Campus

Set in the fictional Kirke University and revolving around the lives of members of staff, Campus was first shown as a pilot on C4 in 2009. It was greenlit for a full series and the result is a car crash. Among the writers are some of the team who worked on Green Wing and there are certainly flecks of comedy pedigree. But the maniacally ambitious vice-chancellor Jonty de Wolfe is a hopelessly misfiring caricature. Not having a laugh track is no guarantee of naturalism and there's barely an ounce of plausibility in Campus.

The pilot for this surreal sitcom, from the makers of Green Wing and Smack The Pony, was one of our favourites to be road-tested in C4's Comedy Showcase season back in 2009. So here it is at last, with its David Brent-alike university vice-chancellor, Jonty de Wolfe (Andy Nyman), once again in staggeringly un-PC form as he takes potshots at 'foreigns and disabled'. It should bounce along nicely with its good cast and snappy script.

If you found Channel 4's Green Wing too knowingly quirky and surreal, steer clear of Campus. It is in every respect the heir to the earlier series but set in a university that is, as East Hampton Hospital was, staffed with fast-talking oddballs on the edge of desperation. If, though, you loved Green Wing as the freshest, strangest comedy in years, then it has been a long wait for this sequel, but it might be worth it. We're in Kirke University, a concrete jungle overseen by appalling vice chancellor Jonty de Wolfe. Andy Nyman's performance as de Wolfe is somewhere between David Brent and 30 Rock's Jack Donaghy, but way more extreme than either, a grasping, racist bully with disturbing hair and, possibly, magical powers. Sometimes, for no obvious reason, he wears a big green dress. There are many other surreal touches - swallowing cigarettes, wedgies, relentless references to vaginas - and, as with Green Wing, a promising central romance. It takes a while to get into the groove (don't expect to laugh out loud for half an hour or so) but, after that, the brilliant performances will sweep you along.

The first of 2009's batch of Comedy Showcase pilots to get the green-light for a full series, this has been extended to an hour with a lot of the old gags kept in and new ones added.

Produced and directed by Victoria Pile, Campus is basically Green Wing set in a university - minus almost all of that series' charm.

While Green Wing started with likeable characters from which the zaniness developed naturally, here the equation seems to have been turned on its head with zany as the start and end point.

Leading the cast is Andy Nyman as Vice-Chancellor Jonty - a racist, sexist, magical ­combination of David Brent, Sue Sylvester and Dr Evil with hair that resembles an exotic pastry.

Lisa Jackson plays maths geek Imogen Moffat and Joseph Millson is self-appointed English lecturer/sex-god Matt Beer.

It is the work of eight writers and a condition of employment seems to have been that they each had to use the word "vagina" at least once. It's funny, but Needs To Not Try So Hard.

If you've been feeling somewhat bereft since the demise of Green Wing, then fret no more.

Campus (Channel 4, 10pm) shares many of the same writers and, following the successful broadcast of a pilot edition last year, has already been described as the natural successor to the hospital-set sitcom's crown as the most surreal comedy on telly.

Campus, however, is set in the hapless surroundings of Kirke University, a mediocre establishment whose vice-chancellor, Jonty de Wolfe, is determined to improve its reputation.

He'll stop at nothing, from faking the names of former alumni to launching a range of perfumes known as Eau de Kirke - and seeing as the place is a crumbling concrete monstrosity, goodness only knows what that smells like!

But Jonty is no ogre; he only has the university's best interests at heart - if only his staff did too...

Campus review: rude, crude and a bit funny

From the makers of Green Wing comes Campus, a comedy about life at the fictional Kirke University, and a programme that looks like it's probably going to split opinion quite widely.

Campus episode 1 review

Will Campus divide audiences? Certainly. Is it a natural successor to Green Wing? Quite possibly. But is it any good? Here's Louisa's review...

At first, you may take this university-set sitcom for a rip-off of The Office: the main character, the vice chancellor (Andy Nyman), is a suited slob in a goatee who makes casual quips about "spastics". The first difference, though, is that David Brent wasn't offensive on purpose, whereas the vice chancellor is malicious, crude and racist to a frankly implausible degree. The second difference is the standard of the dialogue. "At school they called me 'the big s---'," says one female lecturer, "cos I was a big s---, and I do big s---s." Tonight the VC wants his staff to write bestselling books, because he thinks this will attract rich overseas students, or, in his word, "foreigns".

Well, this could be either fantastic or awful. We're rather big fans of Green Wing over here at Tube Talk, so Campus certainly has a good pedigree - it's by the same writer, Victoria Pile. The comedy all takes place at Kirke University, with Andy Nyman playing the college's vice-chancellor Jonty de Wolfe. One thing's for certain - it's going to be very, very weird. It'll probably be a love it or hate it thing, but if Green Wing's anything to go by, it might be worth giving it a couple of episodes to see if it clicks.