Sophie McShera

Timewasters: definitely not a waste of time

The British comedy about jazz musicians who're transported to the 1920s makes its America debut on IMDb TV.

Radio Times review

For many, there's only a very fine line between comedy and horror; the two combined are an irresistible cocktail. Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton are masters in this field. For the final episode of this excellent anthology, they ensure we're snorting one minute and shuddering the next.

I shan't say too much about Séance Time, except that it happens inside a spooky house, where the gullible Tina (Sophie McShera, Downton Abbey's Daisy) is greeted by Shearsmith's character Hives (surely a nod to Laurel and Hardy). Before long, Tina is introduced to a black-veiled, hoarse and hilariously theatrical medium (Alison Steadman). The lights are dimmed and that's when the fun starts...

Alison Steadman and Sophie McShera (scullery maid Daisy in Downton Abbey) star in the final episode of this series. The action occurs in a vast gothic building where a séance is about to take place.

Tina (McShera) turns up for her session and admits she hasn't lost anyone, but she is 'curious'. Madam Talbot, brilliantly played by Steadman, replies: 'The curious are often drawn here for a glimpse of summerland'. What ensues is chilling and hilarious in equal measure and the final twist is superb. Let's hope Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith bring us a third series.

Tony Maudsley and Sophie McShera interview

My two favourite job seekers are back, Graham and Bryony, played by Tony Maudsley and Sophie McShera, and don't worry... they're still unable to find a job in this year.

The Job Lot, set in a West Midlands Job Centre, was really rather loveable. Russell Tovey as a beleaguered dole-claim clerk, Sarah Hadland as his anxious boss, plus an ensemble cast featuring an anally retentive toxic pen-pusher (Jo Enright, one of Britain's best character actresses), the long-term professionally idle Sophie McShera (Downton Abbey) plus the glorious Adeel Akhtar (Four Lions and Utopia). Russell Tovey's delightful "stick your job up your arse" strop, followed a mere 10 minutes later by a complete volte-face genuinely made me gleeful. In fact, I could watch Sophie McShera argue with Russell Tovey about why she can't take any of the jobs on offer for the entire episode. Tovey: "Greggs, the bakery, 15 hours a week?" McShera: "I'm wheat-intolerant".

Though I didn't enjoy Vicious, I found that its companion piece The Job Lot had a lot to offer. Set in the West Midlands-based Brownhill Job Centre this focused on the staff and clients neither of whom particularly wanted to work.

Our hero of sorts is Karl (Russell Tovey) a young man who imagined he'd have a successful career after he got his art degree but has found himself working in a job he hates. He is constantly frustrated by trying to find work for people like Bryony (Sophie McShera) who blatantly don't want a job and just turn up so they can keep claiming benefits.

In this first episode Karl briefly quits the Job Centre only to return when he discovers that pretty temp Chloe (Emma Rigby) is due to start working there. However this new incentive is a short-lived one after he finds out that Chloe has a boyfriend and also that she'll be leaving after Danielle (Tamla Kari) returns from maternity leave early. Meanwhile manager Trish (Sarah Hadland) is irked by the return of Angela (Jo Enright) who took Trish to court after she fired her. It now appears as if Angela will be doing as little work as possible while Trish continues to head towards an inevitable breakdown.

While The Job Lot is far from perfect I found it to be well-observed with a couple of clever gags scattered throughout. In my daily life I've encountered people like Angela and Briony both of whom are bought to life perfectly by Enright and McShera. Meanwhile the programme also has a likeable lead in the form of Russell Tovey's Karl who gets through his day with the help of a drawer full of biscuits. Tovey is always an endearing screen presence and here his likeability is put to full use. I also thought Sarah Hadland was perfectly cast as the increasingly stressed Trish who is the perfect personification of the harassed boss.

Though The Job Lot does have some clunky moments, I found it to be a likeable sitcom with plenty to offer. Still I don't think it deserves its place on primetime television just yet and should've maybe been placed on ITV2 instead. I'm also not sure why it's been grouped with Vicious as the two have very little in common and will attract very different audiences.

The Job Lot is a new sitcom that is bang-up-to-date, being set in a West Midlands job centre. It's written by Claire Downs, Ian Jarvis and Stuart Lane, and direct by Martin Dennis.

Sarah Hadland is Trish, the neurotic and passive-aggressive office manager, and Russell Tovey is her shy assistant Karl - like her, unlucky in love. Trish, a great fan of both the clipboard and the white board, tries to gee up her staff with feelgood workshops ("Turn the unemployed into the funemployed," she writes on the latter) and has to deal with the recalcitrant Angela - "I'll contact the union" - whom she once sacked but has been reinstated after a tribunal. Karl is bored out of his mind, dealing with clients such as Bryony (Sophie McShera from Downton Abbey doing a nice turn) who last night "caught" MS in her determination never to find work.

The quiet first episode of The Job Lot was overpopulated by misfits - a clean-freak, a moonlighting security guard, a dimwit jobseeker - but both the sit and the com have promise.

I feel ever so sorry for ITV's second new sitcom of the night for having to follow a tough act like Vicious... The Job Lot, set in a job centre don'tcha know, can't help but pale in comparison to the savage brilliance of Ian McKellen and Co.

And that's a shame because while it's not going to win any prizes for originality (League Of Gentlemen's job-seeker sketches set the bar pretty high on that score), it's a perfectly respectable addition to the clutch of office-based sitcoms.

Plus it's from Big Talk, the company that gave us Spaced, Black Books, Rev, Friday Night Dinner and Him & Her, so it knows about sitcoms.

Sarah Hadland, Russell Tovey, Martin Marquez and Emma Rigby are among the staff turning the unemployed into the funemployed, with varying degrees of success.

But the biggest surprise of the night must be actress Sophie McShera being cast as a job-seeker who's turned being work-shy into a something of a full-time career. It's Downton's Daisy Mason as you've never seen her before.