Semi-Detached

Anyone with half a sense of humour can't help but laugh at this. Very cleverly written.

Lee Mack so well known for his funny zingers in Not Going Out has been enticed for this comedy pilot.

Mack plays Stuart, a middle aged wedding DJ who is about to have an harassed half hour. His much younger girlfriend April is about to give birth.

His ex wife Kate lives over the road with her new husband Ted. She is standing to be a Tory candidate, he is a smarmy flash git. It is also his daughter's birthday but she has little time for Stuart.

Semi-Detached is a farce. Events pile up on Stuart as April goes into labour. The Uber he has ordered to take April to hospital has not arrived because of some cows on a rampage. His dad is in bed with some bloke he had met in the pub. Suddenly his brother turns up as he is on the run for the police. Ted accidentally slices his thumb off.

With all the goings on, it does have some funny albeit some crude humour. The actors are also required to be physical to make the situations come across as hilarious. Patrick Baladi wriggling naked in agony as Ted after losing his thumb in a DIY accident.

It might not always be original. The weak link was the spoilt stroppy daughter who had shaven her head on her birthday.

Stuart's dad Willie who discovered later in life that he liked drugs, willy and wild living reminded me of Bunny from Extras as well as the transsexual Val from Uncle.

You have to applaud the writers David Crow and Oliver Maltman. Too many times an intended pilot comes across as uncertain and lacks humour.

Here they throw everything in for this episode as well as gags.

Really funny belly laughs, great character development. The story operates on the 'dark side/things will go wrong' side of life and it works. Silly can be very funny if done right and not predictable. Recommended.

I did worry about Lee Mack being a little type cast from Not going out, but that wasn't the case, he, and everyone in fairness was great in this madcap farce, it had me in stitches from start to finish, the situation was bonkers to begin with, it just got more and more off the wall as it went on. The scene with Patrick Baladi on the floor with his missing finger was so funny.

There is so little comedy like this, not super smart or layered, just pure good old fashioned silliness, let's have a series please. 9/10

Full credit to Patrick Baladi for taking a face-full of some awful "stuff" without missing a step/line! I wish we could see more of him!