summit of the social "fall" Moriarty set him on, and Freeman was given far more opportunities to bring humanity to what can otherwise be a mechanical plot-driven show. In fact, of the three episodes, this was easily the most emotional and human, with Cumberbatch's best performance in the role. Watson's scene at the grave was also genuinely moving, as he struggled to contain his emotions at the death of his most remarkable friend... who's left this world with everyone thinking he was a crazy fraud.

Taken as a whole, series 2 covered some compelling thematic areas (sex, fear, identity), and did a wonderful job updating three of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's stories. It's hard to choose between them, as I've rated them all the same, but I probably prefer "A Scandal In Belgravia" because Moffat's twisty writing is such a perfect fit for the show. But the final two episodes seemed to justify the 90-minutes a lot better, especially this finale, and it would be a crime if various people's careers obstructed a third series next year...

Asides

• It delights me how the deerstalker hat has become an icon of Sherlock Holmes in this update, with Sherlock himself hating that fact.
• That was The IT Crowd's Katherine Parkinson as the reporter, I'm sure you know.
• So how did Sherlock fake his own death? The best theory I've heard is that he threw a doppelganger off the roof, perhaps a corpse provided by Molly the doctor. But wouldn't DNA tests prove that wasn't Sherlock? Wouldn't someone like Watson have identified the body? How would Sherlock have found an exact double that would fool so many people?

written by Steve Thompson / directed by Toby Haynes / 15 January 2012 / BBC One

TV Picks: 16-22 January 2012 (American Idol, Big C, Birdsong, Gadget Geeks, Mad Dogs, Real Hustle, Room 101, Suits, etc.)

Mad Dogs - Thursday, Sky1, 9PM

MONDAY 16th

The Alan Titchmarsh Show (ITV1, 3pm) Return of the weekday chat show.
The Hungry Sailors (ITV1, 4pm) Seafaring cookery series, hosted by Dick and James Strawbridge.
Celebrity Coach Trip (Channel 4, 5pm) Return of the celebrity version of the Euro travelling gameshow. Starring Edwina Curry and her husband John Jones, Cannon & Ball, Derek Martin and John Altman, Nikki Grahame and Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, and Paul Burrell and Jean Broke Smith.
Richard Wilson: On Hold (Channel 4, 8pm) Special on the widespread use of automated phone systems.
Gadget Geeks (Sky1, 8pm) Brand new gadget and technology show.
The One Griff Rhys Jones (BBC1, 8.30pm) Comedy special with the famous comedian/actor, one half of '80s double-act Smith & Jones.
PICK of the DAY Stargazing Live (BBC2, 8.30pm) Live astronomy special with Dara O'Briain & Professor Brian Cox.
The Rise Of Shoplifters (Channel 4, 10pm) Documentary on shoplifting and kleptomania.

TUESDAY 17th

Masterchef (BBC1, 9pm) Return of the culinary challenge show. Continues tomorrow and Thursday.
15 Kids And Counting (Channel 4, 9pm) Documentary series on some of the country's biggest families. (1/3)
Coming Out Diaries (BBC3, 9pm) Documentary on gay people telling their friends/family about their sexuality.
PICK of the DAY Suits (Dave, 9pm) Season 1 of the US legal drama.
Horizon: Playing God (BBC2, 9.30pm) Documentary on genetic crossbreeds that are being developed by scientists to aide mankind, such as the bizarre-sounding "spider goat".
Crime Scene Forensics (BBC1, 10.35pm) Documentary following police officers of Hertforshire and Bedforshire.

WEDNESDAY 18th

PICK of the DAY Britain In Bed (BBC3, 9pm) Documentary on the nation's changing attitude to sex. Presented by Jessica-Jane Clement.
Jonathan Meades on France (BBC4, 9pm) Documentary on France, particularly the many areas most Brits don't think to visit. (1/3)
The Crusades: Holy War (BBC2, 9.30pm) Documentary on the 200-year long Crusades. (1/3)
My Secret Teens: Kate Thornton – Anorexic (Channel 5, 10pm) Special where the TV presenter shares her experience with anorexia as a teenage girl.

