Car Share

Is Peter Kay's Forever FM based on my radio station?

So why are my bosses raising an eyebrow over Forever FM? Watch the next episode, then listen to Wave 105 - it's virtually identical!

Peter Kay's Car Share review

The everyday, back-and-forth of the conversation is rendered so enjoyable that you wish you could be a spectator to it more often.

Peter Kay's Car Share review

The script is sharp and Peter Kay's performance is completely natural. The first five minutes were lovely, with him driving in mounting frustration through the backstreets and bickering with his satnav: 'Me and you are going to fall out, I can tell you that right now... You're sulking now, are you?'

Radio Times review

There's a star turn from Reece Shearsmith as a demented fishmonger who cadges a lift to work with John and Kayleigh as this curious little observational comedy trundles along.

Shearsmith plays Ray, a colleague of the pair at the superstore but no one wants anything to do with him because he reeks of fish. In any event Kayleigh isn't at her best after a drunken night at a friend's farewell party where she drank a few too many "cheeky Vimtos", which, she tells John, "are all the rage in Basra".

There are signs that John (Peter Kay, who co-wrote and directed) is growing quite keen on his car-sharer, and the pair are developing a sweet and funny relationship forged to the cheesy hits of "Forever FM".

Peter Kay's Car Share puts him back in the driving seat

Kay's new un-hyped TV show is big-hearted and silly and reminds us what a terrific comic actor he can be.

Peter Kay's Car Share is a delight, with some bite, and Kay's perennial attention to northern detail. It's a shame not to be able to say more, and I will, later. But all six episodes were launched on iPlayer at once, for folk to binge watch, yet all deleted from that catch-up service on Tuesday night in an inexplicable move worthy of W1A. They're now limited to real-time Wednesday and Thursday nights, and are being trickled out on catch-up, but still, if you can get your head around all that - my own brain is starting to itch - worth it.

Peter Kay's Car Share, a new comedy, restored my faith in television's ability to be something more than just a cattle prod to sell stuff. Kay plays John, a supermarket worker who has been enrolled in his work's car share scheme. It means that twice a day he has to spend 15 minutes or so, there and back, in the company of Kayleigh (Sian Gibson), a virtual stranger. The whole thing takes place in the car, consisting of their chit-chat, the imbecilic radio ads and some wonderful/abhorrent Nineties music (depending on your view of Nineties music).

All six episodes of Car Share went up on iPlayer simultaneously, yet this is one of those shows where a hearty binge might not be the best way to view it. It's one of those comedies like Nurse or Getting On that are more impressionistic than appointment to view. They make no effort to stop you switching off. They're just companionable and somewhere between gently tickling and really funny.

Great sitcom is about people who are trapped and you can't be more trapped than in a metal box, with someone you don't really know strapped in next to you. Of course, it also requires a script as tight as a gnat's whoopsie, as well as sharp performances. Car Share, thus far, has both.

Whether or not this can be sustained over a series we shall see. Episode one has already mined the car radio and its adverts for humour, as well as utilising a fantasy sequence to get us out of the capsule. But in a week in which several new television shows this week were clichéd or overwrought, Kay's simple new comedy felt both current and bold.

BBC One's Car Share actually made me laugh out loud

Here is a comedy about the restorative joy of friendship.

Car Share - series 1 review

I found Car Share an amiable and pleasant way to spend thirty-minutes, let's be clear, but I binged the series during its pre-broadcast debut on the BBC iPlayer over two days.

Peter Kay's Car Share review

The Bolton-born comedian launched his brand new show Peter Kay's Car Share on BBC One last night and it was just as hilarious as everyone imagined.