Press clippings Page 42
Not so much comedy as watered-down drama, with David Mitchell as the British ambassador to fictional-stan Tazbekistan and Robert Webb as his deputy. In this first episode, the pair rescue an arrested human rights activist and try selling helicopters to the president. Worryingly, this seems like the sort of thing Alan Partridge might write and star in if given the chance, full of eccentric foreigners, eye-wateringly awkward banter and competent, judicious Brits abroad fancying themselves as slightly less violent Bond types.
Rachel Aroesti, The Guardian, 23rd October 2013Peep Show pair David Mitchell and Robert Webb are reunited in this three-part satire that takes a pop at the follies of diplomatic ducking and diving. It's set in the fictional nation of Tazbekistan, which reveres the ibex, bugs every conversation - earwigged by a pair of loafing operatives - and has a cool $2billion to spend on helicopters. Enter newly appointed British ambassador Keith Davis (Mitchell) and sage aide Neil Tilly (Webb) to make sure the contract goes our way - even if it means trampling over human rights to get there. Forget Ferrero Rocher, this duo do their wooing with Eccles cakes.
Carol Carter and Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, Metro, 23rd October 2013It's good to see David Mitchell and Robert Webb back together on television, though Ambassadors is more Graham Greene than it is Peep Show. There are some funny bits, but it's a drama with a light touch, rather than an out-and-out comedy. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as this is an engaging, even winning, hour. Mitchell is Keith Davis, Britain's new ambassador to Tazbekistan, a (fictional) central Asian country with a terrible human rights record. His highly capable deputy is Neil Tilly (Webb), a man with a private life that could turn out to be his downfall.
The well-meaning Davis has to secure a huge Tazbekistan order for British helicopters and hopes that a limp Best of Britain-themed party, including a one-man version of Frankenstein performed by a preposterously pretentious actor, might do the trick.
Alison Graham, Radio Times, 23rd October 2013Audio: David Mitchell hints at future Peep Show reunion
Although Peep Show is coming to an end after the ninth series, David Mitchell has hinted that all is not over yet.
Sam Walker, BBC News, 23rd October 2013Ambassadors, BBC Two, review
David Mitchell and Robert Webb bring to life this new comedy drama about the inner workings of the British embassy in a fictional Central Asian republic.
Jake Wallis Simons, The Telegraph, 23rd October 2013Great cast but unlikely to earn our lasting affections
No, sorry, it's not as funny as Peep Show, but Ambassadors, the new David Mitchell and Robert Webb collaboration, which began last night, isn't really meant to be.
Alice Jones, The Independent, 23rd October 2013Mitchell and Webb on Ambassadors
We interview the stars of BBC Two's comedy drama. Why does Robert Webb struggle to visit France? And why did David Mitchell ignore Eamonn Holmes at an airport?
Jack Seale, Radio Times, 23rd October 2013Mitchell & Webb: The funny old world of foreign affairs
David Mitchell and Robert Webb are back on our screens in a new BBC Two series, Ambassadors. Diplomacy is a rich source of such comic material, so it's surprising no one has tried to cover it before, they tell James Rampton.
James Rampton, The Independent, 22nd October 2013Being an ambassador's wife is not all luxury compounds
BBC TV's Ambassadors, starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb, tells one side of the story, but any diplomat's wife could tell the other.
Brigid Keenan, The Telegraph, 22nd October 2013David Mitchell: When Higson and I didn't have a row
How a manufactured 'spat' between two comedians recalls the so-called furore over the BBC's polar bears.
David Mitchell, The Observer, 13th October 2013