British Comedy Guide

Press clippings

Sky 1 orders Trollied Series 6

Sky 1 has ordered a sixth series of supermarket comedy Trollied. Rufus Hound and Georgia May Foote join the cast.

British Comedy Guide, 30th August 2016

Laughs were provided by Sky One's Trollied, which returns for its third series. The joy of Trollied is that it has so many characters that the majority of the scenes only last a couple of minutes.

The main plot of this series seems to be the introduction of Richard France (Chris Geere), a strategist who is aiming to modernise Valco using the Warrington branch as his tester store. Obviously Richard's bold ideas, including his clothing choices, will inevitably clash with the more traditional views of manager Gavin (Jason Watkins) and his assistant manager Julie (Jane Horrocks).

Elsewhere, we are treated more to the tedious love story between butcher Kieran (Nick Blood) and checkout girl Katie (Chanel Creswell). It seems that the now divorced Kieran is in a depressive state while Katie has finally realised that he's the perfect man for her. Luckily this romantic story isn't dwelt upon too long and we get plenty from our favourite comic characters including head butcher Andy (Mark Addy) and senior citizen deli assistant Margaret (Rita May).

It is these established characters that get the best gags including the now romantically linked Colin (Carl Rice) and Lisa (Beverly Rudd) whose sexual exploits provide some of the funniest moments in the episode.

I'm still not quite sure what to make of weird fishmonger Ray (Adeel Akhtar) and his new apprentice Dave (Danny Kirrane) as I didn't find their characters to be fully-formed.

Ultimately not much has changed in the world of Trollied and I think I like it that way. The jokes are still as funny as ever while the performances from Watkins and Horrocks are great especially when we saw how proud Gavin and Julie were of their summertime display.

Though I don't think this will quite reach the heights of Season 2, due to the fact that Stephanie Beacham has now left the show, Trollied continues to be a funny sketch-like sitcom with plenty of well-rounded characters.

The Custard TV, 27th August 2013

This show may not major on belly laughs, or even seek them, but it's created a core of winning characters in the staff of Valco supermarket. This week Leyton, the gauche shelf stacker, takes it upon himself to alphabeticise the entire magazine section. Butcher Andy reveals an unexpected passion for Ian Botham, and Margaret has had her hair done for some silver surfing - her first Skype call to family in Canada.

But the focus is on lovelorn best mates Kieran and Kate (lovely understated performances from Nick Blood and Chanel Cresswell) when a shopfitter with a rat's tail hair extension comes between them.

Patrick Mulkern, Radio Times, 25th August 2011

It's The Office meets ASDA and it stars Jane Horrocks - as acting deputy manager Julie at Valco, a northern supermarket.

The art department has done a cracking job too - it looks absolutely bang-on, even though thanks to the magic of television, it was all filmed in a Bristol studio - in other words nowhere near "the north".

Plus it's full of left-over folk from Corrie - like Rita May who plays the very lovely and slightly dotty Margaret, who's got her very first job thanks to Valco's policy of employing older members of staff.

Mark Addy's in it too, behind the butcher counter and there's a nice Tim 'n' Dawn style romance between check-out girl Katie (Chanel Cresswell) and butcher's assistant Kieran (Nick Blood).

The second episode tonight is better than the first one, as the real assistant manager (another ex-Corrie star Rachel Leskovac) comes back to work to show everyone her new baby daughter.

She's popular, relaxed and genuinely well liked - all the things that bossy, ambitious Julie isn't, but would kill to be.

Actually, Jane Horrocks is the least good thing about this series - she's just not awful or deluded enough to be another David Brent, plus she's doing it all in a northern version of the posh voice she used in the Tesco ads.

For my money, the best characters are Sue and Linda (Lorraine Cheshire and Faye McKeever) - a buy-one-get-one-free double act who have some splendidly dirty jokes.

Jane Simon, The Mirror, 4th August 2011

Sky1's really started amping up its original content recently and the latest result is brand new comedy Trollied. Is this going to be the supermarkets' answer to The Office? It's hard to tell straight away, but the cast is certainly strong - the fabulously expressive Jane Horrocks takes her place alongside Mark Addy who, fresh from being a king on Game of Thrones, becomes a butcher who really knows his bacon. Jason Watkins, Chanel Cresswell and Nick Blood are among the other stars joining the lineup at budget store Valco, so settle in for a double bill (or, um, buy one, get one free) and we'll see if it gets us rolling in the aisles (it's got to do better than that pun, for sure).

Digital Spy, 31st July 2011

Share this page