Oliver Chris

During the pitching process for this new comedy you'd guess the words "a 21st-century M*A*S*H" were uttered. Without overstating the comparisons it's not a bad description, because Bluestone 42 is a series that similarly deals in gallows humour as it follows the travails of a British bomb disposal team in Afghanistan. This first episode is largely an exercise in getting to know the characters, especially IED expert Nick (Oliver Chris) and the unit's new padre, Mary (Kelly Adams). Expect explosions, swearing and death.

Is it OK to play a bomb disposal squad in Helmand Province for laughs?

While TV's no stranger to using war as a context for laughter - M*A*S*H dealt with the Korean War and Blackadder the trenches of World War I - this new series has caused a stir because it relates to a current conflict.

But the black humour feels natural, an instinctive response to an extreme situation.

Delivered with the deadpan grin of Green Wing, there are sharply observed performances from a cast that includes Oliver Chris (Green Wing) and Kelly Adams (Hustle).

Even before it's broadcast, this comedy has caused a furore, dealing as it does with a squad of bomb disposal experts clearing IEDs in Afghanistan. Can such a sensitive subject get laughs?

Yes it can. Richard Hurst and James Cary (who have both worked on Miranda) evidently did their research. The banter and camaraderie are as profane as you'd expect on the frontline, and some of the humour is exceptionally dark. However, that research seems to be holding them back; they're so careful presenting a balanced view of professional soldiery that the characters are underplayed.

There is promise in the lusty captain Nick Medhurst (Green Wing's Oliver Chris) and his pursuit of the attractive new padre (Hustle's Kelly Adams), but larger-than-life roles are in short supply. Michael McShane's CIA liaison officer Carter is one, but his appearance is all too brief.

"Too soon?" one character asks in ­Bluestone 42 after he makes a tasteless quip about the death of a CIA officer. That's the question you might be asking after watching BBC3's new sitcom about a bomb disposal team in Helmand Province. After all, it's usually polite to wait until a war is actually over before you start making jokes about it.

The Korean War had been done and dusted for more than 20 years before M*A*S*H waded in. The same goes for Dad's Army, while Blackadder Goes Forth waited a good 80 years for the dust from the First World War to settle.

And after the number of documentaries the BBC has made about Afghanistan - in particular Our War, also on BBC3 - the show's writers will have been acutely aware of the potential offence they could cause by making comedy out of conflict. It seems their main concern was getting all the military details right, rather than whether they should be making it at all.

But, putting all thoughts of whether Bluestone 42 is wildly inappropriate or not to one side, thank goodness that it's actually very funny, with an excellent line in banter.

Oliver Chris is perfectly cast as Captain Nick Medhurst - the officer who fancies himself a little too much as the dashing war hero, and expects the new female padre (Hustle's Kelly Adams) to feel the same.

The big ensemble cast also includes Tony Gardner (Lead Balloon and Fresh Meat) as the Lt Colonel, Katie Lyons as the blokeish Corporal Bird and a bomb-seeking robot called Arthur.

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