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'Lunch Monkeys' In The Press...I tried to think of Gandhi while watching Lunch Monkeys, a squalid office sitcom that occasionally makes you think of marching on Television Centre and setting fire to the BBC3 offices. Lord, it's depressing, one of those comedies that relies for its laughs (and it's audience, for that matter) on a collection of implausibly dim-witted people. If you find incontinence, phantom shitters and armpit-farts the acme of wit, you're in for a treat. But if you prefer a comedy not to have plastic protagonists and offer real human insights, I suggest you rent a copy of Toy Story instead. Lunch Monkeys had the grey pallor of Wardle's charred grayling, a dull sitcom in which Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps entered into an unhappy marriage with a sub-standard retread of The Office. It centred on the workers of an office postroom. There was a bitchy office manager, thick lads who are quite endearing, a blonde, female good-hearted object of lust, a slimy, mucky solicitor, all of whom said exactly the crass jokes you'd expect from them. Nigel Havers looked understandably depressed as the office head honcho. One for the shredder. Lunch Monkeys is a dog's dinner Even Nigel Havers can't save BBC3's new show. But a bad comedy on the youth channel shouldn't come as a surprise. Written by Rebecca Nicholson. The Guardian, 11th September 2009 Spirits in need of bolstering had the choice of two new comedies last night on BBC3: Lunch Monkeys and Off the Hook. The former - about a group of employees at a private injury solicitors' firm - broke two of the golden rules of modern comedy. First, don't set it in an office until memories of Gervais and Merchant's genius creation have been given at least 30 years to fade. And second, if you do set it in an office, do not include the line: "It just seems like there should be more to life than this." It makes people weep, and not in a good, recognition-of-a-timeless-and-immortal-truth kind of way. We remember the pilot of this: a sitcom about five young loafers who work in an ambulance-chasing law firm in Manchester. Its tone is like The Office as played by the Two Pints Of Lager Repertory Company. And guess what? It's yet another multimedia extravaganza. Seriously, what was wrong with just making a TV programme and having people watch it? Why do we have to have a website, hmm? Imagine how much it must have cost to build all that. Moan, moan licence fee, etc. Hang on. A new, work-set comedy with staff playing pranks on each other, a spineless boss and scenes divided by printers in action? But this isn't Wernham Hogg; this is personal law injury firm Fox Cranford. And the approach is totally different: it's overplayed and apparently aimed at the Two Pints demographic. The opener is a classic set-up, with new girl Shelley (Rachel Rae) arriving late on her first day and making a disastrous impression with her superiors. Nigel Havers adds a veneer of class, but it's all forehead-slappingly obvious. Mark Braxton, The Radio Times, 10th September 2009 One of the best things about this new comedy series is that it doesn't have an idiot laughter track. Nor is it recorded in front of an audience, which is another trick that producers use to generate artificial hype. Lunch Monkeys takes place in the postroom of a personal-injury law firm, which offers a kind of sanctuary for school leavers, oddballs and assorted misfits. They are demented with boredom and spend all day behaving like unruly fifth formers, which places Nigel Havers - the firm's senior partner - in the role of a headmaster. The writer David Isaac drew on his own experience working as a supervising solicitor in a Manchester law firm. It's broad, good-humoured, knockabout comedy without a subtle bone in its body. Technically speaking, it is somewhere between painless and quite good fun. The young, feckless admin team who work in the post room of a firm of lawyers is the setting for a not particularly original new comedy series. Revelling in the mundane and the useless seems to be the staple of comedy shows these days. Nevertheless Lunch Monkeys does have its moments. These mainly involve new girl Shelley (Rachel Rae), libidinous solicitor Charlie (Steve John Shepherd) and the dim-witted Asif (Abdullah Afzal). Nigel Havers stars as a partner but looks rather out of place. In this first episode, Kenny (Christian Foster) tries to ask Tania (Jessica Hall) out on a date. Over on BBC3, newcomer Lunch Monkeys has a stab at office-based comedy, which is brave, given that it's already been defined by one of the best shows in recent history. There's a man wearing a name badge with the word "penis" on it, and that really is as funny as it gets. After cutting through the commissioning jungle, Matt Tiller explains how he recreated a working office environment for a new BBC3 sitcom. Written by Matt Tiller. Broadcast, 9th July 2009 BBC3 goes to Manchester for fresh pair of sitcoms Nigel Havers is the unlikely star of one of a pair of new BBC3 comedy series from Manchester indies. Admin (working title) is a 6 x 30-minute "slacker sitcom" by Manchester-based comedy and entertainment indie Channel K. It is set in the postroom of a law firm and follows a group of young workers who try to get on by doing as little as possible. The series was piloted in May last year and was based on the real-life experiences of writer David Isaac, who also wrote for BBC1's Not Going Out. Havers will support a yet-to-be-confirmed and relatively unknown cast in the role of Mike, the firm's owner Written by Robert Shepherd. Broadcast, 1st April 2009 Sadly, the instant you hear the name Admin you know it's going to be a dire Office rip-off. A team of professional no-hopers and a frazzled boss - sound familiar? This comedy pilot, set in a no-win no-fee solicitors' office, is as original as the photocopier jokes. Yet there's something about the young losers from the postroom which raises a chuckle (especially Kenny) The Radio Times, 12th May 2008 Written by mofgimmers. TV Scoop, 12th May 2008 Writer David Isaac based this sitcom pilot - set in the admin department of a no win no fee solicitors office - on his own experience as a supervising solicitor in Manchester, so lets hope the ring of truth leads to peals of laughter. Inside Soap, 10th May 2008 This story, about the bad attitudes of a bunch of surly school leavers in their first jobs, will strike a chord with anyone who's tried to order paperclips from the post room. The 'no win no fee' Manchester law firm Fox Carter and Co has its fair share of sharks, but that's nothing compared to the machinations in its admin department. TV Guide, 10th May 2008 Neil Fitzmaurice and Scallywagga cohort Jessica Hall make a bid for dominance of the BBC3 comedy scene by popping up in their second humorous offering for the channel in a week. Time Out, 8th May 2008 |
