Sharon Horgan

The funniest new show of the week, possibly the year, was BBC3's prison-based comedy Dead Boss starring Sharon Horgan.

It's easily the most amusing thing I've seen behind bars since Jeffrey Archer. It has a sharp script, a great cast and some beautifully worked set pieces. Plus, for those who care about the finer details, Emma Pierson from Hotel Babylon guest stars in it wearing one of those dresses she likes to wear.

I'll reserve judgement on Dead Boss, Sharon Horgan and Holly Walsh's comedy about a woman wrongly convicted of murder. First episodes are often awkward affairs, and this one didn't break the rule. But I liked the dodgy solicitor who offered a "no win, some fee" service and there was a nice moment when Horgan's character found her cocky insults about a prison tough and her cronies being repeated to them by a guilelessly supportive cell-mate. "I have been completely taken out of context," she stammers, raising the question of exactly what context would take the sting out of "mentally stunted trolls". Give it time.

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It's always a pleasure to see new work from Sharon Horgan. And, while this sitcom is no Pulling (which we may never forgive BBC3 for canning), Dead Boss contains plenty of Horgan's customarily waspish wit. Helen Stephens (Horgan) has been sent to prison for the murder of her boss - a crime she didn't commit. However, everything - from her selfish sister to her inept lawyer - seems to be conspiring to keep her behind bars. In certain hands, this scenario might be vaguely Kafka-esque; in Horgan's, it's gleefully silly as Helen reluctantly bonds with her needy, arsonist cellmate, gets assaulted with pumice stone after offending 'Mrs Big' and is sleazed over by the (male) screws. Not essential yet, but pretty good fun all the same.

Radio Times review

Sharon Horgan's BBC3 comeback - the axing of Pulling still grates with fans - has her behind bars as Helen, a fretting loser wrongly convicted of murder. Can she win freedom? Or is she (and are the viewers) in for a cold, frustrating stretch at a jail full of cartoon inmates and mad staff?

A lot of sitcoms fall back on everyone except the main character being a bumbling loon, which often feels like a way to con us out of the 3D creations that are hard to write but keep us coming back. Of course it's possible to do comedy that doesn't have any truth or soul if the jokes are outlandishly good but, despite a superb cast, Dead Boss struggles to reinvent incompetent lawyers and creepy screws.

Who really killed Helen's boss? The ongoing story arc is too silly to be believable, but not silly enough for that to stop mattering.

Sharon Horgan: 'I've never done anything as stupid'

Sharon Horgan is what you might call a late developer. She spent much of her twenties in dead-end pursuits, training at not-very-good acting schools and taking jobs waitressing and in call centres, before she sobered up and did an English degree at 27.

Dead Boss, BBC3 - review

Sharon Horgan seems to have randomly plucked her new sitcom out of the air, says Jack Seale.

Dead Boss: The best new comedy on TV

Sharon Horgan shines as usual but this is an ensemble piece and everyone gives an equally strong and memorable performance.

Dead Boss is a dead brilliant new sitcom

It apparently took Sharon Horgan and Holly Walsh several years to bring Dead Boss to screen and it seems it was certainly worth the wait as all in all, I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode. But the fun didn't stop there... oh no...