83 reviews
This might not be to everyone's sense of humor but it had us laughing until our sides hurt! Haven't seen anything that funny for a long time - well done BBC.
- jane-chambers-77969
- Jan 1, 2020
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If you've watched mischief theatre before then you know the deal. Forgotten lines and dodgy scenery. This episode doesn't fail to deliver. Can only hope the next few episodes keep up the good work
- samlucas-20845
- Dec 24, 2019
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One of the funniest shows I have seen in years, slightly bizarre python like quality to it, my 77 year old mother and my 17 year old daughter equally find it hilarious, if fact the Christmas episode gave both my wife and daughter asthma attacks they were laughing so much!
Loved the Christmas episode - was great to have something lighthearted that we could enjoy as a family. Just watched the next episode and again a lighthearted funny programme we can enjoy with our 11 year old and all find entertaining
- joweston-42582
- Jan 2, 2020
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I don't think it's a spoiler, given the title of the show, to say that this a celebration of things going wrong. It's also a celebration of the cast's attempts to soldier on through it and try to make the best of it. The Christmas story itself is largely inconsequential as it's just a vehicle to cram in as much mayhem as possible. It occasionally feels like anti-Christmas (or an anti-Disneyfied version of Christmas) and is all the funnier because of it.
What's most impressive is the number of different ways that have been conceived for a production to go wrong. It feels like it's been distilled from Acorn Antiques, It'll Be Alright On The Night, the Alan Partridge Christmas Special, but with a flavour of its own too. It's so quickfire that you really need to watch it more than once to catch everything, and it's just as grimly funny the second and even third time around. An increasingly belligerent and cynical Santa ties the whole thing together beautifully, although it wouldn't be the same without a visibly frustrated elf, an invisibly frustrated elf, and a snowman that meets a bad end (how did that do that?)
Very much looking forward to the rest of this series.
What's most impressive is the number of different ways that have been conceived for a production to go wrong. It feels like it's been distilled from Acorn Antiques, It'll Be Alright On The Night, the Alan Partridge Christmas Special, but with a flavour of its own too. It's so quickfire that you really need to watch it more than once to catch everything, and it's just as grimly funny the second and even third time around. An increasingly belligerent and cynical Santa ties the whole thing together beautifully, although it wouldn't be the same without a visibly frustrated elf, an invisibly frustrated elf, and a snowman that meets a bad end (how did that do that?)
Very much looking forward to the rest of this series.
- geraldisrael32
- Jan 16, 2020
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- colin_mccooey
- Jan 2, 2020
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Love this show. Laugh out loud funny. Just seen the episode with the tiny court room. So inventive. More please!
Huge amounts of laughing at each episode, the writing, delivery and timing is absolutely perfect and the cast are exceptional. Original and brilliant.
- eddiethefish
- Jan 24, 2020
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- gareth-75442
- Jan 25, 2020
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This show is a refreshing change of pace and a fun way to spend a half hour. It is quite slapstick, so that has to be your cup of tea. Even if it isn't, give this a try. It might just surprise you by how much you enjoy it. But if you don't, that's okay too. Unlike many reviewers here I don't feel you have to agree with me or that makes you a "hater" or "stupid" as some have stated. We all have our own tastes and likes/dislikes. Doesn't make either side right or wrong. But give the show a try. If you like/love it, great! If not, there are plenty of other choices out there for you to enjoy.
- suego-49293
- Jul 2, 2021
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It's so good to see a BBC comedy which, while not an insult to the intelligence (Mrs Brown take note), is actually trying to make people laugh - and on prime time too! Daftness, slapstick, beautifully performed live stunts, and above all laughter. The trend for ditching studio audiences and laugh tracks has been a dead end - has led to a string of painfully up-themselves middle class memoirs posing as comedies. Because if you have a laugh track, you have to be at least a little bit funny or you just embarrass yourself - it keeps comedy honest.
To get postmodern audiences to accept this kind of material, though, the makers have framed the whole thing ironically: you're not laughing at what happens on the show so much, you're laughing at the show itself. The drawback is, there's no real story or characters to sustain your interest in the gags. Half an hour of this, therefore, is a lot. But it's definitely a step in the right direction, the first really hopeful sign from BBC1 comedy since Miranda - and that, as they recently reminded us, is now 10 years ago!
