Rufus Jones

For obvious reasons, there was a sense of ethical tenterhooks when it came to watching Home, a new comedy written by and starring the talented Rufus Jones (W1A; Camping), about a Syrian refugee who ends up living with an English family after stowing away in their car's boot. Prissy Peter (Jones), Katy (Rebekah Staton) and her son (Oaklee Pendergast) discovered Damascus teacher Sami (Youssef Kerkour), who had been separated from his wife and child. Sami's predicament divided the already struggling couple, with Katy sympathetic, and Peter less so. "He's lost and alone and he needs looking after." "He's not Paddington." Peter ended up sleeping on the sofa opposite Sami, with the latter drily remarking: "We've both been exiled by an unstoppable force."

Admittedly, Home wasn't trying to be a documentary, but it was rather too light on the suffering of real-life refugees. However, it was also witty and poignant. Kerkour's Sami had the best moment - a sight gag about Marmite not tasting so good (I know, outrageous - I'll be writing a letter of complaint to Channel 4). It was important that Sami didn't become a human prop for the British family to riff about, but, if anything, he emerged as the most fully formed character - wry, fast-witted, dignified. This came through stronger towards the end, when Sami invited Peter to ask him questions. "Which side of the road do you drive?" "The one without the tanker." "Is there anything I can do to make you feel more at home?" "There actually is: tear down those walls and blow up the toilet." At such points, Home seemed part refugee-themed comedy, part updated Odd Couple. Going by this opener, it should be worth keeping an eye on.

Home review

Yes, Home is underpinned by a strong social, political message, but like all good comedies, it's ultimately about relationships and the ridicule of human foibles, from Peter's intransigence to the bureaucracy of the Home Office.

Home is the perfect mix of funny and tragic

What happens when you open the boot of the family car to find an unexpected passenger all the way from Syria?

How sitcom Home humanises the migrant crisis

A family find a Syrian man hiding in their boot in Rufus Jones's comedy. It's a warm-hearted riposte to years of 'terrifying' anti-immigrant rhetoric, he says.

Home, episode 1, review

Gentle variation on the sitcom.

Home: review

This fish-out-of-water comedy about a family who take in an asylum seeker feels timely but mild-mannered to a fault. Where's the conviction?

TV review: Home

Home boasts snappy dialogue and some great jokes, but most of all it oozes humanity, Sami, of course, is just like us.

Rufus Jones on his new sitcom Home

Rufus Jones has written his first series about a Syrian refugee who is taken in by a family in Surrey.

Rufus Jones: Why I wrote Home

I can't quite remember where the inspiration for Home came from. I started writing in the Autumn of 2015, at the height of the refugee crisis in Europe.

Rufus Jones interview

"When you're dealing with this subject matter you have to make sure that the jokes travel in the right direction."