Upstart Crow

I am a bit perplexed as to why so many find canned laughter offensive. When Red Dwarf did a few shows with no laugh track at all many fans complained bitterly. This show is smart and funny. It took a couple of episodes to really get going, but when it did it took off. As an ex-teacher who used to use an old Vincent Price movie to get kids into Shakespeare, I wish I had this around in my day.

PS: It is nothing like Blackadder.

Yes, there are some references, including 'Bob' making an entrance, but it's disappointing that UC is down-rated by those who see it as a Blackadder series.

The dialogue is tight and fast-paced, makes great play with the absurdities of A level study and intersects with several historical and modern day themes, particularly as Southern Rail which is hilarious.

The cast are all excellent, whether playing straight or hamming it up. David Mitchel is a real surprise and Mark Heap is delightfully awful as the nasty, conniving, petulant, supercilious Robert Greene. However, Gemma Whelan is simply superb. She switches acting mode with incredible ease, delivers lines with extraordinary dexterity and pace and is captivating when reciting verse.

The live audience obviously enjoy the performances most heartily and the actors deftly weave around the spontaneous guffawing, This only adds to the timing and pace of the acting.

Ben Elton has done his homework and ought to get an armful of awards for it.

Please don't compare this to Blackadder. Take it as an intelligent, well acted farcical mickey take of Shakespeare and you'll get it. A first class production.

Ben Elton shines again in this brilliant and witty send-up of Shakespeare. Clever writing and acting that manages to make modern references within the Shakespearean context. Many ignorant fools complain about a laugh track, but the show is filmed with a studio audience. Others say it's a rip-off of Blackadder, but seeing as both shows are written, and created by, Ben Elton there's obviously going to be some similarities in humor. Please enjoy this wonderful comedy, and ignore the bleatings of imbeciles that have no knowledge about the subject they're mashing into their keyboard with Neanderthal fists.

Genius writing and further episodes become better with Christmas a magical satire

In a time when too many television comedies have become filled with formulaic stereotypes, Upstart Crow presents a funny show that doesn't talk down to the audience. I love the insider references to past shows such as Rise and Fall of Reginald Perrin and Will's constant complaints about travel from London via coach. I love the creative language and the hints of prescience that come in as well as references to ideas that get scuttled or titles that get changed. The character of Green absolutely eats up the scenery, but there are wonderful low key performances from all of the characters. I have not enjoyed a series as much since the Elizabethan era BlackAdder or perhaps Fawlty Towers.