Watson & Oliver

I just started watching this on BBC2 and I can't watch any more. I really can't. It's so pathetic and annoyingly unfunny. Watson and Oliver are the BBC's latest comedy 'find' and I wish they'd left them where they found them. This is so derivative it's embarrassing. It's like they watched the last series of French and Saunders (the totally shameless, doing-it-for-the-money, unfunny one where Dawn and Jennifer were both past it) and decided to copy it lock, stock and barrel. Throw in a bit of Catherine Tate, some Julie Walters (Ms Walters please sue) and copious amounts of truly irritating canned laughter and - hey presto - a crap series by two Z grade comedians.

What's on? Watson and Oliver. My advice is to switch off.

As a female duo, Watson and Oliver will naturally invite comparisons with French and Saunders. It's unfair to compare it to such a prolific sketch show and W&O has many, many funny moments. It strikes me as a little odd when a sketch show this new, made by relative newcomers, is slated for not being comparable to the greatest British female comedy double act of all time. It's true that some of their ideas are supposedly "recycled", however, this is the case with most comedians and sketch shows and very often the old ideas are the best. As well as that, if you don't find any of their facial expressions amusing on some level, then you can be considered officially without a soul.

If Watson and Oliver want to be the new French and Saunders they've failed. They're more like the new Horne and Corden. Yes it really is that bad.

The problem is one that seems to exist in most modern British comedy series, especially on the BBC. There's a belief that silly voices, wigs, repetitive catch phrases and absurdity is inherently funny. It's not.

There is no subtlety in the writing or the performances. People deliberately being inept or stupid isn't funny. People with delusions of grandeur who fail are more likely to be. Watson and Oliver feels like watching kids playing dress up. It's not a performance, it's just showing off.

It's a pity because there isn't enough female comedy on TV. Watson is a good presenter and Oliver is a decent actress but they're not a comedy double act that anyone is going to warm to. They're too much like Hazell and Pepperdine when they should be Morecambe and Wise.

Sketch comedy as performed by W.& O. (or any female duo) will inevitably invite comparison with French and Saunders who set a particularly high bar for both sexes in the eighties. I am not starved for an understanding of UK comedy as I grew up on DNAYS, Python, M&W, Ronnies, Perrin, Fawlty et al, through Comic Strip, Young Ones, F&S, Blackadder to Spaced, Ted, Office and Black Books. In the US, sketch comedy is pretty much relegated to SNL, Kids TV or Animation so both seasons of W.& O. were really refreshing.

My entire family and I have really enjoyed this show having just caught the first season by chance and watched in its entirety one evening. Steeped in the traditions of the seventies, it lifted our spirits and genuinely made us laugh. Some gags occasionally missed their mark but everything was solid and well written and carried by a sense of conviction from both comedians and cast.

The second season we watched weekly and it retained the high-standard of tightly written sketches and seemed more polished. Should they not get renewed for a third season I believe we will see more of them as they have considerable acting abilities.

Give it a go!

Some of the reviewers were savage about Watson & Oliver. 'Oxbridge', 'canned laughter', 'derivative'. You can attach those labels to about 80% of BBC 2 comedy over the years. But the acting was great and Lorna and Ingrid had a nice chemistry. Not many double acts cut their teeth by filling that mid evening mainstream sketch show slot. The big problem you have is 'watershed' weakness. Most new comedy acts go late on Channel 4 or 5 and pack the sketches with rude, sweary-Mary arse jokes which pull in the student/pub/fringe set. The other extreme is trying to be cerebral and building an audience on BBC R4. This in some ways did neither.

Miranda got around this problem with a sit com and I think this might be where Watson & Oliver could succeed in the future. Loved the fighting women, the Police car sketches, Mad Men and the 30s eyebrow sketch. Other sketches (French resistance) ran on far too long and yes, the canned laughter was a mistake. So rather than Watson & Oliver I think some editorial issues at fault.

Not many new double acts would impress doing this mainstream stuff. Audiences are primed now for either sassy Ianucci style satire or wise-alec panel shows hosted by Brydon/O'Briain.

They need a better platform. Maybe a later edgier slot.