Oliver Chris

The controversial war-zone comedy returns for a second tour of duty as we catch up with bomb disposal unit Bluestone 42 in Helmand Province, where the humour is as dark and blue as ever. Tony Gardner (Fresh Meat) is back at the top of the food chain as Lt Col Philip Smith, coolly exerting his leadership over hot-blooded troops who bicker and battle as a distraction from the ever-present threat of attack. While Captain Nick Medhurst (Oliver Chris) weighs up his handgun against that of new arrival Cpl Gordon House (Matthew Lewis), Padre Mary Greenstock (Kelly Adams) announces a special award - to the 'filthiest bastard on the base'.

Radio Times review

The brash comedy about a bomb disposal unit in Afghanistan returns with more gags about IEDs, STDs and the Taliban. Matthew Lewis - Neville Longbottom from the Harry Potter films - throws off that sweet-natured image as he joins the cast as a new second-in-command to conceited Captain Medhurst (Oliver Chris).

As ever the base is riven by one-upmanship and ego clashes, particularly in Chris and Lewis's game of my gun's better than your gun. That could make for great comedy but the banter gets in the way. The best thing is Tony Gardner as the nonchalant Lieutenant Colonel - his lesson in the art of war is a minor masterpiece.

Ten reasons to watch Bluestone 42

From Oliver Chris and Harry Potter's Neville Longbottom to blindfolded fencing and men in uniform, here's why you should tune into series two of the BBC3 bomb disposal comedy.

Oliver Chris: Nick & Mary's relationship takes a turn

"The episode is about being stuck in a horrible place over Christmas and how this unit get by."

Ah yes, that staple of Christmas television: the sitcom about a bomb disposal unit in Afghanistan. Actually, the first series of Bluestone 42 overcame a shaky, cliché-riddled beginning to mature into a pretty decent workplace comedy; a second series is due in the New Year.

No preview copies were available, but this one-off introduces one Corporal Gordon House (played by Matthew Lewis, familiar from his role as Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter films), joining the team for his first tour of duty. Having excelled in training, House fancies himself even in the face of scepticism from his captain, Nick Medhurst (Oliver Chris). Might the new man's confidence prove misplaced? Well, what do you think? This may be a Christmas special with a relatively unorthodox theme, but don't go expecting too many surprises.

Borgen fans will be delighted to see Birgitte Hjort Sørensen (ambitious young newshound Katrine) guesting in cheekily lusty form - and speaking impeccable English - as a Danish aid worker called Astrid in this bomb-disposal squad sitcom.

She's got the hots for officer Nick (Oliver Chris), who's headline news for the way he handles his bombs.

And then to make himself even hotter, he goes and rescues her from the clutches of the Taliban. What a guy.

As the Afghanistan-based squaddie comedy continues to bed in, it's proving increasingly adept at handling the awkward balance of earthy humour and tense, life-or-death situations. Today, tetchy Captain Nick (Oliver Chris) thinks he's found a solution to the unending monotony of dull Army food when he hears of a supposedly tasty, though critically endangered, Afghan gecko - which just happens to populate the same area where his bomb disposal team is working. Can he clear IEDs while thinking of catching dinner?

Humour can be at its funniest when found in the darkest or toughest or most unlikely situations - and a British bomb disposal unit in Afghanistan ought to provide fertile ground. But so far this comedy-drama lacks subtlety and seems too puerile. In tonight's episode, team leader Nick (Oliver Chris, above) airs his complaints about the canteen food but then learns of a new - and endangered - food source that catches his attention, Millsy (Gary Carr) leads a retraining course and Simon (Stephen Wright) is ribbed about his age.

Radio Times review

Is now, or ever, the right time for a sitcom set among soldiers serving in Afghanistan? Bluestone 42 tested the question with its tales of a British army bomb-disposal unit.

Bluestone 42 is written by Richard Hurst and James Cary, who have both worked on Miranda and are experienced comedy technicians. They kept scenes to a minimum length, filled any gaps with gags, and efficiently established their characters and the central plotline of smooth captain Nick (Oliver Chris) chasing cute female padre Mary (Kelly Adams), who finds him attractive despite herself but constantly rebuffs him.

It was a bit too efficient. This was a fairly conservative workplace sitcom, hung on a talking point that was likely to get commissioning editors and journalists interested. There's no cause to doubt Hurst and Cary's research, or their interest in the subject matter. What is in question is whether the comedy and the subject matter meshed together in the right way.

The soldiers were comedy types: a fussy man, a tomboy, an exceptionally vulgar Scot, an omniscient boss (Tony Gardner) who pops up at inconvenient times. They schemed and joked with each other as the captain and the padre set a will-they-won't-they arc going. With Bluestone 42 unwilling to offer comment on the war itself, the driver for episode one's plot might as well have been a lost lever-arch file or someone scratching the MD's car.

In fact it was an American colonel (Mike McShane) being fatally shot in the head, the flip treatment of which might well have troubled you if you view Western soldiers in Afghanistan as making a grim but glorious sacrifice. But if you see them as oppressive occupiers, Bluestone 42 had that covered too. The Yank's death was softened in advance by his annoying habit of crowing endlessly about his tour of duty in Fallujah.

Fallujah. Fallujah. The word became a punchline. It's just one of those funny place names, isn't it? Like Penge, or Kidderminster. At least it might be for viewers who are a bit hazy on what happened to the locals there in 2004. Anyway, Nick the raffish captain sorted out all the palaver about the team being fired on by launching an RPG into the Afghans' hut, killing them all and letting us get back to the comedy.

Of course a sitcom in a warzone isn't off-limits. But Bluestone 42 shows that it's... a minefield.

Meet the cast of Bluestone 42

We speak to Oliver Chris, Stephen Wight, Gary Carr, Kelly Adams and the other stars of BBC3's controversial new Afghanistan war comedy.