THURSDAY 19th

Putin, Russia & The West (BBC2, 9pm) Documentary series on the Russian President. (1/4)
Pole Dancing Diaries (BBC3, 9pm) Documentary on pole dancing.
PICK of the DAY Mad Dogs (Sky1, 9pm) Series 2 of the comedy-drama about four friends in over their heads abroad. Starring Philip Glenister, John Simm, Max Beesley & Marc Warren. (1/4)
American Idol (ITV2, 9pm) Return of the US singing contest. Hosted by Ryan Seacrest with judges Steven Tyler, Jennifer Lopez & Randy Jackson. Results tomorrow.
Gypsy Blood (Channel 4, 10pm) Documentary about the violent habits some gypsy fathers pass on to their sons.
The Big C (More4, 10pm) Season 2 of the US drama about a woman with terminal cancer. (1/13)

FRIDAY 20th

PICK of the DAY Room 101 (BBC1, 8.30pm) Return of the panel show where guests condemn their pet hates. Hosted by Frank Skinner. This week's guests are Danny Baker, Fern Britton & Robert Webb.
The Real Hustle (BBC3, 8.30pm) Return of the conman drama for a final series.

SATURDAY 21st

Nothing.

SUNDAY 22nd

The Last Explorers (BBC2, 6pm) History series focusing on Scottish adventurers, starting with David Livingstone. Presented by Neil Oliver. (1/4)
Time Team (Channel 4, 7pm) Series 19 of the archaeology show. (1/11)
PICK of the DAY Birdsong (BBC1, 10.25pm) Adaptation of the Sebastian Faulks' novel about two lovers in WWI. Starring Eddie Redmayne, Clemence Poesy, Joseph Mawie & Marie-Josee Croze. (1/2)

Review: MILTON JONES'S HOUSE OF ROOMS

I'm not sure if this is technically still part of the Comedy Showcase season last year, which just stopped halfway through its six-episode run. The Angelos Epithemiou Show was resold as a comedy special for Christmas, there's still no sign of The Function Room, but now we have Milton Jones's House Of Rooms. The concept of which feels immediately entertaining and with clear potential, as we're introduced to mummy's boy Milton (Milton Jones), who still live with his mother (Susie Blake) in her guesthouse. One of their tenants is the beautiful but shy Alice (Cordelia Bugeja), whom Milton fancies but is himself too bashful to ask out, and Tony (Alexander Kirk) the middle-aged office worker coping with a painful marital split. Naturally, there's ample opportunity for guests/characters to come and go, revolving around this central quartet of regulars.

Given its simple but enticing premise, slightly reminding me of classic '70s sitcom Rising Damp, and Jones's own reputation as one of the UK's best "one-liner" deadpan comedians, I was eagerly anticipating House Of Rooms. I was rewarded with a sharp and snappy half-hour of nonsense, silliness, a half-dozen laugh-out-loud moments, and a likable way to merge Jones's style of comedy to something quite kinetic and cleverly shot by Ben Palmer (who's echoing the work of Spaced's Edgar Wright in some ways).

What this pilot set out to achieve, it accomplished. The relationships were instantly understood, the jokes flowed quickly, there were some brilliant sight gags, verbal funnies torn straight from Jones's joke book, and some good comic performances. I've never seen Jones as an actor until now, and although this character wasn't a million miles from his on-stage persona of "spaced-out man-child", it was still different enough to have you seeing him in a different light.

There was also great support from Susie Blake (Coronation Street) as his mother, who could have easily been written as an "older battleaxe" type, but they've wisely decided to use the fact Blake's relatively young and attractive. It somehow gave the show a lift, perhaps because it adds a sexual angle to her character. Cordelia Bugeja didn't actually have much to do, beyond make goo goo eyes and be an object of affection, but this could also have been a character who was the opposite of Milton and perhaps found him creepy and strange. But instead, it feels like she's his soul mate and they're well-suited together. Maybe this will cause problems if the show goes to series, because it could become tiring seeing them both get tongue-tied around each other. It made for a fun joke here, but will we still be laughing five episodes later, or screaming for them both to just say what's on their minds?

Let's hope we get the chance to find out. More than any other Comedy Showcase sitcom this year, I'd most like to see House Of Rooms become a full-blown series. Chickens and The Fun Police had merit, particularly the former, but it just feels like British comedy is missing something like House Of Rooms. And we're actually really good at making shows like this: the irreverent, madcap, surreal, twisted, yet likable sitcom.

Aside

• Do you recognise Cordelia Bugeja but can't place her? You've probably seen her in adverts, particularly the Yakult campaign. She's also appeared on The IT Crowd and, more recently, two episodes of Sky's Mount Pleasant.

written by Milton Jones & Dan Evans / directed by Ben Palmer / 13 January 2012 / Channel 4