Ed Westwick

White Gold, the latest retro-drama wheeze from the Beeb's busy kitsch-decor department, was funnier than Count Arthur Strong, but so is duodenal bleeding. The only question is... why? Ed Westwick made a smarmily confident Essex fist of Vince, leader of the rancid pack, but where is the surprise, where any comic subversion of stereotype, in the fact that early-80s double-glazing salesmen were squirmily cheating turdlets whom you couldn't trust as far as you could spit a rat? Didn't we, um, know that, queasily?

Oddly enough, I was far more appreciative of the accidental facts vouchsafed along the way - how plastic, being cheaper than timber, helped hold up Thatcher's right-to-buy council houses in those years, and how rotten finance left many paying more for the windows than the very house. The fact that I found these random moments more elucidating than the whole show means I'll be ready for Gardeners' Question Time soon. And only the gods are laughing.

The script was mannered and dirty-mouthed, though the lines came so fast that there were bound to be some laughs. But Ed Westwick's character Vincent Swan, a toerag who parks his flash motor on double yellow lines with a disabled badge, is too slimy to be a likeable rogue.

This territory was covered far more cleverly during the Thatcher years by Harry Enfield, and David Jason, of course, in Only Fools And Horses. This isn't a complete failure, but it's crude and blunt instead of polished and sharp.

White Gold - a sweary banterfest

The new BBC Two sitcom stars two of The Inbetweeners and Gossip Girl's Chuck Bass, aka Ed Westwick, as double glazing salesmen - and they're all brilliant.

White Gold: Gossip Girl star doesn't fit 1980s Essex

"Chuck Bass! It's Chuck Bass!" was my principal reaction to the first episode of new BBC comedy White Gold. And it was hard to get beyond that.

White Gold, BBC Two review

Sleaze and sharp practice in the exciting world of double glazing.

White Gold review

It's hard to see the joy in watching three hours of awful people being awful, but it wouldn't be the first time we've been asked to do just that. Here's hoping the groundwork done here was worth it, and that's not the case this time.

Preview: White Gold

This sitcom has been dubbed an Inbetweeners reunion by some - although as it only unites two of the four main cast members it is a bit of stretch.

Comedy by Damon Beesley of The Inbetweeners fame, with James Buckley and Joe Thomas (also of The Inbetweeners fame) reuniting as double-glazing salesmen. It's set in the 80s, so the nostalgia is as thick and gloopy as a Starbar. If you like your dialogue from the Guy Ritchie school of verbose mockney geezerish, then you're in luck, as their swaggering boss Vincent (Ed Westwick) forces it right down your throat every second he's on screen. A truly punchable show.

Ed Westwick on his new bad-boy role in White Gold

The British actor has swapped Manhattan for Essex - but he's still got his city slicker persona.

Ed Westwick on new BBC sitcom role

The former Gossip Girl star on his illuminating transition to comedy, starring now in the new sitcom from Inbetweeners creator Damon Beesley.