Going Forward: serious comedy, just don't expect laughs

So it's not that funny, for a comedy. But it is sharply observed, nicely performed, with credible dialogue, some of which is surely improvised. The days when sitcom meant a door opening, someone walking in and delivering a one-line, then pausing for the canned laughter, are nearly over, thankfully. Plus it captures a hellish world where people come second to profit, a world of care that doesn't care. And it will strike a chord with - or maybe send a shudder through - anyone who has ever worried about money, or has or will have elderly relatives who need or will need help. Everyone, in other words.

Review: Going Forward, BBC4

There are only three episodes in this run, which is a shame. Brand has become one of the highest profile comedians in the country in recent years and she is doing something here that is both relevant and funny. If Ken Loach made sitcoms they might be something like Going Forward.

Going Forward: Jo Brand shines but sitcom needs nursing

This was another comedy about broken Britain, but focusing not on those who toil inside a knackered state institution but the wider social fabric, privatised to buggery but somehow doddering on. Homelier and gentler and patchier than Getting On, it somehow lacks its asperity but also its poetry.

The return of a wilfully stupid format, which asks comedians to relate tales of yore while plastered. Other performers then star in scenes reflecting exactly what the soused comic has said, lip-syncing to any dialogue. It's a way to make improvised comedy less reliable. Not much comes of Jack Whitehall and Michelle Keegan as Walter Raleigh and Elizabeth I, but Robin Hood and Maid Marian, played by Mathew Baynton and Emma Bunton to the blazingly profane imaginings of Tom Davis, is sensational.

Will Successville be back for a second series?

Murder in Successville star Tom Davis has revealed he wants David and Victoria Beckham to guest on a second series.

Episode four of the homicide-themed comedy with an improv edge. Each week, DI Sleet (Tom Davis) investigates crimes perpetrated by phony celebrities, with the help of a real-life famous face. This week it's Dermot O'Leary, who must decide who was responsible for the death of "Amanda Holden" and the kidnap of "Mayor Simon Cowell": care home proprietor "Miley Cyrus", sweet shop magnate "Alan Sugar" or "Jessie J", apparently a martial arts champ. Complete and utter nonsense, cleverly done.

It's going to take more than a conceptual BBC Three comedy to faze Deborah Meaden. Squinting at DI Sleet (Tom Davis) like he's a particularly careless inventor, the Dragon soon overcomes both the show's premise and a colossal height difference to take control. Who lethally doctored Lady Gaga's soup? As the investigation charges on, Sleet shouts at Boris Johnson, rubs himself against Cheryl Fernandez-Versini and nearly goes all the way with a half-dead Nicki Minaj. Meaden plays her disdain brilliantly straight.

In some respects, Murder in Successville reminds me of a sort of Beadle's About programme in which a number of celebrities becoming the unwitting foil to the fictional DI Sleet (Tom Davis). Sleet is a detective in the fictional town of Successville; which is populated by a group of famous faces none of whom act how they do in the public eye. The fact that a group of impressionists populate the show also makes it feel akin to a comedy show such as Stella Street or Dead Ringers. The problem is that, unlike those two programmes, none of the impressions in Murder in Successville are particularly accurate. Whilst I suppose this is meant to aid the comedy not one of the supporting cast members impressed me in the least bit. The lack of any decent impressions would lead me to believe that Murder in Successville is attempting to spoof both celebrity culture and the cop show in general. Unfortunately, I didn't find that there was one laugh during Murder in Successville's first half hour in which Made in Chelsea non-entity Jamie Lang is paired up with Sleet. In fact I found Lang incredibly annoying as he employed a bout of nervous laughter as the situations he experienced became more bizarre. Only Davis' deadpan performance as the Sam Spade-esque Sleet was worthy of praise as he at least tried to pull of the spoof element of the show. Murder in Successville built up to Lang attempting to solve the murder of Bruno Torlioni by shooting the person he thought was responsible for the crime. Due to this conclusion, Murder in Successville felt like one of those murder mystery weekends which I'm sure Lang and his Chelsea pals have been on in the past. However, aside from Davis' performance, I haven't got one positive thing to say about Murder in Successville as I found it be a programme that never really knew what it wanted to be.

Tom Davis on Murder in Successville

We're very excited, and in the middle of an almighty press campaign, we quickly caught up with the busiest man of the moment, Tom Davis, to find out more.