Mumbai Calling

The pilot for Mumbai Calling was broadcast so long ago that the catch-up introduction to the new series was almost an episode in itself. For those who missed it, or have scant recall of what happened, the pilot saw Wembley-born Kenny Gupta (Sanjeev Bhaskar) sent off to Mumbai to manage a call centre, along with troubleshooting assessor Terri Johnson, who turned out to be a woman (Daisy Beaumont). An attractive woman. You get the idea.

And it's not bad. It's not great either, but there is enough funny material to inspire cautious optimism, and the central characters definitely show potential, which is the most important factor in a sitcom's success. There is no laughter track, always a good thing, and the sheer originality of the setting merits some acknowledgement. I say give it a chance.

Oddly enough, for a television comedy, many of the best scenes occurred as reported action off screen. Such as the episode's funniest moment in which the India-based team inadvertently directed a funeral cortege away from Milton Keynes Crematorium and into Woburn Safari Park, where the corpse was set upon by lions.

I laughed a lot at that bit and also derived much pleasure from Nitin Ganatra's over the top performance as the amiable but ineffectual middle manager Dev. Every good sitcom needs a scene stealer.

Weekend TV choice: Mumbai Calling

It's a great premise: a comic peek at Britain's helpline outsourcing from the viewpoint of an ­Indian call centre showing that, however much the British whine about not being able to talk to an Englishman on the phone, talking to an Englishman when you work in a call centre is worse. It's like a gentler The Office. Mumbai looks gorgeous and the supporting cast steal every scene, but the rest of it drags.