Justin Hawkins

FM is a new sitcom, with the same kind of vibe as The IT Crowd - we're in the workplace, the stars are a woman and two blokes, one of whom is funny Irishman Chris O'Dowd. OK, so the "sit" is different. FM takes place at an indie radio station (it's FM as in frequency modulation). But the "com" is similar - puns and witticisms, misunderstandings, awkward situations. Old-school then, to be polite. Or lame, if you prefer.

The longest-running gag is that O'Dowd somehow gets himself a slot as a proper DJ in a club, even though he doesn't know how to do it - couldn't even mix a metaphor. So he cheats, gets a CD of mixes off a kid (a black character who wears a baseball cap back to front and says "bro" a lot, slightly embarrassingly), and just pretends to be playing vinyl and scratching and doing all that. Guess what, the CD gets stuck (as it was always going to), and he's made to look like an idiot. Do you get it?

There is the odd glimmer of hope. I woke up at one uncharacteristically shocking - and uncharacteristically funny - line. It's too rude to repeat here, but if you saw it you'll know the one I mean (yup, the one about mother-loving). And it has walk-on (kinda) celebrities - in this one, Justin Hawkins from the Darkness, the Guillemots, and Marianne Faithfull in the distance. Celebrities can be funny. We, the jury, will stay out for one more episode, then. But I'm not over-hopeful. It's a brave thing to set a sitcom in a radio station. The last one I can think of is Frasier. No pressure, then.

Sam Wollaston, The Guardian, 26th February 2009

Any new sitcom pairing C4 wonderkid Kevin Bishop and Chris O'Dowd from The IT Crowd has got to be worth checking out. It's set in a small radio station where the pair host an indie show (produced by Nina Sosanya from Teachers).

And what rock 'n' roll credentials this has got! It was co-written by Ian Curtis! Although obviously, and very disappointingly, not the late Joy Division singer - who wasn't exactly known for his screwball humour while he was alive.

Each week FM will feature real bands and tonight's talking guest is The Darkness's Justin Hawkins with a live performance from The Guillemots and a cameo from Marianne Faithfull.

But it'll need to crank up the gag volume in coming weeks if it's going to be a hit.

Jane Simon, The Mirror, 25th February 2009

For its new sitcom about indie radio DJs, ITV2 has poached some top C4 talent: Chris O'Dowd from The IT Crowd, Star Stories' Kevin Bishop and, er, Nathan Barley's Nina Sosanya. There's an enormous amount of self-conscious special guestery - first scene includes Justin Hawkins (from The Darkness) and suddenly it's 'The Guillemots are ready to record'. There are a some good moments - Chris O'Dowd comfortably slips into playing the same hapless role as The IT Crowd's Roy and Kevin Bishop's former boyband 2s Up is well observed. As a first episode they're allowed some room to set up the characters but it will need more jokes in future. Also, the swearing is all wrong.

TV Bite, 25th February 2009