Other People

Blog Review

Overall, Toby Whithouse's Other People was a funny and engaging 30-minutes of comedy. The premise and plot were simple and predictable, but the characters were nicely established and, above all, it was constantly funny.

Post The Office, as it were, Martin Freeman hasn't quite found his vehicle. Hardware had its moments, but there weren't enough of them, however, in a C4 Comedy Showcase - effectively a short series of pilots - entitled Other People, he might have it. As a 1980s child magician Greg Wilson tasted fame, of the Royal Variety variety, before having his career destroyed by being called a 'fucking wanker' in a live phone-in during kids' TV show 'Crikey! It's Saturday'. Now, bitter and thirtysomething, working in a sofa shop, he copes with the reverse in fortunes by being, mostly, bitter.

'Do you know who gets to choose Employee of the Month?' asks his up-tight boss. 'Ant and Dec? People get to text-in?'

I don't know who gets to choose Pilot of the Month at C4 but there's surely some mileage in a Big Brother-style interactive public vote, in which case Other People gets mine. Come to think of it, perhaps all TV comedy should be commissioned by text? Or, failing that, Ant and Dec.

As ex-magician Greg Wilson's solicitor tells him after he's been charged with assaulting a woman in the Kingdom of Couches-esque sofa warehouse in which he works, "The law can be a very sexist environment. It's very difficult for women to prove themselves. Especially the ugly ones." Written by Toby Whithouse, whose CV includes Doctor Who and No Angels, this chucklesome, misanthropic comedy has Martin Freeman as Greg and features the excellent Siobhan Finneran and Phil Davis.

Martin Freeman Interview

He was the long-suffering everyman in The Office. Now he's a warehouseman with a chip on his shoulder. The Independent talks to Martin Freeman.