Main News Stories About 'Pramface':

• Pramface to return for a third series (27/04/13)
• Second series of as-yet unbroadcast sitcom Pramface commissioned (30/11/11)

This sitcom about two teenagers who are parents but definitely not a couple has found its groove in Series 2. It's bawdy but not gratuitously gross; sweet at heart but not too cheesy. It might be educating a few BBC3 viewers, too. You don't often see a sitcom episode built around the difficulties of, say, breast pumps and expressed milk...

Jack Seale, The Radio Times, 23rd February 2013

The second series of this fine sitcom about teen parenthood continues with young Laura (Scarlett Alice Johnson) receiving a work placement. As a result she insists on father Jamie (Sean Michael Verey) babysitting for their child, Emily. But Jamie has an exam. Chaos ensues when Jamie decides to leave Emily with inexperienced childminders Mike (Dylan Edwards) and Beth (Yasmin Paige).

Toby Dantzic, The Daily Telegraph, 21st January 2013

Pramface: the one teen parenting TV programme to watch

Like the film Juno, Pramface - despite its insulting name - portrays real teen parenthood, and is a must-watch for anyone who wants to know what it's really like to be a young mother, says Prymface.

The Daily Telegraph, 15th January 2013

The stars of Pramface on Series 2

Scarlett Alice Johnson and Sean Verey chat to RadioTimes.com about being sent off set for laughing too hard and whether their characters will end up together.

Written by Susanna Lazarus. The Radio Times, 15th January 2013

Interview with the stars of Pramface

Kicking off comedy on BBC Three for 2013 was Pramface. The day after, I met up with Scarlett Alice Johnson and Sean Michael Verey who play Laura and Jamie, to see what they had to say about the upcoming series.

Written by Elliot Gonzalez. 14th January 2013

More from the second series of Pramface, and now that Laura is alone with the baby, she's hoping that she'll start meeting more mums to break up her feelings of loneliness. Her first foray into such matters doesn't go well, ending in a bit of a tame mugging situation at the hands of some rough types in the park. The smug yummy mummies she starts stalking are no better either. Meanwhile, Alan, ignored by his family, hires Keith to be his driver. They bond over pool hustling and lying to their wives.

Ben Arnold, The Guardian, 14th January 2013

Things I enjoyed most about BBC3's returning comedy Pramface:

1. Scarlett Alice Johnson's ongoing transformation from EastEnders disaster into fine comic actress.

2. The fact that Angus Deayton was happy to walk around in his boxer shorts. Hardly the first time Angus has been spotted with his trousers down etc, etc.

Ian Hyland, The Daily Mail, 12th January 2013

Jamie and Laura are now struggling with the onset of parenthood. But there's nothing particularly cool going on here. The jokes are more 'heard it before' than 'tee-hee', and the gross-out atmosphere doesn't quite stand up to the likes of The Inbetweeners. Sadly it seems this particular sprog was probably born on a Wednesday.

Jonathan Watson, The Stage, 9th January 2013

Pramface returns for a second series, and with an added cast-member. Having birthed the result of her fling with Jamie, Laura gets to the business of being a mother, ducking the snide remarks of family members and the incompetence of the father of her child. It proves a juggling act as the christening approaches, with Jamie's pious extended family coming in from Ireland and a tense flashpoint smouldering away that, obviously, has to ignite in the church. It's as clunky as ever, but Anna Chancellor is a steadying influence, and Scarlett Alice Johnson plays the frazzled new mum with aplomb.

Ben Arnold, The Guardian, 7th January 2013

Funny, charming and truthful, Pramface draws to a close. Thanks to sharp characters and Chris Reddy's pitch-perfect script, it has become one of BBC Three's best comedies. Heavily pregnant Laura (Scarlett Alice Johnson) is bored of being stuck at home and convinces Jamie (Sean Michael Verey) to take her shopping. Mike (Dylan Edwards) decides to put the pot from a charity run to a less charitable cause - his sex life - but is rumbled by Beth (Yasmin Paige). Meanwhile, Keith (Ben Crompton) and Sandra (Bronagh Gallagher) go on a revelatory holiday.

Simon Horsford, The Daily Telegraph, 28th March 2012

Pramface's Chris Reddy - How to write a sitcom

Pramface writer, Chris Reddy, stopped by to give us some top tips and insight into the world of sitcom writing.

