Preview: Prevenge

Featuring a cast primarily made up of TVO regulars, and with Alice Lowe writing and directing as well as leading that incredible cast, we were naturally very keen to see it. Our editor, Paul Holmes, shares his thoughts below...

Murder in Successville, review

The show's format has the potential to get stale quite quickly. But it still feels like it's at the sharper end of comedy's cutting edge.

Preview: Murder In Successville, BBC3

There is certainly a lot of improvisation about at the moment. We reviewed this yesterday and there is this show at the Soho Theatre. But there is nothing quite like BBC Three's Murder In Successville, which features real celebrities winging it to crack a fictional killing alongside comedians playing it for laughs.

Tom Davis interview

I couldn't turn down the chance to speak to the very talented Tom Davis again to find out more about making the second series, what this year's celebrities were like and why it's the best job he's ever had. Here's what he had to say...

How the most complicated comedy on TV made it big

It crosses a cop show with reality TV and the lead doesn't have a clue what's going on. So why are stars like Paul Whitehouse desperate to get involved?

Meet the new inhabitants of Successville

To celebrate, the good folk at Tiger Aspect have let us in on a little more about this year's murder victims and the suspects, who is playing who, and exactly when you'll be able to see them... plus a set of exclusive images across this post of most of our regulars in action. You'll probably notice there's a distinct lack of Paul Kaye in this images, but more on that one soon... until then, here's a run-down of each episode!

Jo Brand continues her rewarding relationship with naturalistic comedy in this drily enjoyable series revealing more of the life of Kim Wilde, the care assistant first seen in [z]BBC4/z]'s Getting On. Jackie and Kim are facing up to having to pay £875 a week for their mum's care following her stroke. Husband Dave (Omid Djalili), meanwhile, must contend with a bilingual satnav, and "helpful" suggestions from his co-worker Terry (the very funny Tom Davis).

Jo Brand returns as former nurse Kim Wilde in Going Forward, who has now left the NHS and is currently working as a carer for the fictional Buccaneer 2000. Going Forward, which is set over three consecutive days, also follows the rest of the Wilde family most notably Kim's husband Dave (Omid Djalili) who works as a driver for a private hire company. The majority of this first episode, which is co-written by Brand and Getting On producer Geoff Atkinson, splits its time equally between watching Kim at work and seeing Dave's rather inane conversations with his colleague Terry (Tom Davis). Going Foward also introduces us to the Wilde children; teenage father Max (Ben Colbert) and high achieving schoolgirl Kelly (Imogen Byron), neither of whom have a lot to do in this first episode. Whilst I wasn't expecting Going Forward ever to live up to the standard of the flawless Getting On I wasn't expecting to be as disappointed as I was. I think the problem with having the character of Kim anchoring this series is that she sort of the straight man of the central trio in Getting On. Having her headline the show means that the more overt comedy has to be provided elsewhere as it was in Getting On thanks to Jo Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine's performances. However the characters of Den and Pippa are essentially replaced by Dave and Terry who are two men that I didn't really care for all that much. Their conversations about former colleagues who've done well and the positives of working in Iraq weren't that funny and outstayed their welcome very quickly. Atkinson and Brand also weren't sure if they wanted Going Forward to continue in the same observational vein as Getting On or being a more out-and-out sitcom. This a led to a very awkward scene in which Kim, Dave and Max were squeezed into his work car with one of his clients alongside one of her regulars and his dog. This scene typified to me everything that was wrong with Going Forward; a programme that did have moments of genuine promise. Most of these moments were those which saw Kim caring for the older patients and were those that were the most reminiscent of Getting On. For example the scene in which Kim helped one old lady write a birthday card for her son was both realistic and incredibly touching. Brand is also on form once again as a performer however I found her and Atkinson's writing a little inconsistent which was the main problem with Going Forward. That being said I will be going forward with Going Forward primarily due to my love of both Jo Brand and the character of Kim Wilde.