Phoo Action

I was lucky enough to be working at the Dakota Hotel in Motherwell where they filmed the room scenes. Met Jamie Winston in character which was pretty cool.

First things first - this is a silly show. It's full of lots of comic and film references, and the plot makes the Adam West series of Batman look gritty. But allusions to CBBC simply aren't fair - while it retains a lighthearted, fast paced cartoon style, the show is packed with in-jokes that require the viewer to know a thing or two about the genres it parodies.

It isn't elitist - you can probably enjoy the show without grasping the references - but I think it's fair to say the reviewer who felt it best suited to children's television hadn't picked them up.

As has been mentioned, it helps if you've read "Get the Freebies" and "Tankgirl" in particular, but there's loads on offer here even if you haven't.

It is 2012 and London is in chaos. When the Queen is assassinated by an unknown mutant, Police Chief Benson is put in the hot seat and really has no time for the juvenile actions of his daughter Whitey. Benson calls in help in the form of highly-regarded but relatively fresh Terry Phoo to lead up the investigation and help protect Princes William and Harry from attack. Meanwhile Whitey feels that her father is overlooking the most obvious suspect (mutant Jimmy Freebie) just because he happens to be a celebrity.

Based on the Jamie Hewlett strip "Get the Freebies" in The Face (which I have never read), this one-off special was part of the big relaunch on "youf" digital station BBC3. Never a fan of BBC3, The Mighty Boosh had recently convinced me that maybe there are nuggets of gold among all the sh1t and from the coverage in the Guardian and Times at the weekend, I thought Phoo Action might be one of them. Apparently the strip was a rally against the celebrity culture that was rising in the 1990's (and has only gotten worse since). In a way the film does have this but it is a very small part of the rather "wacky" comic strip shenanigans which make up the majority of it.

It will appeal mostly to those viewers who watched Tank Girl but bemoaned it for losing the anarchic spirit of the strip. Personally I don't mind what it does as long as it is well done and in this regard I must confess that Phoo Action didn't totally work for me. The problem was that it was all a bit too silly and didn't have enough intelligence evident to make it stand up as more than what it appears to be on the surface. Of course it is hard to totally move away from the silliness when your main villain has a basketball for a head while her heroes are a girl who can pull anything from her hotpants and fights alongside a gay kung fu expert. Sadly the budget also prevents it being as cool as it could have done, which also exposes the lack of cutting edge in it as well.

This is not to say it is without charm because it does have a rough creative edge to it that I enjoyed. The design of it is suitably irreverent and it does suit the roots while the cast do well. I had never seen Jamie Winstone in anything but I thought she suited this – not pretty enough to be accused of being eye-candy but not so tough that we lose the fact she is a girl – basically just what this sort of character needs. Shin is lighter as Phoo but he is still good value and I would be interested to see what he did with more of a series and development in his role. Weathers is a bit of a coup for the film and by his very presence he buys it cool points. The mutants are a bit too "costume-y" for me to take totally seriously but again I suppose it is part of the appeal to fans.

Overall then a fun little film but for my money it had too much zany silliness and not enough intelligence or comment. As an one-off it is forgivable though for delivering how it wants to be deliver (although this is not totally a good thing) and I would be interested to see what a short series off the back of this would bring out and produce.

I got the distinct impression all throughout this bizarre production that the odd expletive, use of guns, repeated references to alcohol, and a few suggestive shots of Whitey were all that stood between this and a slot on children's television.

I'd have rated this with a single star if it hadn't been for the fact that I actually did chuckle once or twice, and that various tight-top/crotch shots and wardrobe transitions qualified Whitey for at least a walk-on part in the next Carry On movie. I've given one star per chuckle.

There is a four-letter description for the plot, dialogue, production value, and writing of Phoo Action: CBBC.

Mildly titillating, but out-weighed by the insulting implication that the BBC is spending my license fee on productions aimed at intellectually-underdeveloped adults. There's certainly a little too much bad language for this to be aimed at children who should already be in bed...

Despite a minuscule budget, "Phoo Action" has great ambition. However, even talented director Euros Lyn can't quite save this pilot from failure.

Colourful, crass and overlong, "Phoo Action" has more misses than hits. Based on the comic strip "Get The Freebies", the show retains the feel of a graphic novel but lacks polish.

Jaime Winstone and Talulah Riley act as eye candy but it's all a little too contrived and not convincing.

The highpoint of the show is seeing Carl Weathers again.

6 out of 10. Incidentally, a 6 part series has been commissioned for next year. Hopefully, the creases of the pilot will be ironed out of the series.