Sirens

Another classy episode of the drama - mainly because there's more space given to the lovely Maxine. She's told by a date that she should be more "yielding" and thus becomes Stepford. It's nicely done and leads to a brilliant scene with some roast beef.

TV Review: Sirens on Channel 4

Chiming, charming and chilling.

What Sirens lacks in humour it makes up for in charm

Sirens' initial trailer suggested comedy, but it belied a thoughtful and entertaining drama.

Last Night's TV - Sirens, Channel 4

They've got their fingers on the pulse.

The second episode of Brian Fillis's comedy-drama set among Leeds paramedics is really finding its rhythm. Stuart's thus-far platonic relationship with police sergeant Maxine is the most intriguing of the series but this week, he finds himself dating a student and facing stress-related underperformance problems under the duvet. With a studiously mixed cast of characters (gay, Muslim, female, bloke), all doing serious jobs, Sirens successfully gets away with a lot of boisterous laddishness.

Rewind TV: Sirens

Sirens' paramedics had this viewer gripped. Could they please now rescue the female roles?

Sirens, Channel 4, Monday

The gallows humour of ambulance drivers gets lost in a muddled attempt at a comedy drama.

Another view on Sirens

Heart massage is probably not best applied via an open wound, as Sirens suggests.

Before we turn to the hellish mess that is Sirens, it's worth reminding ourselves what Channel 4 is meant to do. When the channel first went on air in 1982, its remit required it to provide a broad range of programmes which demonstrate innovation, experiment and creativity. A lot of ideals have disappeared down the plughole since then, and with them have gone most - perhaps all - of C4's reason to exist.

And so to Sirens, a new drama series about paramedics so devoid of innovation, experiment and creativity that my initial whimpers of disbelief had turned into a prolonged groan of despair by the first commercial break. Some flavour of its distinctive non-allure can be gained from the fact that the first words anyone spoke were, "Adrenalin, f---ing adrenalin."

In the speech that followed I counted six "f---s" - and it was a pretty short speech. Now, there's nothing new about having characters say "f---" every other sentence in a wearisome attempt to lend something a measure of street-cred, but I have never seen it done quite so lumpishly and self-consciously.

The main character, Stuart (Rhys Thomas), is a priapic moron with two mouthy sidekicks. Rather than characterise the sidekicks, writer Tony Basgallop had gone instead for a primitive sort of colour-coding - one is Asian while the other is gay. All three are so unpleasant that if they were the first people you saw after coming round from a heart attack, you might well summon up your last reserves of strength to try to knock yourself out again with the defibrillator paddle.

The first episode was called 'Up, Horny, Down'. This refers to the mood swings that apparently are a feature of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - first you're exhilarated, then randy, then blue. Being possessed, I hope, of a reasonably compassionate nature - and also having no desire to recall any more of Sirens than necessary - I'll confine myself to noting that one scene involved Stuart trying to pee with an erection and splashing all the toiletries on his bathroom shelf. It went on in similar vein for 50 minutes and then, clearly aware that something climactic was required, loosed off a thrillingly bold "c---" just before the end credits.

Sirens was a heroic mess that held the attention

Sirens' shifts of tone between bawdy comedy and tense drama - sometimes in the same scene - added up to a heroic mess, but one worth sticking with.