Pompidou

The fundamental flaw in this show is that we're told 'Pompidou' is supposed to be likable - he isn't. That's fatal. No caring for the protagonist is such a shame as Lucas can do better, indeed has done better. Second character 'Hove' is a thin foil, not a Jeeves. A great comic actor (see 'Julius' from 'The Thick of It'), underused. The whole show feels like Lucas trying to recover from the wilderness after some borderline racism in 'Come Fly With Me'. This isn't the vehicle for that. Maybe it'll sell in international markets like 'Bean', but Lucas is no Atkinson, sadly. Atkinson throws it all behind physical comedy, Lucas apparently doesn't have as much natural comedic instinct to throw behind Pompidou. 3/10 - those three are for the excellent dog puppet. It lit up the screen, and was more likable and developed as a character than either of the humans.

I'm such a huge fan of Matt Lucas, his work in Little Britain & Come Fly With Me were admirable. He portrayed a wide diverse range of characters and if you've ever watched his work you'll agree he's very good at it.

However what is clear from Episode 1: 'Hunger' is that take away the vocal side of Matt and your left with not an awful lot. I watched the first episode in its entirety to see if it progressively got better but it amounted to nothing, psychical comedy is clearly not Matt's forte.

I understand this won't be his usual work given the pre-watershed time schedule therefore it cannot be crude or dark humour, but there is a reason why most comedians don't do silent comedy, because they don't have watch it takes to be a psychical comedian, Rowan Atkinson portrayed Mr. Bean amazingly and I'm afraid that level of genius is far out of Matt Lucas's reach with this new work of his.

I'll probably continue to watch the series in its entirety due to my admiration of Matt, but feel he has belittled himself with such a shoddy idea for a show, I'm sure he could of thought of something more intriguing that this.

4 episodes in and Wow… talk about dross TV.

There is only one good element to this show and that's the puppet dog. The dog is the creation of the people that helped to make another BBC show called 'Mongrels' (epic win). To watch Pompidou just to enjoy the puppet character Marion though would be like; eating crap just to enjoy a piece of sweet corn.

BBC Controller of Comedy Commissioning Shane Allen said: "The concept is wonderfully imaginative, the writing hugely inventive and it's the perfect vehicle for Matt – one of a handful of performers in the whole world who could pull this off."

Well.. it isn't, it isn't, it may well be and he couldn't. The "writers" last "wrote" for Chucklevision BTW.

Danny Cohen should have stopped this sham… was he on holiday?

I'm really struggling to see what went through anyone's mind when this was commissioned, or allowed to air. Maybe the powers-that-be thought that if they didn't get it, then it must be edgy or good, or clever, or all three.

It isn't.

It isn't funny either.

This is why pilots exist. Make one, try it out on an audience, see what they think (although, honestly, it should never have got that far, the editor should have saved the rest of us the pain and wiped all the media before it left the edit suite).

Please, don't bother. I watched this so you don't have to.

Well, I think the review before this one was pretty unfair. This is a classic British comedy after the pattern of Monty Python and Mr. Bean, except that it really pushes the boundaries of normal TV. At first watching, it is a little hard to believe what you are seeing, but I think that is a good thing for a medium that is normally so totally absorbed with ratings and making money. It is a worthwhile effort, and despite its strangeness, gave us some good laughs. Relatively poor reviews will probably mean that these six episodes are all we will ever see of this, but I hope the BBC keeps whatever commitment it has to this sort of original programming.