Ambassadors

Ambassadors stars Robert Webb and David Mitchell as diplomats in an oil-rich, but human rights-impoverished ex-Soviet state called Tazbekistan.

When the pair are not working to sell British-made helicopters to the brutally oppressive regime, they are trying to spring their countrymen from prison, hosting interminable functions, fending off blackmailers and surrendering to the demands of local customs, such as drinking one's body weight in vodka.

First impressions were favourable - the animated title sequence is fabulous. The show isn't bad either, once you divest yourself of all expectations. Despite the presence of its two stars, Ambassadors is neither sitcom nor sketch show, but a comedy drama that takes its drama very seriously.

Mitchell and Webb come across exactly the same as every other vehicle they've starred in, but they are both charismatic performers and serve the material well.

The highpoint of episode one was the self-obsessed actor - is there any other kind? - sent by the British Council to perform his turgid, one-man production of Frankenstein, and nearly creating several diplomatic rifts in the process.

Spooks meets Yes, Minister in Ambassadors

If Spooks had a one-night stand with Yes, Minister, the fruit of that union would be something akin to Ambassadors (BBC Two), in which Peep Show duo David Mitchell and Robert Webb work their socks off to show us there's more to their double act than the hapless misadventures of Mark and Jeremy. It almost works.

Review: Ambassadors, BBC Two

Should Ambassadors pack its bags and be recalled home? Far from it. Carry on, ambassador.

TV review: Ambassadors - Episode 1

Comedy duo Mitchell and Webb star in the brand new, three-part, BBC Two comedy-drama Ambassadors.

TV review: Ambassadors

Ambassadors has a great cast but it's unlikely to earn a lasting place in our affections.

Ambassadors review

David Mitchell and Robert Webb shine in this inconsistent but promising comedy drama.

Not so much comedy as watered-down drama, with David Mitchell as the British ambassador to fictional-stan Tazbekistan and Robert Webb as his deputy. In this first episode, the pair rescue an arrested human rights activist and try selling helicopters to the president. Worryingly, this seems like the sort of thing Alan Partridge might write and star in if given the chance, full of eccentric foreigners, eye-wateringly awkward banter and competent, judicious Brits abroad fancying themselves as slightly less violent Bond types.

Peep Show pair David Mitchell and Robert Webb are reunited in this three-part satire that takes a pop at the follies of diplomatic ducking and diving. It's set in the fictional nation of Tazbekistan, which reveres the ibex, bugs every conversation - earwigged by a pair of loafing operatives - and has a cool $2billion to spend on helicopters. Enter newly appointed British ambassador Keith Davis (Mitchell) and sage aide Neil Tilly (Webb) to make sure the contract goes our way - even if it means trampling over human rights to get there. Forget Ferrero Rocher, this duo do their wooing with Eccles cakes.

It's good to see David Mitchell and Robert Webb back together on television, though Ambassadors is more Graham Greene than it is Peep Show. There are some funny bits, but it's a drama with a light touch, rather than an out-and-out comedy. Not that there's anything wrong with that, as this is an engaging, even winning, hour. Mitchell is Keith Davis, Britain's new ambassador to Tazbekistan, a (fictional) central Asian country with a terrible human rights record. His highly capable deputy is Neil Tilly (Webb), a man with a private life that could turn out to be his downfall.

The well-meaning Davis has to secure a huge Tazbekistan order for British helicopters and hopes that a limp Best of Britain-themed party, including a one-man version of Frankenstein performed by a preposterously pretentious actor, might do the trick.

Ambassadors - TV review

It's not lol-tastic. More of a drama with jokes than jokes strung together with some kind of story. The funniest bits are almost incidental.