Press clippings
Death Valley - the new BBC comedy drama - reveals cast
Steffan Rhodri, Alexandria Riley and Melanie Walters are joining Timothy Spall and Gwyneth Keyworth in the regular cast of Death Valley, the new comedy drama coming to the BBC in 2025. Guest stars will include Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Sian Gibson, Patricia Hodge and Jim Howick.
British Comedy Guide, 11th September 2024Timothy Spall is a TV sleuth solving crime in BBC comedy Death Valley
Timothy Spall stars in BBC comedy drama Death Valley as John Chapel, a retired actor, beloved for his role as television detective Caesar, who has begun solving crimes in rural Wales for real, in an unlikely partnership with detective sergeant Janie Mallowan, played by Gwyneth Keyworth.
British Comedy Guide, 19th May 2024Defending The Guilty's second series cancelled because of coronavirus
Defending The Guilty will not be returning for a second series. The BBC Two legal comedy was commissioned to shoot further episodes last year, but due to cast availability being impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic the show has now been cancelled.
British Comedy Guide, 30th March 2021The Trouble With Maggie Cole review
If Dawn French gossiped like this in real life, she'd be in big trouble.
Christopher Stevens, Daily Mail, 5th March 2020Review: The Diary Of My Broken Vagina
The Diary Of My Broken Vagina is another of Channel 4's pilots from their Comedy Blaps series that might get a full series if it's popular enough or receives critical acclaim. It definitely deserves to as Fran Bushe's comedy is a smart, funny affair where she worries that her vagina might be broken as sex is either painful or very unsatisfying, and so decides she finally needs to remedy this situation asap.
Alex Finch, Comedy To Watch, 20th December 2019Defending The Guilty Series 2 confirmed
BBC Two has ordered a second series of Defending The Guilty, the legal-based sitcom starring Will Sharpe and Katherine Parkinson.
British Comedy Guide, 23rd October 2019In the penultimate episode of this breezy litigating comedy, our ethically compromised trainee barrister Will (Will Sharpe) is put through his paces this week in a mock trial, where he learns the art of cross-examination, while rivals Danielle (Gwyneth Keyworth) and Liam (Hugh Coles) have a romantic run-in with their fictional clients.
Ammar Kalia, The Guardian, 15th October 2019Review: Defending the Guilty
Defending the Guilty smartly sends up nepotism and idealism in the criminal justice system.
Sarah Carson, i Newspaper, 19th September 2018BBC Two is Defending The Guilty in new courtroom comedy
Will Sharpe and Katherine Parkinson are the stars of a new comedy about the legal profession, ordered by BBC Two.
British Comedy Guide, 30th April 2018Created and written by Jon Foster and James Lamont who previously worked together on Cuckoo and The Armstrong and Miller Show, Wasted follows the fortunes of four youngsters who wile away their days in the fictional West Country village of Neston Berry. The first episode begins with the return of Kent (Dylan Edwards) who has unsuccessfully tried to make it as a DJ and now is trying to weasel his way back into his old life. His return his met with great acclaim by his best friend Morpheus (Danny Kirrane) who runs a weird souvenir shop alongside his sardonic sister Sarah (Rose Reynolds). The back of the shop is home to Alison (Gwyneth Keyworth) who runs a new age healing business and whom Morpheus has a long-standing crush on. The opener sees Morpheus try to impress Alison by hosting a pub quiz after she reveals her secret desire for Jeremy Paxman whilst Sarah attempts to become a drug dealer with very negative results. Just like with Borderline, a lot of what happens is Wasted is quite cliched especially the scenes in which Morpheus has a drug overdose while hosting the aforementioned pub quiz. However I do feel that Foster and Lamont have perfectly conveyed the feeling of living in a small town where there is very little for the young folk to do. Wasted has probably garnered the most publicity due to the fact that Sean Bean makes several cameo appearances as a manifestation of Morpheus' subconscious. Whilst Bean's appearance may feel like a gimmick these dream sequences do add a new dimension to the sitcom and make it stand out from the crowd. Bean also seems to be having a great time with the dialogue he's been given and I'm sure he's happy in the fact that as he's a figment of a character's imagination he won't be killed off. I found all four leads to be energetic and believable in their rolls with Kirrane being especially on form as the sympathetic nerd Morpheus. Whilst Foster and Lamont's sitcom isn't perfect I feel that it features the best representation of young people in a sitcom for a long while. Whilst it's still a little rough around the edges I thought that Wasted shows buckets of promise and is perfectly suited to the young audience that E4 is aimed at.
Matt, The Custard TV, 8th August 2016