To get postmodern audiences to accept this kind of material, though, the makers have framed the whole thing ironically: you're not laughing at what happens on the show so much, you're laughing at the show itself. The drawback is, there's no real story or characters to sustain your interest in the gags. Half an hour of this, therefore, is a lot. But it's definitely a step in the right direction, the first really hopeful sign from BBC1 comedy since Miranda - and that, as they recently reminded us, is now 10 years ago!
- gilleliath
- Jan 10, 2020
- Permalink
Funny? It's the biggest load of rubbish known to man... Grown up kids playing dressing up in granny's old clobber, Boeing hell. They Must be paid for this cr@p...I've had funnier haemorrhoids. Now there's a pun!
- clarablossoms
- Jan 16, 2020
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Simply funniest thing on tv by a long stretch. Real laugh out loud funny.
- kirstenfarr
- Jan 26, 2020
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- atomrose-15659
- Jan 10, 2020
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Easy to watch and makes me laugh out loud. Having seen this group live they have done an excellent job bringing it to the small screen.
I first saw Their version of Peter Pan and almost died laughing. I saw the touring company of The Play That Goes Wrong love and just had a blast. Seeing it episodic form is epic!
England does the best physical, silly comedy on the planet!
England does the best physical, silly comedy on the planet!
- debdshaw60
- May 26, 2020
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I had the good fortune to see this on Broadway. I laughed so hard I had to go back and see it again, and I laughed just as hard the second time. Non-stop. I have to say that seeing it in person is even way more funny that the TV production, because there is a lot of audience participation in the play, and the scenery is such an integral part of the the "going wrong" that "feeling" it makes it even funnier than just "seeing" it. Nevertheless, the premise is hysterical on stage or on TV. A British mystery play where everything about the presentation goes wildly wrong. Scenic gimmicks like locked doors don't work right, stage crew keeps turning up visibly when they are not supposed to. In the stage production the entire set - predictably - falls completely apart at the end. The only production that actually literally made my sides hurt from laughing.
- mlbroberts
- Jan 30, 2021
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- edwards_dale
- Jan 30, 2020
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In our view - quite simply the funniest thing on telly - had us just weeping with the mirth of delight - THANK YOU !!!
Quite simply the funniest programme that has been on TV for a long time. It's brilliantly conceived and all of the actors execute everything to perfection. You have to marvel at how the actors make everything look as if it's complexly natural. I would definitely recommend going to see the stage show. When you see it being done live, it clearly demonstrates that there are no special effects involved. Absolute genius!
- stuartwilcox
- Mar 14, 2020
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I am a fan from the original 10/10 Peter Pan Goes Wrong the shoe leads of with another Christmas special and continues to amuse and entertain
However they are not all winners and some are by the standers of the original not good but you will laugh and smile so enjoy
This is for those out there who enjoyed Laurel and Hardy the Three and WB Tom and Jerry Buggs Bunny Daffy Duck etc you see it coming you laugh any way
It is slapstick silliness with fantastic timing and great actors/characters this is adult panto at its best
However they are not all winners and some are by the standers of the original not good but you will laugh and smile so enjoy
This is for those out there who enjoyed Laurel and Hardy the Three and WB Tom and Jerry Buggs Bunny Daffy Duck etc you see it coming you laugh any way
It is slapstick silliness with fantastic timing and great actors/characters this is adult panto at its best
This shouldn't even be on TV its that awful! Didn't laugh once at anything in this! Don't waste your time! It's so cringy!
- terrykelly-34512
- Sep 26, 2021
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Now the series is over, I'm finding myself bereft of tv programmes that will make me laugh like I did when I was a child. Genuinely side-splitting stuff on a weekly basis. The art of the over-performance is played perfectly by all...the pride that the "actors" take and the fact that not one of them corpses adds to the comedy immensely. Love it. Absolutely love it
- planet_hag
- Feb 5, 2020
- Permalink
This really is a gem of a program. Silly and stupid but also very very hard to do. Finally a comedy program that can be watched by all the family. We did from 15 to 86, Brilliant.