Blake Harrison

Assisted suicide as the subject for a sitcom? Well, it's different. Inbetweener Blake Harrison gives this dark comedy a human heart, taking the lead as well-meaning vet receptionist Scott. A medical school dropout, all he needs is an injection of cash so he can complete his studies. That is exactly what his terminally ill neighbour (Tom Georgeson) offers - in the form of a pair of George Best footie boots - in return for bumping him off. But to carry out his macabre mission, Scott needs a little help from his equally cash-strapped mates. With a machine called the McFlurry of Death, surely nothing can go wrong?

Scott's life is in freefall: his girlfriend has just left him, he's dropped out of studying medicine and has ended up in a dead end job as a receptionist in a veterinary practice. Then out of the blue his terminally ill neighbour comes to him with a favour - to help him commit suicide.

This black comedy aims to mine humour out of the darkest of circumstances and, in this first episode at least, it seems to have worked. Inbetweeners star Blake Harrison manages to deliver some edgy gags while still keeping hold of our sympathies. But as his ingenious suicide machine - nicknamed the "McFlurry of Death" - turns from a favour to a promising business proposal, will the series maintain its balance?

An opening scene in which a young woman panics about her dog shitting itself might lead you to some understandable conclusions. Namely, that Way to Go can join Coming of Age, Grown Ups and the rest on the giant trash heap of dreadful BBC Three sitcoms. But Bob Kushell's new series is a little more ambitious than that, probing and prodding for laughs - at a genuine taboo - with moderate success. Half-brothers Scott (Blake Harrison of Inbetweeners fame) and Joey (Ben Heathcote) recruit their oafish chum Cozzo (Marc 'Shirley Ghostman' Wootton) to build an assisted suicide machine when it becomes apparent that bumping off people who want it could be a lucrative business. Given the pitfalls, it's surprisingly ungratuitous, and both writing and performances are reasonably accomplished at this early stage. It remains on the watchlist, but we won't be sending this one to Dignitas just yet.

What The Inbetweeners did next...

Simon Bird, Joe Thomas, James Buckley and Blake Harrison have come a long way since they left Rudge Park Comprehensive behind.

Feels like they had the title first, then made a show around it. Scott (The Inbetweeners' Blake Harrison) works at an all-night vets, half-brother Joey is up to his eyes in gambling debt and their friend Cozzo (Marc Wootton) is a MacGyver-style vending machine repair man. In a far-fetched set-up, they go into business as clandestine suicide facilitators. It's a comedy, so it has to deal with the whole self-ending thing very lightly, which doesn't work at all. Harold & Maude balanced comedy and suicide perfectly but this can't make up its mind whether to laugh or cry. Quite uncomfortable.

US writer Bob Kushell has devised something absurd and very funny in this new black comedy about three men trying to set up an assisted suicide business. Circumstances force brothers Scott (Blake Harrison) and Joey (Ben Heathcote) and their friend Cozzo (Marc Wootton) into considering the drastic move: Scott has been asked by a terminally ill neighbour to help him kill himself on the promise of a pair of George Best's football boots, Joey has gambling debts and Cozzo's girlfriend is pregnant. Oh, and his experience of mending deep-fat fryers in takeaways means he has the know-how to build a suicide machine.

Blake Harrison: Suicide comedy is 'sensitive'

Best known as The Inbetweeners' Neil, Blake Harrison stars in Way To Go, BBC Three's new series about three guys who start an assisted suicide business. Here, he talks about difficult dilemmas and those Inbetweeners sequel rumours...

Blake Harrison interview

Blake Harrison plays medical school dropout and vet's receptionist Scott in BBC3's six-part black comedy Way To Go.

MP blasts BBC over new comedy series Way To Go

The BBC came under fire today for a new sitcom which makes light of assisted suicide. A new series starring Blake Harrison tells the story of three young men who build a suicide machine and offer the 'service' to those who wish to end their lives.

By "them" they mean those people, and by "that thing" they mean several different things, or programmes, that have been funny on Channel 4. They (the people) include Kayvan Novak (Fonejacker), Sally Phillips (Smack the Pony) and Blake Harrison (The Inbetweeners). But they were upstaged in Them from That Thing, a two-part sketch show with a hit-rate of, I'd say, about 40 per cent, by "proper" actors such as Simon Callow, Bill Patterson and Denis Lawson. The highlight: a libidinous Callow in a satin dressing gown receiving his order of one banana from a supermarket as a ruse to flirt with the delivery boy, saying: "I've been running short of these yellow bitches."