Uncle

Uncle on BBC Three (you pretty much have to go beyond two for a BBC laugh now, House of Fools being the exception). Uncle also celebrates generational differences and misunderstandings, but much more joyously. The uncle (played by Nick Helm) is disastrous but weirdly likable; the kid is nerdy and lovely. They have adventures, it's more outrageous, bolder, more inappropriate, darker, quirkier (there's singing). And - crucially - funny. Which Outnumbered isn't. Maybe once I chuckled to myself, when Pete and his elder son were accusing each other of being racist. That's it, though. And yet it's adored by literally every other critic and it's won a ton of awards. They're wrong though and I'm right.

Nick Helm interview

Nick Helm talks about dealing with "all sorts of fucking people" and making them laugh.

Comparisons with About A Boy are inevitable but - with the undeniable boon of there being nary a Hugh Grant in sight - this tale of an unlikely friendship struck between Nick Helm's suicidal, solipsistic and rather dickish Andy and his nerdy, timid and rather dickish nephew Errol is, in turns, awkward, hilarious, surreal and poignant. But never too poignant. Ideal for filling any Him And Her-shaped hole in your life.

Nick Helm plays the titular suicidal Andy who is temporarily dragged out of his misery to reluctantly look after his 12-year-old nephew, Errol. After an initial stand-off, the pair use their equal status as outsiders to forge an unlikely bond. Helm successfully channels the less bombastic side of his stand-up character to portray a loveable loser and the overall effect is curiously moving, as well as intermittently hilarious. Perhaps he'll have lost it in 20 years' time, but for now, let's just enjoy a comedian approaching his prime.

The only comedy that felt vaguely fresh last week was the newest show from BBC Three, Uncle.

I feel the strength of Uncle comes from the chemistry between Nick Helm and Elliot Spencer-Gillot, whose awkward exchanges really liven up what could be quite an ordinary show. Oliver Refson's script does have some memorable moments, however I personally felt the more tender segments made the sitcom rise above the usual BBC Three fare. Though the final act of episode one was a little over-sentimental, it did make me feel that Uncle was a full-rounded show and wasn't just a one-note comedy.

In addition there are some fantastic support performance most notably from Con O'Neil who appears to be having a ball as the strip-club owning transvestite.

I'm just hoping that future episodes of Uncle have the same mix of lowbrow humour and realistic moments that this opener had because, if it does, BBC Three could have another comedy hit on its hands.

Uncle's Nick Helm on the cult of the manchild

The stand-up turned star of BBC Three's new sitcom on Men Behaving Badly, Simon Pegg and the evolution of boys who won't grow up.

Now, normally I'd have to search far and wide for the guitar riff to a cruelly forgotten classic. I'd have to burrow deep into the hinterlands of BBC Four, which is basically all hinterland but you know what I mean. Generously, though, a new comedy called Uncle began with (Don't Fear) The Reaper. Brilliant. Nobody plays the Blue Oyster Cult's only song anymore. At this moment the uncle in question was trying to kill himself after being dumped by his girlfriend. But then his sister phoned, asking him to look after her son - the nephew who until that point he'd barely acknowledged.

Nick Helm plays Andy, who can't stand kids - "They're all 'Oo, look at my cool allergies and my wheelie backpack!' They think they're so fascinating" - though he's no slouch when it comes to self-obsessiveness. Elliot Speller-Gillott is Errol, 12, possessed of a bowlcut only a mother could love and a Britpop-loving wardrobe assistant could give him. Andy is an out-of-work musician. "That's another way of saying unemployed," quipped Errol.

First stop was the lad's football practice, and from there, bizarrely and maybe surreally, it was on to a strip club, with Andy supplying life lessons along the way. Love, he said, was like walking on water, until a shark bites off your foot. Then another shark goes for your testicles. You're rescued by a seagull, which tosses you onto the jagged rocks. And that's when the hyenas come along and eat you. Uncle is highly promising and it also comes with impromptu songs.

Uncle - TV review

Uncle is warm, dark, rude - and hilarious enough to fill the comedy void since Him & Her and Toast of London ended.

Opening a new comedy with a broken-hearted man who is reeling from a failed love affair and about to attempt suicide in his bath is a high-risk manoeuvre. Imminent electrocution is not generally high on belly laugh potential.

But oddly, Uncle (BBC Three), a curious tale of a man buddy-bonding with a nephew he'd not hitherto even noticed, pulled it off.

Thanks to a pair of winning turns by Nick Helm (as slacker musician Uncle Andy) and Elliot Spencer-Gillott (as the 12 going on 35-year-old Errol), Uncle offered an amusing and admirably unsentimental twist on the struggles of the modern family unit.

It was great to hear the 'he's the greatest thing that ever happened to me' line, the default tear-jerker card played by talent show hopefuls who got knocked up at 14 and who bring the kid out on stage to bag the sympathy vote, trotted out with such tongue-in-cheek insincerity by Andy. He was deviously trying to win back his ex by using the 'I'm a great dad' card. It can work with puppies too.

It wasn't all on the money. Quite where a bizarre dance sequence involving a male dance troupe in tight white shorts and Andy dressed like Liberace fitted into the picture is anyone's guess.

But when Uncle concentrated on building the fledgling relationship between Andy and Errol, the fateful turn of events that pulled Andy back from the suicidal brink, it hit the mark.

The struggle between the two of them, Andy dissing kids for their 'look at me with my cool allergies' self-involvement on the one side, Errol's sophisticated brand of manipulative cunning on the other, promises a formula with plenty of potential. At the very least, it'll do until Moone Boy comes back.

This dark new comedy sees musical funnyman Nick Helm (Live At The Electric) play Andy, a jobless musician whose plans for suicide are interrupted when he's drafted in to look after his 12-year-old nephew. Episode one sees a bizarre escape from footy practice for nephew Errol (Elliot Spencer-Gillott), as Andy embarks on his own shambling reimagining of About A Boy. Posing as a single dad in an attempt to win back his ex only leads to more trouble for the hapless uncle and his glum charge, however.