Boom Town

If you love Fonejacker, You've Been Framed and the audition phases of talent shows before the weirdos get thrown off, you'll love this new sketch show. Billed as a 'genre hybrid that mixes the conventions of structured reality with those of a traditional sketch show' - i.e. a show in which some very strange people use their own scripted dialogue in 'enhanced' scenes and set-ups - it's not without its charms.

At its worst, however, laughing at people like Kev, the white-haired witch trying to cast a spell on an estate agent, or Stella, the fashion designer attempting to persuade a boutique to stock her sanitary towel, or idiotic Jonny and his excruciatingly bad chat-up lines, makes for uncomfortable viewing.

But the sketches where the humour's done with affection - watching bug-eyed as gay care-home worker Alan reads his elderly charges gay porn, or wannabe actress Dorota and her husband add their magical spin to scenes from The Shining and Dracula - really do raise a smile. It might well offer clues as to whether the joke's on them or us.

Boom Town review

I'm still not particularly sure how I feel about it. I feel like my eyes have been tortured as a result of sitting through a 30 minute show of poorly produced entertainment.

Is Boom Town the weirdest show of 2013?

If you stumbled upon Boom Town on BBC Three tonight, you'll know what we mean when we say that it's pretty tricky to sum up in a few simple sentences.

BBC bets on scripted reality series Boom Town

The BBC is taking a bet on structured reality television with Boom Town.