Chris Morris (I)

New Statesman Review

These late-night stories echo the bleak humour of Chris Morris.

Off The Telly Series 2 Review

It remains to be seen how the series will fare without Chris Morris, he's clearly going to be missing out on a lot of fun. The audience, meanwhile, aren't. The IT Crowd has gone beyond the novelty value of being a breath of comedic fresh air, and is establishing itself - or in fact probably already has - as a great series in its own right.

The IT Crowd is the new Graham Father Ted, Black Books Linehan sitcom, and therefore of major importance to anyone who habitually throws themselves on the sofa and sighs, "Ah, I love telly". The ludicrously talented Richard Ayoade finally gets a lead role, Chris Morris returns as a wholly satisfying parody of manhood, and the whole thing seems comfortably bedded in within 15 minutes. All in all, no reason to lose faith in humanity just yet.

But Nathan Barley is unfocused, both structurally and in its satire. Personally, I suspect that as Chris Morris -- along with his co-writer Charlie Brooker, who originally created the Nathan Barley character on his peerless website TVGoHome -- did their reputed three years of research on Hoxton, they found that Hoxtonites' main obsessions (new technology, unlistenable music, the boundaries of acceptability, silly slang) were, in fact, pretty close to many of their own.

Nathan Barley is not spectacular television, but neither is it appalling. It simply fails to do what it clearly set out to do. It has ended up in entirely the wrong bracket, resulting in a dull thud when it should - an indeed quite easily could - have sounded a loud fanfare.

At the end of the day, though, My Wrongs #8425-8249 & 117 is refreshingly offbeat for a present day television presentation, and definitely the sort of project that Channel 4 should be supporting rather than just relying on repeats of Friends.

My Wrongs #8245-8249 & 117 (2002)

My Wrongs... is a film that arrives with certain expectations. Firstly, it comes from the mind of Chris Morris who, through his work on such television series' as The Day Today and Brass Eye, has proven himself to be one of the UK's leading satirists, not to mention one of the most controversial ("Sickest TV ever" screamed a Sun headline over Brass Eye's 'Paedogeddon' special). Secondly, it stars Paddy Considine, who is fast becoming Britain's finest actor following work on such films as A Room for Romeo Brass, Last Resort and 24 Hour Party People. And finally, it marks the first foray into film production for experimental dance label Warp Records, who have provided us with such aural pleasures as Aphex Twin, Squarepusher... and Vincent Gallo(!) as well as issuing Morris' Blue Jam radio series on CD.

As Big Brother was drawing to a close, the Brass Eye Special on paedophilia appeared. Several viewers were upset by the broadcast, but thankfully the press was on hand to ensure their views received an effective airing in the form of unintelligible pandemonium.

Why Chris Morris had to make Brass Eye

The man who set Britain talking with a 30-minute TV satire is already moving on to his next target.

Either way, though, jam became too predictable - something you could never ever accuse of either On The Hour, The Day Today or Brass Eye.