The Outlaws review

Slapstick gags, sex, violence... this Merchant caper is a mess.

It's not every day you get to see Christopher Walken ambling about a community project in Bristol. What next: Joe Pesci chugging in Birmingham's Bullring? New BBC One six-part dramedy The Outlaws, starring, co-written and directed by Bristolian Stephen Merchant (The Office; Extras; Hello Ladies), certainly hasn't stinted on casting: Dolly Wells, Clare Perkins, Eleanor Tomlinson, Darren Boyd, Gamba Cole, with Claes Bang and Richard E Grant to come. The premise is that seven small-fry lawbreakers are thrown together to renovate a building as community service in Bristol. So far, so aged-up, earthbound Misfits. Rani, "studious Asian good girl" turned shoplifter, played by Rhianne Barreto, observes: "Everyone's a type: rightwing blowhard, leftwing militant, celebutante, shifty old timer." There's also Merchant as a dweeb solicitor, and Jessica Gunning as an officious overseer, who is inevitably reminiscent of Gareth from The Office, with an added soupçon of civic authority.

I'd wondered if Walken's Hollywood star power would swamp things, but in the overstuffed opener his rogue barely gets a look-in. While some jokes worked, others didn't: one about "working harder than a prostitute with two mattresses" was Jeremy Clarkson-worthy (and no, making it come out of Walken's mouth doesn't make it any funnier). When another (unconnected) sex worker theme pops up in the second episode (both are available), it starts feeling borderline creepy.

Merchant has forged his own path since working with Ricky Gervais, but in The Outlaws opener, too many genres are crudely bolted together: comedy, crime, heartwarming drama, a bizarre segue into gangland Top Boy territory. The second episode, though, is a significant (funnier, tighter) improvement. I'll be sticking around, not least for Walken's Transylvanian mini-break of a face incongruously bobbing around the Bristol environs.

The Outlaws review

Christopher Walken runs riot in brilliantly silly crime comedy.

The Outlaws review

Christopher Walken does community service in slightly naff misfit comedy.

The Outlaws review

Star-studded Stephen Merchant series is Walken in a cringe comedy wonderland.

Back, episode 6 review: deserves a second series

Even if you like your comedy dark, Back (Channel 4) can still leave you reeling. Starring Peep Show's David Mitchell and Robert Webb, the six-part series has explored childhood trauma, jealousy, small-town anxiety and, above all, self-loathing. Fortunately, it is also very, very funny.

The first run of Inside No. 9's collection of short stories was met with much acclaim especially for the dialogue-free A Quiet Night In. This week's episode, La Couchette, didn't really have the same special edge to it but did at least have its moments.

Set in carriage number nine of a sleeper train going through Paris, the story introduced us to a number of characters who were all forced into a small space together. They included a doctor who was about to give a speech to the WHO (Shearsmith), a flatulent German (Pemberton), an Australian backpacker (Jessica Gunning), a posh stowaway (Jack Whitehall) and a couple on the way to their daughter's wedding (Mark Benton and Julie Hesmondhalgh). The twist in the tale here was that, about half way through the piece, the passengers realised that one of their number was dead.

Pemberton and Shearsmith's script then took a darker turn as the characters decided whether to risk stopping the train or inform the authorities once they'd reached their destination.

I've personally always been a fan of Shearsmith and Pemberton's work and I thought La Couchette definitely had some merit. I felt that every character was well-realised and that there was some genuine moments of fine observational humour especially in regards Benton and Hesmondhalgh's characters. The story also contained an ending I didn't see coming and it left me with the icy feeling I often get after watching a Pemberton and Shearsmith piece. On the other hand I wasn't a fan of the toilet humour employed by Pemberton's character and I thought that Jack Whitehall added little to the episode overall.

Radio Times review

I've been rubbing my hands in glee at the return of this superb anthology series written by and starring Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith - my modern comedy heroes. I also like to picture Julie Hesmondhalgh secretly dancing a jig that she let Corrie's Hayley die, thus freeing herself up for some cracking roles: Henry's forbearing sister Cleo in Cucumber and now a chance to play in a comedy of manners, bunked up in a confined space with this bunch.

As before, the shtick each week is to tell a new short-story set inside a location numbered nine. Here it's a couchette on a TGV hurtling across Europe. Mark Benton plays her amiable hubby, while Jessica Gunning (from Pride and That Day We Sang) plays an Aussie backpacker, who hasn't had a scrub round in days but still gets it on with a toff freeloader (Jack Whitehall).

Shearsmith and Pemberton give a mini-masterclass as an uptight, sleep-deprived prof and a German stoked up on Bier und Bratwurst. Only they could get such mileage out of flatulence in 2015. It's hilarious, sharply observed - and of course there's more than a sting in the tail.

Those masters of the dark arts, the former League Of Gentlemen co-stars Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton, return with a second instalment of their deliciously macabre shorts, the first series of which won best comedy performance at the Royal Television Society awards last week.
Like a Tales Of The Unexpected for the 21st century, each perfectly formed 30 minutes offers a masterclass in storytelling: witty, imaginative, inventive and suspenseful - with a clever twist at the end for good measure.
The six tales are linked by the number nine and in the opening episode, La Couchette, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Mark Benton, Jessica Gunning and Jack Whitehall join Pemberton and Shearsmith on board the sleeper train from Paris to Bourg-Saint-Maurice. They're a motley collection trying to get a quiet night's sleep as the train makes its way across France, but as the sleeping compartment fills up, the chances of that begin to look highly unlikely...
The setting for future episodes include a séance in the grand Victorian villa, a modern-day family get-together, a 17th-century village witch trial and a volunteer call centre, with Alison Steadman, Claire Skinner, Jane Horrocks, Paul Kaye and Tom Riley among the cast. Special mention must go to Sheridan Smith, however, for her performance in next week's offering, The 12 Days Of Christine, a powerful, moving story of one woman's rocky journey through life. It is an absolute gem, one of the best things I have seen on television this year.