Alex Scarfe

There appears to be an unwritten rule when it comes to animation in the UK that unless it's by Aardman, it'll be rubbish. Full English seems to obey this rule, which may explain why Channel 4 is airing it at 22.50.

The other reason of course being the crudeness of the humour. It's been described as the British Family Guy by some critics, which brings us to another unwritten rule on animation: if a British comedy's marketed as the British version of a successful American comedy, the British comedy will be rubbish in comparison. Again, Full English conforms.

The series centres on a "typical""British suburban family; put-upon father Edgar (Richard Ayoade), emo daughter Eve (Daisy Haggard), and horrid superrich father-in-law Ken (Oliver Maltman) who has an imaginary, gigantic, green friend called Squidge.

Full English doesn't seem to have one big problem but lots of little ones. The animation by Alex Scarfe (son of Gerald Scarfe) is very poor in terms of quality. The characters seem one dimensional (as opposed to their 2D visual portrayals).

But for me the worst is its attempts at satire. The plot of the first episode sees Eve go on Britain's Got Talent with her band, failing, but getting back on by pretending her parents are dead. How original. It's all the same, with Simon Cowell being a vicious git, contestants doing freakishly horrid acts, and others playing the sympathy vote. It's all been done before.

I'll concede there were some moments of laughter, mainly the more violent cartoonish sequences - like Squidge's attempts to hang himself, or the eldest son of the family hiding under the car, only to get badly hurt because he's so fat he gets terrible friction off the road as the car moves. But other than that I think that Full English hasn't got much going for it.

Ian Wolf, Giggle Beats, 19th November 2012

Comparisons to Family Guy will be inevitable with Full English, a new cartoon comedy series designed by Alex Scarfe (son of political cartoonist Gerald) and animated by Rough Draft, the California studio behind Seth MacFarlane's Emmy-winning hit. It even apes the signature cutaway gags. There's a decent voice cast, including Richard Ayoade and Kayvan Novak, but precious few laughs. The cultural references in this opener - the family's emo daughter Eve decides to enter Britain's Got Talent - are leaden, so if these are the big guns to draw people in, God help it.

Ben Arnold, The Guardian, 12th November 2012

This new cartoon series is Britain's answer to ]Family Guy.But if it looks slickly American that's because, although it was created by brothers Jack and Harry Williams and Alex Scarfe - son of cartoonist Gerald Scarfe and Jane Asher - the animation was done in LA at the studio responsible for Futurama, and The Simpsons Movie.

Be warned that Full English isn't for kids. It features animated sex plus some stuff about Nazis and disabled people that is offensive in ways I haven't even worked out yet. And one character's pursuit of The Queen could well spark another royal scandal. Simon Cowell probably won't be a fan either.

The voice work is by Richard Ayoade as dad Edgar, Rosie Cavaliero as wife Wendy and Fonejacker's Kayvan Novak as both of their sons.

The standout tonight is daughter Eve (voiced by Daisy Haggard), who auditions for Britain's Got Talent with hilariously predictable results. I'm not sure about the father-in-law and his imaginary friend, though. Is Britain ready for a large green balloon?

Jane Simon, The Mirror, 12th November 2012