BBC Sitcom Season: review of the pilots

Some of comedy's hottest names have been busy working on new sitcom pilots for BBC iPlayer, airing in September, with the hope of these creative projects later being picked up for a television series.

Our Ex-Wife review

Of the three BBC Two sitcom pilots shown so far, Our Ex-Wife is our clear favourite, thanks in no small part to it being so inventive and having a lot of impact.

BBC Landmark Sitcom Season: the pilots review

In my last post I looked at three of the sitcom revivals that the BBC have produced but alongside these pieces, this new season also includes five new sitcom pilots. Over the next two weeks, all five of these shows will air and in this article I will pass judgement on them all.

Sitcom Season reviewed

If you are meant to leave the best until last, does that mean that you put your worst first? If that's the case, then the BBC is following that rule with its sitcom season.

Robert Webb and Victoria Hamilton play warring divorcees in this superbly performed, spectacularly grim one-off from former Simpsons writer Julie Thacker-Scully. Pitched almost entirely on one, weapons-grade emotional setting, with Webb screeching at Hamilton in full-on Linda Blair mode, this passes through black comedy into some kind of nihilistic death cult. Possibly cathartic for those going through separations, but deeply odd nonetheless.

This is a pilot and it's screamingly obvious. If this sitcom wants to be given a series then it needs to tidy itself up. There are scenes which are ridiculous, yet some comedy promise does lurk. With drastic nipping and tucking, it could work. Until that day, we're left with a bitterly divorced couple who fantasise about killing, slashing and decapitating one another. These scenes of daft cartoon violence are an embarrassing blot on what could be a good story.

Jack and Hilary are divorced but still loathe one another. Five years on, Jack (Robert Webb) is remarrying, this time to a sweet, naïve American woman, but he quakes at the thought of her meeting his ex. His fiancée soothes his fears and assures him: "Your ex-wife is my ex-wife" and Jack is forced to play nice and invite the "psychotic whore" to Sunday lunch.

Our Ex-Wife preview

For a while there was the concept that sitcom characters had to be sympathetic and relatable. Well, that idea's gone out of the window with Our Ex-Wife, a bitterly antagonistic new comedy being piloted as part of the BBC's Landmark Sitcom series.

TV preview: Our Ex-Wife, BBC2

Peep Show might be over but Robert Webb quickly returns to the sitcom fray in this one-off pilot as part of the Landmark Sitcom Season and there is plenty to enjoy here.