Mountain Goats

Unlike last week's Over To Bill, at least Miller's Mountain contained a stereotypical sitcom protagonist in Scottish mountain rescue leader Jimmy Miller (Jimmy Chisholm). Miller's constant boasting about his previous achievements and his sense of superiority put me in mind of such comedy buffoons as Captain Mainwaring and Arkwright. But that's where the comparisons to the likes of Dad's Army ends as Miller's Mountain was missing the vital ingredient in a sitcom, namely funny jokes.

From the time that Jimmy asked barmaid Jules (Sharon Rooney) for the usual and she punched him in the face I knew we were in trouble. But it turned out that this was one of the brighter spots for an episode that I was less and less interested in as it went on. The final gag, involving Jimmy in his underwear, was just atrocious and on the whole I found Donald McLeary's script incredible unfunny. The one exception was the wonderful Sharon Rooney, who can do no wrong in my eyes, as at least she was trying to make her scenes as successful as possible.

Just like with Over To Bill, I'd be very surprised if Miller's Mountain were to return as it didn't really go down well with either audiences or critics. However, if by some miracle Miller's Mountain did run to a full series I would hope that Sharon Rooney would have enough good sense no to reprise her role in this incredibly crude and old-fashioned sitcom.

Despite a fine turn from Sharon Rooney as a bolshie barmaid, this BBC Comedy Playhouse sitcom was largely witless, crude and noisy with canned laughter. Think Mrs Brown's Boys in the Highlands. It'll probably be a huge hit.

Miller's Mountain, Comedy Playhouse - BBC, TV review

When the BBC's announced the return of Comedy Playhouse a few months back, sitcom fans had reason to be optimistic. This was the long-running anthology series which, between 1961 and 1975, gave us classics including Steptoe & Son and Are You Being Served?. Would this three-part revival turn up anything worthy of a full-series commission? After watching the second instalment, Miller's Mountain, last night, the answer is: not so far.

Miller's Mountain: No one's cracking a smile

The one-off Miller's Mountain (BBC One) was quite literally as funny as a broken leg.

Rude, crude and very likable pilot sitcom from BBC Scotland, concerning a hapless team of mountain rescue volunteers, navigating the likes of "genocide gully". The reference point here might be Father Ted, with its oddball parochialism and unhinged cast of characters, including "poundshop Noel Edmonds" Jimmy Miller (Jimmy Chisholm), Bill, who helps find corpses ("I'm no stranger to a frostbitten leg in a Waitrose bag"), and a pub, The Busted Femur, whose interior suggests "a morgue had sex with an old folks' home". More please!

Radio Times review

Given that this latest sitcom pilot is set among a mountain rescue team, it's fitting that halfway through, the standard of comedy falls off a cliff. In the first half we've been introduced to old hand Jimmy as he welcomes newcomer Conor to the rescue team via some lunchtime drinking at their local pub, the Busted Femur.

Jimmy's back-and-forth with tough barmaid Jules ("The usual please, Jules!" he cries, whereupon she smacks him in the face) and colleague Bill sets up the characters, but when the team head up a mountain we get gags like Jimmy peeing into the hole where the victim they're searching for has fallen. Then everybody breaks their arms and legs and the comedy snaps, too.

Kevin Guthrie is happy to head for the hills in comedy

At just 25, the actor is one of Scotland's brightest young stars but, if success is shining on him at the moment, it has not blinded him to the need to stay grounded and work hard.

Sharon Rooney interview

The 25-year-old Glaswegian plays Jules, a no-nonsense barmaid in Miller's Mountain.