British Comedy Guide

Comedy Playhouse 2014: Miller's Mountain

The second of three pilots as part of the BBC's new 2014 Comedy Playhouse strand.

Well, not impressed with the audiences laughter. Sounds abit fake, in the trailer!

I was really glad I stayed up for that. I thought it was rather good, hilarious in parts. It had a real Scottish feel to it but I would definitely watch a series of it.

Me too. Lots of promise. Ripe to be commissioned for a series IMO.

I ruddy well loved every second of it. Laughed and laughed. I'm disappointed that it's not already a full series, I want more.

Can't really decide about this one. On the one hand it seemed a curiously outdated sitcom in the old Rab C Nesbitt/ Still Game mould, portraying all Scots as alcoholic, kilt-wearing eccentric stereotypes.

On the other hand there were one or two good lines, the characters were distinct enough to have their own personalities and there are enough potential scenarios to make a series.

I thought this was pretty awful and fairly indicative of what John Lloyd has recently been saying about the BBC's approach to comedy. The main problem for me was that I didn't laugh once and that's a massive fail in terms of comedy. I did quite like the three legged stag visual gag, but the rest of the gags felt tired and predictable.

Conor and Bill felt like fairly shallow creations which needed a bit more depth, so I got fairly sick of them pretty quick. Jules had a bit more to her character, but most of her dialogue was rather cliched sniping at Jimmy. He, of course, was the most interesting character and some time had gone into sketching him.

I found the feel of the show a bit odd - at times it seemed fairly tame and family friendly, then other times some bad language and gore. I'd read in several previews that it was a bit 'Father Ted', but I couldn't see any resemblance.

The only real highlights for me were the performances of Sharon Rooney and, in particular, Jimmy Chisholm. I took a quick look on social media last night and audience reaction seemed to be split between "waste of license payer's money" and "hilarious", so seems fairly mixed.

Overall, I wasn't keen and wouldn't be interested in seeing any more.

I can see how this has been compared to Father Ted. I think with a show like this, silly to the extreme, the characters almost need to 2D and stereotypical, especially in early episodes. I'd watch if it was a series

Just watched this and laughed outloud throughout most of it.

I would definitely watch it if it was a series, although I can't really see where the tension will come from unless the rival rescue team featured more.

I can't really see at this early stage what the role of the young teacher is. He is not a Dougal type stupid character or an anal Rimmer type.

Overall a very good pilot.

Just read the online reviews for this which were unfairly harsh in my opinion.

Nice to see this get a series. Looking forward to it.

Glad to hear it's got a series.

I thought it was the strongest of the 3 that were showcased.

Although it was hit & miss at times, I reckoned it had a lot of potential and could develop into something good with the benefit of a series.

The Northern Irish bloke was a gem and the show is well worth watching just for him alone.

This was the one I missed. Have to look to see if it;s still viewable.

Does this indicate that the other 2 pilots won't be given series?

Quote: Nick @ 27th August 2014, 12:39 PM BST

Does this indicate that the other 2 pilots won't be given series?

Monks is already known to be dead but no, it just means that this one has.

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