Pulling

BBC get it badly, badly wrong by cancelling 'Pulling'

Someone at the BBC needs slapping senseless... that's if there's any sense there in the first place. Why? Well, in light of the fact that Auntie is currently showing some of the worst shows I've ever seen (The Cup, the woeful Coming of Age), they've decided to nix one of the best shows I've seen in ages.

BBC3 pulls Pulling: a terrible decision

The decision not to bring back Pulling is certainly a poor one. It may not have reached the ratings heights of Gavin and Stacey or Little Britain, but it was a funny, smart and topical show that spoke to its loyal audience.

Why Pulling is far superior to Gavin and Stacey

The Guardian's TV critic Gareth McLean says nice things about Pulling

With Gavin & Stacey scooping the big prizes, I do worry that BBC3's other brilliant comedy Pulling is getting a little overlooked. It never fails to make me laugh and, although the storylines are completely mad, they somehow work brilliantly.

I'd love to see this for a third series but I wonder if the barrage of people who switch off after their weekly dose of Gav and Stacey have blown the chances of this Sharon Horgan masterpiece getting another outing.

There's no reason to like the characters as they're completely hopeless... but there's something of us in the girls. They're finding themselves in the time of life when everything should look like This Life. However, they've found themselves as hapless as they were when they were fumbling through their mid-teens. This is a multiple car-crash of a show... and y'know what? I'm really liking it.

It's frantic, flippant and astoundingly filthy, with Tanya Franks as drunk Karen the cherry on the pina colada. Not since Patsy in Ab Fab has binge drinking been this funny.

Pulling is not just about shocking us with the filthy behaviour of a bunch of thoroughly disreputable thirtysomething women (though it is quite a lot about that, and it does it very well). It's good in many other ways, too. It's beautifully observed and written, the characters speak not in a comedy-drama way, but in the way real people speak (which, you could argue, is what a comedy-drama way should be), even on the phone. They're fabulous, these characters - larger than life, but also just like life, or lifelike. We all know - or have met - Karens, Louises, Donnas (you know who you are!). They're bad and mad, but also warm and lovely - a killer combination. They care about each other, so we care about them.

Pulling shares a lot of ground with Nighty Night - it has the cojones to go where other comedy doesn't dare, a darkness and a genuine belly-laugh funniness. It's the funniest thing on telly at the moment by a mile.

Sharon Horgan is a favourite of ours and this sitcom - deservedly in its second series - shows off her acting and writing talents superbly.

The show is never far away from a shocking moment but it's all done in the best possible tastelessness. It is packed with plot and scenes of clever farce but also has time for lots of well-observed, dry dialogue. What the characters say is funny when they think they're being funny and equally funny when they think they're being serious.

Telegraph Interview

Sharon Horgan Q+A Interview

Digital Spy has a quick series two question and answers session with the writer and star.