When bad sitcoms turn good

Every time a new series of Benidorm starts I watch the first episode. I like to have an open mind and I like to think that maybe this time it'll become my favourite show. But no it doesn't. Rigid? Me? But in the last week there have been a couple of sitcoms where I've had to do a critical u-turn.

Why's BBC making its best comedy so difficult to watch?

Increasingly, the BBC's most daring comedies like The Young Offenders and This Country, are tucked away, while critically unsavoury shows like Mrs Brown's Boys and recent John Cleese vehicle Hold the Sunset get top billing, both in the schedules and on iPlayer.

Cork joins Irish comedy boom with Young Offenders

The cast and writers of The Young Offenders have said that they insisted the show remain true to its Cork roots when it was picked by by the BBC.

The Young Offenders review

Interestingly, a homoerotic undertone is more than hinted at: the love the two scallies have for each other almost made explicit.

I'm always willing to give BBC Three comedy a try because occasionally it leads to discoveries of hidden gems such as the wonderful This Country. Like This Country, The Young Offenders is another low-budget piece focusing on a couple of youngsters who are presented as outcasts from society. Based on the film of the same name, The Young Offenders focuses on Irish teenagers Conor MacSweeney (Alex Murphy) and Jock O'Keefe (Chris Walley). This first episode is essentially an introduction to the characters, their world and the relationship that the pair share. It's clear that Conor is the smaller, smarter and less confident of the pair whilst Jock acts as his protector which is evidenced in an opening scene where he gets revenge against a bully whose stolen his friend's phone. The main focus of the plot is on the pair being put in the frame for a theft and facing the ire of their unpopular headmaster after they form a romantic attachment with his daughters. The episode also introduces Conor's fiercely protective mother Mairead (Hilary Rose) who, in one of the episode's funnier scenes, provides the boys with a flimsy alibi. As a sitcom, The Young Offenders didn't particularly make me laugh with most of the gags being fairly basic and not provoking anything more than a titter. But at the same time, the programme wasn't without its charm thanks in part to the two leads whose winning chemistry kept me watching the show. Murphy and Walley certainly understand their characters and their partnership is believable throughout even in the episode's more far-fetched moments. Furthermore, I appreciated the sentiment behind the episode; friends will always try to look like each other as that's a way of showing how much the other person means to them. However, I hope that now that the world has been established, the writing team behind The Young Offenders can focus on making it funnier as there's only so many episodes of a sitcom I can watch without it making me laugh. However, I would recommend you at least check out the opener of The Young Offenders on BBC Three as it's a show that has its heart in the right place and one that contains a believable chemistry between Murphy and Walley.

Review: The Young Offenders

A series that oozes bags of energy and charm. The chemistry between the co-stars helps too.

Young Offenders could be BBC's answer to Derry Girls

Hot on the heels of Channel 4's smash-hit Derry Girls, this week sees the release of the BBC's own teenage Irish comedy series, The Young Offenders.

BBC are about to launch a TV show based on cult classic

If you're looking for something to lift your spirits this January, the BBC has just the thing because they're about to launch a TV show that's based on Peter Foott's cult-classic, The Young Offenders.