PhoneShop

"Thank you for the commission. You're dead to me," summed up their technique. Is PhoneShop funny enough to lock its audience down into a long-term contract? Not sure. But the first episode had just enough going for it to make me happy to pay as I go, for now.

PhoneShop is an abysmal new sitcom written by Phil Bowker, a senior comedy executive. If nothing else, it gives budding comedy writers a window into Bowker's comic sensibilities, should they ever pitch a script to him. He evidently thinks shouting is a substitute for funny dialogue, and that swaggering, sub-Ali G patois is intrinsically hilarious.

Set in the ruthless environs of a high-street mobile phone retailer, it's stocked with irritating, unlikeable characters, one of whom exhibits the precise mannerisms of David Brent.

Ricky Gervais actually script-edited the pilot last year, but that's no reason for actor Tom Bennett to pay slavish tribute to him. It's a small mercy he isn't playing the needy, buffoonish boss character.

Woefully unfunny, charmless and inept, PhoneShop is the kind of comedy that dribbles contempt at its presumed audience of easily pleased young adults. Please, resist it in droves.

A product of C4's Comedy Showcase, PhoneShop is set in the high street world of mobile phone sales and features a boss who fancies himself as a bit of a motivator. Immediate Office/David Brent comparisons spring to mind (indeed Gervais has a minor hand in this) but despite its improvised feel, there is a broad anti-realist, improbable tone. Most of the characters talk in the faux patois of the wannabe black, including, curiously, the black character. This, amid the spivvy salesmanship, becomes a pretty dominant motif; how funny you find it will determine how much you enjoy this series.

When a new sitcom gets a big tick from comedy aristocrats like Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, you approach it with enormous expectations. And while PhoneShop includes some sharp lines and clever ideas, it's also irritating, which blurs out much of the good stuff. Double act Ashley (Andrew Brooke) and Jerwayne (Javone Prince) both talk like Ali G, but have nothing especially funny to say. Their schtick is to bully the freshly recruited, drippy salesman, Christopher (Tom Bennett), who they call Newman. This quickly gets boring but their dynamic never evolves beyond lions-picking-on-an-antelope. If you can be bothered it might be worth one more look but at best this series opener feels like an ill-cast early draft.

If you've got friends who laugh at you because you're a cheap pay-as-you-go kind of guy (welcome to my world), then you'll get where PhoneShop (E4) is coming from. Yet while the world of mobile phone sales offers rich pickings for slick-witted comedy, thus far this disconnected effort is struggling to find a signal.

It's a neat idea to send up the macho world of mobile sales jerks - we've all been on the wrong end of one of those - by turning it into a kind of hands-free Sopranos. But PhoneShop seems like a one-joke pony relying on its bunch of arrogant idiots swaggering around talking like trainee Ali Gs.

Without a single character any rational person could connect to, PhoneShop ended up as annoying as those idiots who shout: 'Hello? You're cracking up' at the same point of their train journey every flippin' day, innit. Some people never learn.

There was a lot of love on Channel 4's website following the pilot for PhoneShop, which is just as well, because it had been greenlit for a full series before it even went to air.

This well observed, sharply written comedy reunites Ashley and Jerwayne (Andrew Brooke and Javone Prince) to spout more incomprensible rapid-fire banter.

Having survived the infamous one-day trial, Newman (Tom Bennett) is now an official employee and Pay As You Go girl Janine (Emma Fryer) longs to be taken seriously enough to be assistant manager.

Thankfully, there's no mention of manager Lance's sex addiction tonight. Instead, he's fixated on legendary former employee Gary Patel, who is currently at Her Majesty's Pleasure. Meanwhile, a visit from rivals in Croydon forces them all to close ranks to battle the outsiders.

It's very funny, but viewers outside London whose ears aren't assaulted by urban youth-speak every day might want need reassurance that yes, we are still in Britain.

PhoneShop Review: Poor Reception

Put simply, PhoneShop is the most appalling 'comedy' this reviewer has watched in several years and should, if there is any justice in this world, signal the end of everyone's career who was involved in making it.

Video: Behind the scenes at new E4 show PhoneShop

E4's latest comedy, PhoneShop, is set in a south London store and follows the lives of mobile sales staff as they try to get customers to upgrade and buy other accessories. The set was so convincing, members of the public kept coming in to ask for new phones.

Interview with the cast of PhoneShop

After a pilot episode in C4's Comedy Showcase last year, the sitcom set in a mobile phone shop returns for a full series.

PhoneShop Review

I'd have liked to see more realism in PhoneShop, as most of the characters were very broad, or felt like people you'd grow irritated by fairly quickly. Overall, PhoneShop worked well as a diverting pilot, but they'll have to adjust things if it's going to work as a regular series.