Doon Mackichan

A cold-hearted sitcom brutally ribbing something close to the Beeb's heart: the producers, stringers and reporters in war zones itching to get their three minutes on News At Ten. The script for this opener, set in a conflict-ridden African backwater, is not quite as zinging as its obvious point of comparison, Drop The Dead Donkey, but there are at least plenty of heroes and villains, including Doon Mackichan's stressed-out producer and Martin Jarvis's lazy, big-shot reporter.

Sharon Lougher, Metro, 8th July 2009

Smack the Pony trio to reunite

Former Smack the Pony stars Doon Mackichan, Sally Phillips and Fiona Allen are reuniting, six years after they last appeared on television together, as the writers and performers of a new comedy drama.

Matthew Hemley, The Stage, 8th July 2009

Even with Jonathan Ross as a three hour warm-up man, Buy Me Up TV failed to coax the glimmer of a smile on to my face.

The talents of Doon Mackichan couldn't rescue Justin Edwards' and James Eldred's account of life behind the scenes at a 24-hour shopping channel.

Perhaps, judging that this setting has been the subject of numerous satires, the authors settled for a frenzied facsimile of life at the consumerist cutting edge. Everyone sounded barking, indeed on the verge of a nervous breakdown, perhaps because they had to cope with dialogue that could apparently only be delivered at ear-shattering volume. The audience laughter was strangely disturbing, as if they had been force fed E numbers before being manacled to their seats.

Moira Petty, The Stage, 21st May 2007