James Walton

Mumbai Calling was a pilot for a new sitcom. At this stage, the sit seems promising - but, if there is to be a series, it'll need to work a lot harder on the com part.

Sanjeev Bhaskar plays Kenny Gupta - who, at the start of last night's show, was working in the accounts department of a Jewish family firm in London. (The Jewish element is presumably where Bhaskar's co-writers, Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran, come in.) But then the firm's patriarch, who clearly knew a thing or two about how to set up a traditional comedy plot, decided that his dim nephew and his glamorous but spoilt daughter should join Kenny in running the company's new call centre in Mumbai.

So far, the inevitable cultural clashes have been disappointingly, even lazily familiar. The daughter was surprised to discover that Mumbai is a big messy city instead of the spiritual India of her romantic imaginings. As a special treat, the dim nephew tried to serve the workers a beef dinner.

Both Mumbai and the call centre itself could yet make for an interesting and unusual sitcom setting. If so, however, the script will have to get to grips with it in a much more coherent, as well as a funnier way. At the moment, the result just feels like a slightly plodding drama with a few little (and entirely detachable) gags sprinkled on top.

James Walton, The Telegraph, 1st June 2007

Nevertheless, City Lights does achieve its basic (and basically noble) aim of being good fun to watch. The dialogue is sharp, the relationships between all the characters believable - and the cast uniformly strong. In particular, it's good to see Robson Green so obviously enjoying himself in the lead role.

James Walton, The Telegraph, 5th April 2007

Not only that, but Howie has recently been promoted to management - which means that Colin, normally the dominant one, has to put up with his old mucker being his boss. It also means the programme can throw an element of class politics that surely owes more to Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? than to modern British life.

James Walton, The Telegraph, 17th January 2006