Getting On

BBC Two finally dares to laugh in the face of death

If you're the sort of person who is likely to get old and die one day, Getting On is the comedy for you. A half-hour three-parter, first shown on BBC Four last year, it was finally granted an audience on BBC Two last night and almost immediately made a mockery of the idea that it needed to be potty trained away from the terrestrial channels.

This finely crafted comedy transfers over from BBC4. It's only a mini-series - perhaps the powers that be will see how it fares this time round and commission more - but for an understated yet sharp sitcom, it can't be beaten. It's set on NHS Ward B4, a place where old folks go to wither away and where the staff also look as though they have seen their best years. From this unremarkable setting, the three writers-actors - Jo Brand, Vicki Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlan - have created a comic gem, knowing that while a note of pathos is fine it still has to be funny.

Jo Brand stars as Nurse Kim Wilde in this very funny, improvised comedy set in a geriatric ward, where the main business is getting on with the daily round of bowel movements and hip problems. She's the junior member of a team that includes Sister Den Flixter and Dr Pippa Moore, played by Brand's co-writers Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine. In episode one, they are about to be joined by a new male matron. The series has previously been shown on BBC Four, and has two Bafta nominations to its credit.

Jo Brand, Vicki Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlan's superb sitcom, shown on BBC4 last year, is set in an NHS old people's ward and has to be beautifully written to avoid being, well, worthy. Fortunately, it is easily funny enough. So much so, the viewer can be really punched in the face by the poignancy. It is extremely well-acted too.

Shown a year ago on BBC4, here's a much-deserved terrestrial repeat for this black-as-the-grave hospital comedy. An understaffed backwater of the NHS, B4 is the kind of ward where you're either afraid you're going to die, or, worse, worried that you might not.

Written by the cast - Jo Brand, Vicki Pepperdine and Joanna Scanlan - it's filmed in a documentary style, under unforgiving lighting and shot through with cold-eyed truth.

On B4, a lethal combination of self-interest, red tape, paperwork and political correctness conspire to ensure that nothing, least of all patient care, can be achieved. And that concept is perfectly encapsulated tonight by the drama of a poo on a chair.

Only three episodes were produced in this first series a second series of six episodes is now in the pipeline for this autumn. That will be on BBC4 as well - in case you thought it was only the NHS that made incomprehensible decisions...

Your next box set: Getting On

In Getting On, Death's waiting room provides surprisingly funny material, writes Kira Cochrane.

While the world's critics focus their attentions on lame comedy... usually aired on Channel 4... everyone who actually watches telly has been muttering about BBC Four's Getting On and how brilliant it is.

It's bleak, warm, hard as nails and most of all, compassionate, and tracks the the day to day workings of the medical team as they go about their routine tasks on Ward B4.

In the world of Getting On, we see healthcare at its least glamorous. Moral questions come from all corners... usually dusty corners with a bit of puke... and couldn't be further away from the high octane glamour of ER.

This isn't open heart surgery, rather, the world of stool samples and grumpy, skidmarky old people patched up only to return again a few months later. The jokes and fun come from the staff making light of the unrelenting stains.

Toilet humour. It isn't big and it isn't clever. But who cares when the brilliant Getting On, which I'm missing already, can turn the humble stool into a rich source of wipe-away-the-tears mirth?

This bleakly endearing geriatric ward comedy has only had a three episode run but richly deserves a full length series: with nurse Kim, sister Den and Dr Moore, writer/stars Jo Brand, Joanna Scanlan and Vicki Pepperdine have created an unforgettable trio. It helps, of course, if you like your potty humour wrapped up in a quilted loo roll of sophistication.

Taking revenge on neurotic meddler Dr Moore, Den decides to tamper with her precious report on patient faeces. A simple word substitution does the trick. 'What's another word for faeces?' queries Den. 'My youngest calls them plop plops,' offers Kim. Cue the following: 'The chart demonstrated construct validity for characterising stool function together with concurrent validity for characterising frequency of plop plops.' It cracks me up just typing it.

Much of the appeal of this miniseries - this is the third and final part - is the nuanced interplay between characters. Nurse Kim is in trouble because of an alleged offensive remark she made about Matron Loftus, and the ensuing "conflict-resolution strategy meeting" doesn't go too well. There's some confusion over matron's sexuality, which is of special concern to sister Den, as they had a night out together. Meanwhile, doctor Pippa is proudly off to a conference to read a paper about her stool samples. Three smart episodes; it would be nice to see this developed into a full series.

This, sadly, is the final episode of Jo Brand & Co's superlative series. Because it is based on mood, inflection and myriad flashes of acute observation, Getting On is almost as difficult to describe as a piece of music. Certainly there are headline events in each episode - tonight, for example, there is a "conflict resolution strategy meeting" and an argument about who won the raffle - but it's the interaction of the characters around these events that is so accurate and funny and wonderful. It is bound to be recommissioned; nobody would be mad enough to let something this good slip through the cracks. When that happens, I hope they continue to go for accuracy rather than leaning towards laughter, because it was the truthfulness that made it so extraordinary.