Tanya Franks

BBC Sitcom Season: review of the pilots

Some of comedy's hottest names have been busy working on new sitcom pilots for BBC iPlayer, airing in September, with the hope of these creative projects later being picked up for a television series.

BBC Landmark Sitcom Season: the pilots review

In my last post I looked at three of the sitcom revivals that the BBC have produced but alongside these pieces, this new season also includes five new sitcom pilots. Over the next two weeks, all five of these shows will air and in this article I will pass judgement on them all.

Tess (EastEnders' Tanya Franks) and husband Toby (Peep Show's Paterson Joseph) have three adopted children, a point that is rather laboured in this comedy pilot. Even when it's not hammering home the adoption setup - the kids are adopted, by the way - the gags are a bit of an effort, particularly for Joseph, who really heaves them out. (Adopted) daughter Frankie, played by Erin Kellyman, is a highlight, however.

TV preview: The Coopers vs The Rest

Overall, the confident, funny writing and likeable performances all round make it a pleasure to meet the Coopers. After the travesty of remaking Are You Being Served?, the BBC could have a hit on their hands with this, the first of three pilots getting an airing in its Landmark Sitcom season.

Binging: Pulling

Sharon Horgan's much-missed sitcom is very funny, but, perhaps more importantly, it broke all sorts of television taboos. Here's Hannah Dunleavy on why you should put it on your to-watch list. Immediately.

Mum had a masterful send-off for a sitcom - review

Bar the odd irresistible pursuit of a gag for the gag's sake, the scripts by Stefan Golaszewski purred as satisfyingly as anything in The Royle Family.

Michaela Coel's sparkling comedy continues and Tracey is worried she might be pregnant after last week's moment of lust with Connor. Off she goes to find a contraceptive, just in case her nose-sucking technique isn't enough to put him off. Also on Tracey's agenda is to dump chaste boyfriend Ronald, but a chat with his mum (the brilliant Tanya Franks) reveals a few secrets about his past. The likable characters and risque jokes should help Chewing Gum appeal to the older generation as well as knowing teenagers.

Back to 2006 for the first episode of Sharon Horgan and Dennis Kelly's sitcom about three filthy wastrels from Penge. Donna (Horgan), drifting towards marriage with rancid manchild Karl (Cavan Clerkin), realises on her hen night that she's got a lot of aimless partying still to do with her pals (Tanya Franks and Rebekah Staton). The extent to which female characters get all the funny lines by revealing their rotten souls would still feel groundbreaking today. And this opener is flab-free: one killer scene after another.

Shame on BBC3 for axing its best sitcom by far. The only consolation for Pulling's few but devoted fans is a one-hour special to wind up the chaotic stories of our three flatmates and their shoddy boyfriends. As we rejoin them, Donna (co-writer Sharon Horgan) is in an uneven relationship with a yuppie who pretends she's an escort, while Karen (Tanya Franks) is in an even worse set-up, baking pies for a selfish, classically male monster. It's so bad she's stopped wearing make-up. From there, a disastrous plot unfolds. Billy (Paul Kaye) reappears in all his raddled glory and sweet-talks Karen ("You, me, alcohol, narcotics - the old team?") while Karl's return from Italy rocks Donna. The mutual bafflement of the sexes is as richly hilarious as ever. Say goodbye to the blackest, filthiest unromantic comedy you could hope for.

Sharon Horgan's cult comedy ran for two series, but has been denied a third. It seems it doesn't matter how well received Pulling was, BBC3 is now so narrowly focused on its young audience that there's no place for a show about 30-somethings, even if they are slatternly, emotionally retarded drunks.

It's an intermittently hilarious parade of cartoonish characters and crude, often cruel set pieces, with Tanya Franks particularly salty as an alcoholic primary school teacher. Pulling wasn't a classic, but it deserved more time.