The Persuasionists

When American scriptwriters decided to put the advertising world on telly, they gave us the perfectly scripted and critically acclaimed Mad Men. This side of the pond we end up with The Persuasionists, which follows the more traditional vein of Brit sitcoms.

It's often said advertising execs have no idea what they're doing and the five idiots in this certainly live up to that image. They work for HHH&H and have to come up with a clever campaign for Cockney Cheese, a bizarre brown cheese that smells of something incredibly unpleasant (I won't spoil the revelation - it's almost certain to give you a chuckle). Creative Billy (Iain Lee, in his first acting role) has come up with a slogan and it's up to uncertain Greg (Adam Buxton) to sell it to the client, Cockney Jim.

Trouble is, he's terrified of Jim, a caricature of an EastEnders baddie... played by former EastEnders baddie Lee Ross (he was Owen Turner). And unlike one colleague, Greg doesn't have a giant pencil to save the day (that's not a euphemism - one of them really has a giant pencil).

The series is written by former ad man Jonathan Thake, who was responsible for Pot Noodle's "the slag of all snacks" campaign, one of the most complained-about TV ads of all time. I'd love to have seen how he managed to sell this little show to the Beeb.

The Persuasionists is an okayish sitcom featuring Adam Buxton. We bow to no man in our adoration of Adam and Joe, but The Persuasionists just limps on screen as yet another office-based sitcom from the BBC. It has just enough promise to keep us interested for next week, but if it doesn't get much better then, we're taking it back to the shop.

The Persuasionists - Billy's Cockey Cheese ideas

The Persuasionists begins tonight on BBC Two. It's a comedy about the staff of a marketing agency called HHH&H and it is written by Jonathan Thake - a man with a good idea about life in this world, as it was he who came up with a certain controversial Pot Noodle advert back in 2002.

The Persuasionists Review: Unpersuasive

Episode 1 sees the adcentrics trying to sell a brown smelly 'cockney cheese' for disillusioned client Jim (Lee Ross), who is so cockney it hurts (though just enough for Emma). Cue hilarious chaos. Something definitely smells off to me. Though sadly, it's not only the storyline that stinks.

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Populated by over-the-top admen characters and extreme plots rooted more in truth than fiction, you get a flavour of the series with his original title - The Scum Also Rises - which BBC2 has delicately changed to The Persuasionists.

The Persuasionists - The hard sell as soft option

As a new BBC sitcom, The Persuasionists, lifts the lid on advertising, Gerard Gilbert asks why few TV writers have seen the potential for satire in the industry - and if this attempt is a missed opportunity.