Written by Chris Reddy. The BBC Comedy Blog, 27th March 2012

The penultimate episode of the amusing comedy drama about two teenagers who meet at a party and find out that 18 year-old Laura (Scarlett Alice Johnson) is pregnant. With three months until the birth, Laura is still living at Jamie's (Sean Michael Verey) house and his parents are keen for her to move back home. Meanwhile, Laura's parents Alan (Angus Deayton) and Janet decide to make a go of their marriage and plan a weekend break away.

Rachel Ward, The Daily Telegraph, 21st March 2012

Pramface: It's all about location location location

Bare bottoms, a giant turkey costume and farmers' market - three things that spring to mind when Pramface star Dylan Edwards is asked about his time filming the new BBC Three series in the Capital.

The Scotsman, 10th March 2012

Pramface: A blossoming bromance

"The meeting is on Wednesday. They want you to read for the part of Keith. I'll email you the details over now," chirped the chirpy voice of my agent.

Written by Dylan Edwards. The BBC Three Blog, 8th March 2012

The slow-burning comedy burns even slower. So slow, in fact, that it seems to be missing the comedy. Jamie hasn't heard from Laura, who's now 12 weeks pregnant and settling into university, so he decides to stalk her. He's clumsily aided by sidekick Mike, whose clown-like antics might raise the chances of a smirk. Earnest best friend Beth is still scheming to win Jamie's heart, but a night of disco bowling fails to ignite romance.

Hannah Verdier, The Guardian, 7th March 2012

Chris Reddy's delightful comedy revolves around Laura (Scarlett Alice Johnson) trying to cope with becoming pregnant after a one night stand with 16-year-old Jamie (Sean Michael Verey). As Laura heads off to Edinburgh University, she believes that she can put her "situation" to one side - but is followed by Jamie.

Simon Horsford, The Daily Telegraph, 7th March 2012

Pramface may be cult favourite or mainstream crossover

Pramface continues to be a surprisingly clever, polished and compelling offering from BBC3 that could well become a mainstream hit in time.

Written by Rachel Tarley. Metro, 2nd March 2012

Another charming episode proves last week's opening part of this new comedy wasn't a one-off. Newly pregnant Laura (Scarlett Alice Johnson) is still grappling with the full consequences of her one-night stand with 16-year-old Jamie (Sean Michael Verey) when her parents (Angus Deayton and Anna Chancellor) find out - in less than ideal circumstances.

Simon Horsford, The Daily Telegraph, 29th February 2012

Pramface, a sitcom about a 16-year-old boy who accidentally gets a girl pregnant, is one of a series of new comedies recently commissioned by BBC Three, having axed most of their old shows. All I can say is that I hope the rest of the new output is better than this.

To give you an idea of where I stand on it, I laughed once. The laugh itself came from a somewhat old-hack gag about a boy "pleasuring himself" and "reaching climax" as his mother enters the room.

Nothing original to it, apart from the fact he was listening to a sex audio tape of his own devising, which was set to play the theme from Top Gear at the critical moment. Now, when I wrote about comedy in Top Gear last week, that's not quiet how I envisioned it. Still it's better than seeing one of those three presenters doing that act (and I apologise for putting that rather disturbing image into your head right now).

There were several problems with Pramface for me. I didn't like most of the characters; there was too much incidental music for my liking; and in terms of the gross-out comedy it appears to be going for I've seen much funnier examples elsewhere. Give me Robert Webb in Peep Show eating a half-cooked dog leg any day of the week.

Ian Wolf, Giggle Beats, 27th February 2012

The attractiveness of the British teenager may be as hard to detect as the Higgs boson particle, but it doesn't stop TV producers from putting more and more of them before the cameras for our inspection. Following the success of Skins and The Inbetweeners comes Pramface, a comedy of virginity, sex and pregnancy (yes, in that order) among the GCSE-sitting classes, and the discomfiture of their parents.

Sweet-faced but lecherous Jamie (Sean Michael Verey) and his conceited babe-magnet friend Mike (Dylan Edwards) are 16, have just finished their exams and are anxious to crash a party thrown by cooler and more grown-up schoolkids. "There may be scenes of a sexual nature," confides Mike, who wears green shirts with Harry Hill collars, sprays Lynx in his underpants and has made a shag-along soundtrack on his iPhone that ends with the theme to Top Gear. Elsewhere, pretty, 18-year-old A-leveller Laura (Scarlett Alice Johnson) has been grounded for smoking dope. She has a turn of phrase that shocks her anxious parents, Anna Chancellor and Angus Deayton: "It's not as if you found me snorting coke or straddling my pimp"; "To you the world's just one big fucking naughty step isn't it?" Naturally she escapes the prison of home by falling out of the window and at the posh party she drunkenly kisses Jamie. Minutes later, they are dancing the blanket hornpipe on a leopardskin throw in someone's bedroom, while Jamie's girlfriend Beth attempts to crawl out the door.

