Youngers

It's Mic Star night at Boxes nightclub and best mates Jay and Yemi (Calvin Demba and Ade Oyefeso) are set to rock the joint - that's if player Jay can keep a lid on his lust and love-struck Yemi can stop staring at sweet Davina long enough to hit the decks. There's not much story in tonight's second visit to this fresh comedy but it's got personality to spare and the X-Factor-style bad rap acts competing for the Mic Star prize are a hoot.

TV review: Youngers

A well-intentioned comedy just misses the mark - and a pre-watershed time slot doesn't help.

I accepted a long while ago that I'm slowly crawling to my 30s and my hairline is receding, but I've never felt quite as old as when I tuned into E4's new South London hip-hop meets teen drama Youngers. Bluds, mandems, MC-ing competitions for 16-year-olds. This all went over my head (and slightly thinning hair).

It's basically Grange Hill meets Top Boy, Byker Grove for the Tinie Tempah generation, and I know that sounds awful, but it's actually quite fun.

I've no idea if the show really captures what's going on in "the streets", but the musical and romantic tale of teens Yemi and Jay was told with an enthusiasm and cheeky sense of humour that it can get away with airing pre-watershed. Hopefully by the end of series one I'll be down with da kids again and my Just For Men will have kicked in.

It's GCSE results day, and straight-laced Yemi has straight A grades and a hard-working family keen for him to suit up, enrol at a stuffy sixth-form college and knuckle down to a life of law or medicine. But fun-loving flunky cousin Jay reckons he's one open-mic night away from being discovered as a rapper and wants Yemi along to mix his beats and live it large with him in the world of hip-hop.

What you make of it all will depend pretty heavily on your attitude to the show's distinctly "authentic" dialogue, full of bluds, bruvs, mandems and other words and phrases that will have the less down-with-it viewer googling frantically to keep up. Get on board with the lingo and it's an amusing enough ride, albeit one to nowhere in particular. But then that's being young in a nutshell, really, isn't it?

An enthusiastic young cast but needs a bit more edge

The fact that I found Youngers to be quite tame isn't to say it didn't have some merit.

E4's Youngers: potential, but not the finished product

But there's no disguising the woeful predictability of Youngers.

First of eight episodes in E4's teen comedy-drama about two best friends from Peckham hoping to make it big in the UK rap scene. While Jay (Calvin Demba) has flunked his GCSEs, Yemi (Ade Oyefeso) has bagged a scholarship to a private school, making his Nigerian family proud. With everything changing for the pair, will their friendship survive? Appearances from YouTube stars Mandem On The Wall and a convincing script packed full of London lingo make Youngers current, compelling viewing.

Visage's new-romantic anthem Fade To Grey gets a surprising new lease of life in this fresh eight-part comedy drama that follows the fortunes of two teenage lads in south London. Both believe their future lies in music but with the arrival of their GCSE results, it looks as if best mates Yemi (Ade Oyefeso) and Jay (Calvin Demba) may be headed for different paths. With adult responsibilities kicking in, it's down to cult internet comedy trio Mandem On The Wall, outside chillin' on their wall, to share with us the joys of the University of Life.

That dreadful word "urban" will most likely be used to describe this series about two friends dreaming of making it in the music business.

Yes, it's set on an estate in south London but so was The Bill and that was never described as urban. Yet, despite the lazy shorthand, it lets you know exactly what you're going to get. It treads a well-worn path of tropes such as studious Yemi (Ade Oyefeso) being pulled by swaggering Jay (Calvin Demba) into undesirable situations. Thankfully it doesn't try hard to be gritty, but it's a bit flat.

Dramas about kids on council estates are fast becoming a tired template, especially with films such as Attack the Block, Ill Manors and Fish Tank having set the bar so high. However, this new show set in southeast London just about holds the interest. Teenage producer and MC duo Yemi (Ade Oyefeso) and Jay (Calvin Demba) have received their GCSE results, which predictably fall at opposite ends of the spectrum. Yemi has gained a scholarship with all-As, but Jay is doomed to a life in his dad's business with a big fat fail. Unless, of course, a battle-of-the-bands style competition can change the course of their lives.

As first episodes go, it's a slow-burner pepped up by appearances from the YouTube smashes Mandem On The Wall, who quite literally sit on a wall offering their two cents like the crows in Dumbo. But there's a certain charm to Yemi and Jay's friendship that keeps you egging them on. It's not mind-blowing, but worth 30 minutes of your time.