You, Me And The Apocalypse

The end-of-times comedy drama continues as Slough bank manager Jamie (Mathew Baynton) tries to find his birth mother while the authorities continue to mistake him for hacking mastermind Ariel. Meanwhile Father Jude (Rob Lowe) and Sister Celine (Gaia Scodellaro) save a young girl from an angry mob only to find out she has a surprising secret. It set an agreeably silly tone from the off and the performances, coupled with the impending jeopardy, keep this crackling like a space rock entering Earth's atmosphere.

You, Me And The Apocalypse - Episode 2 review

Things kicked up a gear this week, as the effects of the on-coming apocalypse became clearer and we were introduced two new characters.

You, Me and the Apocalypse, episode two, review

The pace of the sprawling apocalyptic drama is too leisurely, says Michael Hogan.

You, Me and the Apocalypse imagines a near future when an asteroid on a direct collision course with Earth puts the world on the brink of imminent extinction. It is set in Slough, which, ever since The Office, has become a TV comedy byword for plodding mundanity and ironic hyper-normality. It's not the only reference You, Me... has to other television programmes - there are several scenes in a women's prison in New Mexico that bear more than a passing resemblance to Orange Is the New Black.

This aside, You, Me and the Apocalypse is an unexpected delight. I say unexpected because it's not every day you see Pauline Birds of a Feather Quirke co-starring alongside Rob St Elmo's Fire Lowe and the narrative is completely bonkers, incorporating as it does a WikiLeaks-style computer-hacking antagonist, an Italian nun and a foul-mouthed priest whose job it is to be a devil's advocate (literally) and argue against candidates for canonisation.

Like I said: totally batshit.

But it works, partly because the writing is tight and deft and funny and the acting excellent. Rob Lowe is especially good as the priest, Father Jude Sutton, and delivers all the best lines. At one point, he muses over why the phrase "Christ on a bike" might be offensive to Catholics.

"I think he'd be very likely to ride a bike," says Father Sutton. "He seems like that kind of a guy to me. What else would he show up in - a stretch hummer?"

It's a very promising first episode. I do feel a bit sorry for Slough though.

From the off it was quite easy to ascertain that You, Me and The Apocalypse was a co-production between Sky and NBC as it featured several stars from the American network's biggest sitcoms. Despite the big American names the show is narrated by Slough Bank Manager Jamie (Mathew Baynton) who is still nursing a broken heart after his wife mysteriously disappeared shortly after their honeymoon. Things get worse for Jamie when he's arrested for cyber terrorism and discovers that he may have an identical twin who is the head of the organisation. This feeling is confirmed by his mother (Pauline Quirke) who reveals that she adopted him after finding him in a shoebox. As the story is told in flashbacks we also see several the stories of several other people who are sharing a bunker with Jamie as a meteor collides with the Earth. They include a naive nun (Gaia Scodallero) who arrives at the Vatican to work in the office of the Devil Advocate under the foul-mouthed Father Jude (Rob Lowe). Elsewhere we see Rhonda (Jenna Fischer) who takes the rap for a crime committed by her teenage son who hacked into the NSA network. Rhonda is soon befriended by white supremacist Leanne (Megan Mullally) with both ladies escaping prison once the end of the world is announced. The first episode of You, Me and The Apocalypse contained some big ideas and I felt it tackled them well for the most part. Writer Iain Hollands has come a long way since E4's Beaver Falls and has crafted some interesting characters who find themselves in bizarre situations. The cast, primarily the American stars, were great at handling the wittier lines of the script with Lowe and Mullaly being the stand outs for me. However, I was disappointed by Baynton who appeared to be playing the same character he portrayed in The Wrong Mans. Additionally I felt that the pace of the opener was rather slow which probably had something to do with the fact that it will be running for ten episodes. But despite this I would say that You, Me and The Apocalypse does have promise and I'll at least watch one more episode to see how it progresses.

You, Me And The Apocalypse - Episode 1 review

For what it's worth, I really enjoyed the first episode. I don't think writer Iain Hollands intends this to be seen as an out-and-out comedy. Instead it's that dreaded hybrid: a "dramedy". Which, translated, means that it's offbeat rather than laugh-out loud hysterical.

You, Me And The Apocalypse review

I think this will be a moderate success for Sky, but it definitely won't be 'water cooler' conversation the next day.

This promising all-star comedy drama stars Mathew Baynton, one of the Horrible Histories ensemble, as Jamie, a diffident bank manager who is falsely arrested for cyberterrorism but for whom a still grimmer fate lies in wait, along with the rest of humanity: a comet is on an unavoidable collision course with Earth, due to crash in 34 days. Appropriately, the cast is like a sea of past sitcoms flashing before your eyes - Megan Mullally from Will & Grace, Jenna Fischer, Rob Lowe and Pauline Quirke as Jamie's mum.

Why You, Me And The Apocalypse is well worth watching

Rob Lowe and Pauline Quirke, together at last! Sky One's You, Me And The Apocalypse has that and plenty more to recommend it...

Backstage at the end of the world

It's a triple-threat British day: cold, grey and wet. In the car park of a stately mansion in Aldermaston, a rat appears, running from the direction I'm headed. Does it know something I don't? I'm here to watch filming on unfathomably unlikely Sky TV comedy-drama You, Me And The Apocalypse.