Weeks later, along with her A-levels, Laura gets another result: she's pregnant. She has no recollection of her inamorata, only a phone number. When they arrange to meet in a café, she makes for the promising-looking chap sitting by himself, but gets it wrong: the father of her child is the geeky kid at the other table. Oh, no! He's 16, she's 18 - an unbridgeable gap - she has a croissant in the microwave and their young lives are blighted for ever. Or are they?

Chris Reddy dreamt up Pramface and wrote the script, directed by Daniel Zeff. It has nice touches: when Laura rings the number scrawled on a note, to say, "We slept together and now I'm pregnant", she dials the wrong number and her voice is beamed to the phone-speaker of a car driven by a startled bourgeois with his family. But it's all so derivative. Do we need any more jerking-off jokes, orgasm faces, drunk-girl pratfalls? There's a deal too much Americana here too: the plot's straight from Knocked Up; the party scenes of interchangeable babes owe a lot to Beverly Hills 90210; Laura's taut family supper echoes American Beauty. Lacking the rude conviction of The Inbetweeners, it comes over as The Hand-Me-Downers.

John Walsh, Independent On Sunday, 26th February 2012

Pramface was bound to disappoint, and it did

Any show pitched as "the new" something is bound to be a disappointment. Only the most successful shows are followed by their very own "the new"s, so the comparisons between BBC Three's new sitcom Pramface and two leading forebears, Gavin and Stacey and The Inbetweeners, may have raised expectations to an unsustainable level.

Written by Richard Berry. The Huffington Post, 24th February 2012

Pramface review

It looks and feels a little like The Inbetweeners with a pregnancy plot plopped in to keep things moving, but the fact that Pramface is genuinely funny in its own right should see those possibly unfair comparisons slowly fall by the wayside.

Written by Liam Tucker. TV Pixie, 24th February 2012

Pramface, BBC3's new comedy, wants to be The Inbetweeners so much it hurts. It features two callow schoolboys and, a minor twist, a female friend who is superior to both in wit and wisdom and carries a secret torch for the male lead, Jamie. But Jamie hasn't noticed and so, after crashing a post-exam party, loses his virginity to Laura, in a sequence that struck me as being overly generous to those who might get their kicks from watching teenagers have orgasms. If it really was Jamie's first time I doubt that it would have lasted long enough for the montage sequence here, in which his impressively extended gurnings were intercut with the masturbatory grimaces of his friend Michael and Beth's attempts to get out of the room without being noticed. The point of the thing is that posh, sophisticated Laura finds herself pregnant with gauche, ordinary Jamie's baby, so last night was really just a kind of sitcom artificial insemination. But the young actors play it nicely and the script has its moments. "I have to let the women come to me and slightly ignore them... like the horse whisperer," says Michael, whose confidence in his powers of seduction turns out to be wildly misplaced.

Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent, 24th February 2012

Pramface review

Pramface was a classier affair than the usual trip served up by BBC3 and although it wasn't always laugh-out-loud funny, an impressive cast could see it run and run.

Written by Rachel Tarley. Metro, 24th February 2012

In Pramface (BBC3) a potentially clunky premise - two teenagers' drunken sex at a party leads to a pregnancy neither is ready for - is saved by cunning casting and a funny script. Sean Verey as 16-year-old father-to-be Jamie has scarcely lost his puppy fat, while as 18-year-old mother-to-be Laura, Scarlett Alice Johnson looks and plays like a young Harriet Walter - as hard as nails in dealing with her convincingly useless parents (Angus Deayton and Anna Chancellor), yet as brittle as pressed flowers with everyone else. I loved Jamie's loser friend's hopeless sex playlist - 50 Cent followed by the Top Gear theme tune. Although Chris Reddy's plot is full of holes (would Laura, after discovering she's pregnant, really make her first phone call to the shag buddy whose face she can't recall?) there is enough in this too-much-too-young comedy's opening episode to justify a second date.

Stuart Jeffries, The Guardian, 23rd February 2012