Babylon

Babylon, series 1, episode 2 review

The mixture of highbrow and lowbrow comedy might sit uneasily together but it's still very funny.

'Babylon' season 1 episode 2 review

"Seriously? Police sponsorship? This kettling was brought to you by Morphy Richards?!" mutters Finn, in just one of the many brilliant one-liners spouted in this week's Babylon, which continues to prove itself as a contender for the titles of the best and funniest cop show of the year.

Jill Halfpenny interview

Rehearsing on a purpose built town designed to train real police officers to deal with riots, Jill was given an insight into the tough job the police actually do.

Babylon review

I believe Babylon is much improved due to its slicker gags and better-paced story.

Babylon, Channel 4, TV review

Babylon doesn't appear to know what it really wants to be at the moment, all the best of luck to it.

What did we think of the first episode?

Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain are on fire at the moment, aren't they? The seriously funny minds behind Peep Show and Fresh Meat, and who worked on the likes of The Thick of It and Four Lions, have turned their satirical eye on the Metropolitan Police in Channel 4′s Babylon last night.

It is to the police what Twenty Twelve and W1A were to the Olympics and the BBC, though bolder, sharper, swearier. Maybe more like The Thick of It then, with which it shares some creative DNA. And, like TTOI, there are, in with the deadpan insanity, some truths. About the police, their image issues, target culture, political interference, privatisation etc. As well as - as you'd expect with Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong writing - some glorious lines.

"I'm on 24-hour-a-day storm watch yeah, I sleep like a cokey meerkat on an electric fence, that's me relaxing, I've got a map inside my head of all the trouble in the world and you just popped up on the radar like Godzilla's hard on, and I will cut you loose if you ever, ever fuck me again Charlie, all right?" says Commissioner Richard Miller. Played by James Nesbitt, who looks like he's enjoying himself after - during - all the misery of The Missing.

Babylon episode 1 review

Babylon, from the writers of Peep Show and The Thick Of It, promises to be one of the year's most gripping, entertaining shows...

The cachet of its creators - Danny Boyle, Jesse Armstrong and Sam Bain - meant the pilot of this Met police comedy-drama premiered to much hype in February. Yet its ambitious scope - all the way down from the upper echelons of the force to the terminally bored on-the-ground teams - and odd tone (as cynical as a satire, but never ridiculous enough to be properly funny) meant it was hard to love. Those are things that still blight this first series proper, but its makers are, hopefully, playing the long game.

Radio Times review

When the pilot for this police satire aired, it felt perfectly poised between farce and drama. Or maybe imperfectly: there were plenty of absurd moments and funny lines (its creators worked on The Thick of It), but also a thriller edge to proceedings. An action satire? A jet-black dramedy? Kafka meets The Bill?

As we start the full series, the tone feels clearer. The dialogue is still razor sharp - "I sleep like a cokey meerkat on an electric fence. That's me relaxing," snaps James Nesbitt's commissioner - but actual gags are rationed. We're more focused on the political minefield of policing London, and the PR machine - headed by Brit Marling's spin chief - that steers through it.

Their main problem here is a youth prison riot where private contractors running the unit have been overrun. The good news? "Joey Barton's said on Twitter he's willing to be an intermediary..."