Wasted (2016)

A Spaced for generation Snapchat, in which a group of friends attempt to find themselves by drinking "Yeovil martinis" and going to Comic-Con. With half the cast hailing from Devon, the accents are as on-point as its handle on mid-20s lethargy. In the last of the series, Morpheus is told by his spirit guide Sean Bean (yes, really) that it's finally time to lose his V-plates, so him and the gang pop off to a sex party where he bumps into an old teacher. Nightmare.

With its bickering cast of self-sabotaging slackers framed by lickety-split editing and 8-bit sound effects, this West Country-set sitcom feels like a rural offshoot of Spaced, with the added attraction of Sean Bean sending up his Westeros hinterland as a grumpy spirit guide. As the gang's sleepy village of Neston Berry gears up for its annual Berry Man revels, D&D doughboy Morpheus is unexpectedly tapped to be the star of the show.

Created and written by Jon Foster and James Lamont who previously worked together on Cuckoo and The Armstrong and Miller Show, Wasted follows the fortunes of four youngsters who wile away their days in the fictional West Country village of Neston Berry. The first episode begins with the return of Kent (Dylan Edwards) who has unsuccessfully tried to make it as a DJ and now is trying to weasel his way back into his old life. His return his met with great acclaim by his best friend Morpheus (Danny Kirrane) who runs a weird souvenir shop alongside his sardonic sister Sarah (Rose Reynolds). The back of the shop is home to Alison (Gwyneth Keyworth) who runs a new age healing business and whom Morpheus has a long-standing crush on. The opener sees Morpheus try to impress Alison by hosting a pub quiz after she reveals her secret desire for Jeremy Paxman whilst Sarah attempts to become a drug dealer with very negative results. Just like with Borderline, a lot of what happens is Wasted is quite cliched especially the scenes in which Morpheus has a drug overdose while hosting the aforementioned pub quiz. However I do feel that Foster and Lamont have perfectly conveyed the feeling of living in a small town where there is very little for the young folk to do. Wasted has probably garnered the most publicity due to the fact that Sean Bean makes several cameo appearances as a manifestation of Morpheus' subconscious. Whilst Bean's appearance may feel like a gimmick these dream sequences do add a new dimension to the sitcom and make it stand out from the crowd. Bean also seems to be having a great time with the dialogue he's been given and I'm sure he's happy in the fact that as he's a figment of a character's imagination he won't be killed off. I found all four leads to be energetic and believable in their rolls with Kirrane being especially on form as the sympathetic nerd Morpheus. Whilst Foster and Lamont's sitcom isn't perfect I feel that it features the best representation of young people in a sitcom for a long while. Whilst it's still a little rough around the edges I thought that Wasted shows buckets of promise and is perfectly suited to the young audience that E4 is aimed at.

Wasted, a new comedy about amiable West Country losers who dedicate themselves with some diligence to getting out of their gourds at every opportunity, had some very nice touches, but relied almost exclusively for its humour on the scatological and I mean health-warning scatological; this was gamey meat indeed. Somehow it succeeded, by ratcheting up the nasties to the point where it's as easy to give a belly laugh as a sigh of relief. But subtle, nuanced it ain't, if you exclude the frankly bizarre presence of Sean Bean as an ancient mentor who appears in visions as a kind of Ned Stark/Boromir cross, but mainly as Sean Bean playing the actor Sean Bean. How did they ever get him to commit? I'm so glad they did. He shows remarkable comic wisdom and who'd have guessed?

Wasted: crude, stoner TV comedy with a heart

Daft and gross with the odd dab of sweetness, there's also something enjoyably nostalgic in Wasted's depiction of aimless, pleasure-seeking youth. Add Sean Bean gruffly enjoying a stick of candyfloss to that mix, and you can't really go far wrong.

With its trippy camera work, surreal gags and a slew of cultural references, this riotous new six-part comedy about west-country slackers is highly indebted to Simon Pegg, Jessica Stevenson and Edgar Wright's Spaced. In the first episode of tonight's double bill, head shop owners Morpheus and Sarah, tattoo artist Alison and failed DJ Kent search for a stash of ecstasy from the 90s. Meanwhile, the second episode sees "spirit guide" Sean Bean - in his Ned Stark garb - help out the gang after a messy night in Bath.

Wasted, review

Wasted was by no means perfect - a scattergun approach meant some gags fell flat and the surreal set pieces occasionally smacked of studenty self-indulgence - but it had a riotous energy and a cheekily irreverent approach to its headline-stealing cameo. Cool Beans.

Sean Bean plays a gruff, becloaked ghost popping up to dispense life advice in Wasted, a sitcom about four 20-somethings squandering their lives in a West Country village as they try to stave off boredom. Siblings Morpheus and Sarah run a mystical souvenir shop, while scrounging pal Kent kips on their sofa and old school friend Alison runs a new age healing business at the back of the premises. At times chaotic, and sometimes surreal, it's a wickedly accurate look at the dullness of rural life.

TV review: Wasted, E4

Hilarious slacker comedy starring Sean Bean, Danny Kirrane, Rose Reynolds, Gwyneth Keyworth and Dylan Edwards.

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