Murder In Successville

Review: Murder In Successville, Louis Smith, BBC3

And so this weirdly wonderful improvised whodunnit series comes to an end with Olympic gymnast Louis Smith, as the tabloids would say, as you've never seen him before. And not just because, as you can see in the picture here, he dons a dress at one point, but because he is forced to think on his feet, not just jump around on them.

Episode four of the homicide-themed comedy with an improv edge. Each week, DI Sleet (Tom Davis) investigates crimes perpetrated by phony celebrities, with the help of a real-life famous face. This week it's Dermot O'Leary, who must decide who was responsible for the death of "Amanda Holden" and the kidnap of "Mayor Simon Cowell": care home proprietor "Miley Cyrus", sweet shop magnate "Alan Sugar" or "Jessie J", apparently a martial arts champ. Complete and utter nonsense, cleverly done.

Preview: Murder In Successville, Dermot O'Leary, BBC3

If you haven't become hooked on this bizarre impro-celebrity-reality-TV whodunnit yet I seriously doubt if this week's episode is going to float your boat. But it is a good one.

It's going to take more than a conceptual BBC Three comedy to faze Deborah Meaden. Squinting at DI Sleet (Tom Davis) like he's a particularly careless inventor, the Dragon soon overcomes both the show's premise and a colossal height difference to take control. Who lethally doctored Lady Gaga's soup? As the investigation charges on, Sleet shouts at Boris Johnson, rubs himself against Cheryl Fernandez-Versini and nearly goes all the way with a half-dead Nicki Minaj. Meaden plays her disdain brilliantly straight.

Preview: Murder In Successville, Deborah Meaden

Meaden is a good sport, despite clearly not suffering fools gladly.

Radio Times review

Radio 1 DJ Greg James is the poor rube dropped into the entertaining, immersive murder mystery. He's got to work out why Reese Witherspoon, owner of Successville's biggest chain of bars (see what they did there?), has been murdered. Playing junior to the gruff, unorthodox-verging-on-insane DI Sleet (deadpanned brilliantly by Tom Davis), he's criticised for being "a bit camp and weird".

But then he's got to contend with Prof Brian Cox as an awe-filled forensic scientist and Frances Barber giving a delicious turn as a rapacious Mary Berry, owner of strip club Soggy Bottoms. He can't help laughing incredulously at it all and neither will you.

TV review: Murder In Successville

If and when BBC3 dwindles away to an online-only channel then the BBC absolutely must salvage this weird, manic, odd, hilarious thing and plant it firmly on BBC2.

In some respects, Murder in Successville reminds me of a sort of Beadle's About programme in which a number of celebrities becoming the unwitting foil to the fictional DI Sleet (Tom Davis). Sleet is a detective in the fictional town of Successville; which is populated by a group of famous faces none of whom act how they do in the public eye. The fact that a group of impressionists populate the show also makes it feel akin to a comedy show such as Stella Street or Dead Ringers. The problem is that, unlike those two programmes, none of the impressions in Murder in Successville are particularly accurate. Whilst I suppose this is meant to aid the comedy not one of the supporting cast members impressed me in the least bit. The lack of any decent impressions would lead me to believe that Murder in Successville is attempting to spoof both celebrity culture and the cop show in general. Unfortunately, I didn't find that there was one laugh during Murder in Successville's first half hour in which Made in Chelsea non-entity Jamie Lang is paired up with Sleet. In fact I found Lang incredibly annoying as he employed a bout of nervous laughter as the situations he experienced became more bizarre. Only Davis' deadpan performance as the Sam Spade-esque Sleet was worthy of praise as he at least tried to pull of the spoof element of the show. Murder in Successville built up to Lang attempting to solve the murder of Bruno Torlioni by shooting the person he thought was responsible for the crime. Due to this conclusion, Murder in Successville felt like one of those murder mystery weekends which I'm sure Lang and his Chelsea pals have been on in the past. However, aside from Davis' performance, I haven't got one positive thing to say about Murder in Successville as I found it be a programme that never really knew what it wanted to be.

Preview, Murder In Successvile, Greg James, BBC3

This is not sophisticated, carefully-crafted humour like, say, Inside No. 9, but there is something enjoyably stupid about it, even though it looks like it has cost a couple of quid to make. I fear the worst - this ludicrous off-the-cuffs series may be growing on me.

Murder in Successville is ridiculous. Each week it takes a real-life celebrity, and places them in the middle of a fictional murder mystery, which they must help to solve. Successville, where these crimes take place, is populated by celebrities doing ordinary jobs, only these "celebrities" are impressionists doing their versions of those celebrities doing ordinary jobs. It's part sketch show, part structured reality show and part quiz show. Its jokes are largely crude and scatological. Everyone is on the verge of laughter throughout.

In the opening episode, the celebrity stooge is Jamie Laing from Made in Chelsea. I've never seen Made in Chelsea, so he well could have been the impressionist's version of Jamie Laing, though a passing colleague saw him on my screen, confirmed it was the real Jamie Laing and declared him to be "the worst". Laing plays a rookie cop tasked with cracking the murder of Strictly Come Dancing judge Bruno Tonioli, who, in Successville, is a chef married to chief suspect Darcy Bussell. Neither are played by themselves. Local gangsters Alan Carr and Harry Styles are not themselves, either. Nor, disappointingly, is ballistics expert Taylor Swift actually played by Taylor Swift.

This is a very, very silly show. For the first half I was torn between feeling extremely pleased something so anarchic and daft had been commissioned by the BBC in the first place, and willing it to be just that little bit funnier, and less reliant on jokes about bumming. But eventually, it got me. Laing gamely plays along as he is directed towards increasingly absurd situations, such as interrogating Alan Carr's underworld "sister" Jimmy Carr, who communicates only in that seal-bark laugh.

If Laing really is a villain in Made in Chelsea, then Murder in Successville is a remarkable act of rehabilitation for him. He just can't stop giggling, and it's helplessly contagious. This is the same silly joy that comes from sitcom blooper reels, or performers corpsing during live comedy, or trying not to laugh when you're getting told off. It's not particularly sophisticated, but it is surprisingly charming, and perhaps some of those remaining BBC Three-on-TV viewers might have stumbled across it and been charmed by it, too.