Sneakerhead

This short-lived sitcom/taster reminds me of Channel 4's "PhoneShop" from 2009, In fact when you look at the summary for that show on here you'll see."The antics of the dysfunctional staff of Sutton branch of a mobile phone retailer." Well you can swap out Sutton for Peterborough and mobile phone for sports outfitters and you have the same scenario but with far less interesting characters.

The only problem is that Phoneshop developed over 3 seasons, where this seems to have been canned before it had chance to improve the scripts and flesh out the rather vanilla characters.

Laughs are few and far between, and the show is standing around desperately looking for a spark of imagination and fresh humour.

Had it been given a few more episodes things could have really surprised and entertained us. As it is Sneakerhead is stuck in the traps constantly tripping over itself.

Great, well written characters, masterfully acted, and a real testimony to the classic British sitcoms. All you need is funny characters sitting at a boring job. Looking forward to watching the rest of it.

Another in an increasing list of sitcoms offered what is essentially an extended pilot scheme, three episodes of "Sneakerhead" appeared on Dave as part of their original programming drive. That these things seem to disappear without much enthusiasm isn't a great sign, but occasionally Dave have found a hit that's crossed over. That "Sneakerhead" would achieve this seems unlikely, but it's not awful.

Shoe obsessed and approaching middle age, Russell (Hugo Chegwin) is to old to be working at the Peterborough branch of Sports Depot. His girlfriend Clare (Alexa Davies) is acutely aware of this and is set to leave him until he's unexpectedly made manager of the branch. Though the rest of the eclectic team see this as a good move, bitter rival Jemma (Francesca Mills) begins a campaign to have him removed and her installed as his replacement.

"Not awful" is about the limit of the praise I'm prepared to put on "Sneakerhead". Starring, but not written by "People Just Do Nothing" performer Hugo Chegwin, the harshest criticism that you can point in it's direction is that it's not particularly original. I was mildly amused throughout, rather than finding it especially funny. I'd watch more, if more was ever forthcoming but it's nothing special.

As a fan of People Just Do Nothing and Peacock I absolutely loved this. I thought the characters and storyline were both excellent with so much potential to evolve further. The writing is very good, with regular laugh out loud moments (for me), and familiar nods to the Office through awkward situational comedy. Hugo carries the main story arch exceptionally well and Big Zuu is an absolute revelation as a comedy actor - very engaging on screen - convincing and funny. I really hope they commission more episodes of this - the first three were a brilliant start - enough to get me hooked - but just not enough - more please BBC!

Despite quite a lot of poor actors there are a lot of amusing characters (though somewhat stereotypical). When it comes to the poor actors, it's all good (you've gotta start somewhere) if, I'm saying IF, they have an ounce of character and/or charm. Big Zuu (or is it Zee?) has the acting chops of an eight-year old and the charm of your average pavement (side walk, yanks). Dropping him for the next series, along with the talented ones having a growthspurt, will lead to betterment. Amusing how a lot of details went into the trainers (sneakers for people who 'aks', 'innit' and seriously should move stateside), yet not so much into the casting of the likes of Zee. Who cares for talent, it's all about knowing someone in the industry, INNIT? -Embarrassing. Conclusion: Not bad, but could've been better.