Misfits (2009)

TV ratings: Misfits draws nearly 500,000

Misfits, E4's critically lauded asbo-superhero drama, attracts 447,000 multichannel viewers on debut.

Misfits 1.1 Review

Overall, Misfits certainly had verisimilitude in the dialogue, a group of actors who look and feel very authentic, and definite potential in the British spin it puts on this timeworn genre. It'll be interesting to see what kind of adventures the Misfits get up to over the next six weeks, as the group assumedly visit various locations as part of their atonement to society.

You could graffiti a whole train carriage with the influences at play in Misfits. This fresh stab at a British superpower thriller is a little bit Heroes, a little bit Hostel, with slithers of Skins, Power Rangers and Dead Set thrown in for good measure. Yet from that messy mix, writer Howard Overman has somehow contrived something that feels fresh and original. Making a virtue of its zero budget by setting the action in what looks like a vandalised comprehensive, the Misfits set-up is simple. A mixed bag of young offenders turn up for community service, get caught up in a freak storm featuring giant snowballs and discover the crazy weather has bestowed them with bizarre powers.

But they're not the only ones warped by meteorological madness. Their previously caring, sharing probation officer has been transformed into a bloodlusty zombie and he's up for a killing spree, determined to pick them off one by one. It's at this point that you're better off disregarding E4's defiantly upbeat description of Misfits as a 'comedy drama'. There are laughs but they're of the salty, sweary, bloody kind. Misfits works just fine as a blood-and-guts horror romp and it's stronger on hysteria than hilarity. There's a brain bouncing around in there, too. The superpowers our merry band of losers find themselves in receipt of are directly related to their character traits: the geeky psycho becomes invisible (as he feels much of the time); a girl obsessed by what others think suddenly finds she can read minds. It's a neat touch that gives you something to chew over during the odd lapse in carnage.

And for those of you who like this sort of thing, follow Misfits on Twitter and you'll become privy to a secret character who doesn't actually pop up in the show until the sixth episode. Well, rock me back on my multi-platform boots, how darned moderne.

Misfits episode 1 review

"Woah! The probation worker's gone mental!" was my absolute favourite line of the first episode of a truly hilarious new drama, and it was uttered by the guy with all the best lines in the script. Nathan, played with green-eyed mischief by Robert Sheehan, injected a very Shaun Of The Dead-ish, tongue-in-cheek tone to the goings-on.

If Heroes' ragtag bunch of ordinary people with extraordinary powers failed to move you, try this. A bunch of teenage Asbo recipients turn up for community service (painting benches, that sort of thing) and find themselves in the middle of a dramatic storm featuring hailstones the size of tennis balls. The next thing they know, one of them can read minds, one can become invisible, one can turn back time and their probation officer has turned from stern to violent. Shot in pallid greys, it looks pretty bleak but boasts some sharp performances.

Perhaps taking a line from BBC Three's Being Human, E4's new series succeeds by being consistently funny and imaginative. Its lead characters are five community workers who get caught in an ice storm and develop strange new powers - such as athlete Curtis (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) who can now turn back time when he feels regret. Tonight the five discover that the storm has also turned their supervisor into a psychopath.

A gang of teenagers in orange boiler-suits start their community service by chatting on their mobiles and threatening to stab each other, but a mysterious storm soon comes along to imbue them with the distraction of some really odd superpowers. This leads to a horror-tinged madcap adventure, with flashes of Dead Set, to which Misfits bears a strong visual resemblance. This Heroes-with-Asbos premise could have been awful, but since it's well written, magnificently shot and tremendously funny, it looks as if E4 have another hit on their hands.

At a recent E4 launch, tvBite got involved in a drunken conversation with the cast of Misfits. They're rambunctious, to say the least. The main one, Robert Sheehan, is clearly extremely talented and also hyperactive. The rougher of the girls enjoyed part of the evening berating people as they left the toilet for taking drugs, when they'd clearly just been in the toilet. Their show backs them. It looks fantastic. It's beautifully directed, with shots of London that are achingly gorgeous. Their acting is precocious but kept just enough in check. The script is solid but more than a touch Heroes. After all, the kids are doing community service, get hit by lightning and gain superpowers. Despite that, it has none of Heroes' late-series directionless meandering. Gonna be a hit!

Misfits: episode one

As an opening episode, this was very good, but the real test is how it develops over the remaining five episodes. Now that four of the main five characters have had their powers established, it'll be interesting to see how they use them in next week's episode.

E4's Misfits: Heroes with an ASBO?

We caught a preview screening of E4's new superhero show, Misfits. So is the first episode any good? Yes. Even though it took five or ten minutes before I really clicked in to the show, it's absolutely got me tuning back for episode two.