Ambassadors

I'm not a die-hard follower of these guys, but enjoy them both. The other actors were really good, too. Well-done, engaging story line. We'd welcome more!

This is a very fine TV show. If it weren't for fools who admire shows based on daily hospital routines and cops with boring lives that investigate repetitive murders; then unique and rare brilliance such as this would exist in today's TV show listings.

However, boring people are the majority of judges in ratings; therefore they rate those boring shows and inspire them to make at least a dozen series within their lifespan.

Unfortunate excellence such as Ambassadors, Kingpin, Hung, The Honorable Woman, and many more don't get a chance to cause greater impression in following series than they already had in their first season showing.

It was a nice surprise to stumble upon AMBASSADORS because I am such a fan of Mitchell & Webb - their sketch show and then PEEP SHOW are both terrific. What was refreshing was that the tone and pace and humor in AMBASSADORS is very different from their previous stuff. This show is like a mix of Yes, Minister, Veep and In The Loop. What is also impressive is the superb supporting cast - Keely Hawes, Matthew MacFayden, Tom Hollander, Amara Karan, Susan Lynch and Shivani Ghai. Don't expect the raunchy, will comedy of their sketch show/Peep Show. This is engaging, smart, measured and there are certainly laughs.

As a former member of the British Diplomatic Service I found this series ticked a lot of boxes. I recognised a number of the characterisations as being similar to people I had come across in my own career, and the balance of realistic scenarios and humour was cleverly done. I found myself empathising with several of the characters in the Embassy who struggled to maintain a semblance of normal life amid conflicting, usually urgent and sometimes dangerous, calls on their time. Reviewer journalist1 clearly has a different interpretation of "politically correct" than me. The programme deliberately poked fun at institutions and individuals, from the British Royal Family to the ruling clique of the semi-fictitious country where it is set. Of course there were errors - the Union Jack regularly being flown upside down, for example, something that the producers should really have got right - and it had to be a bit "over-the-top" to be funny, but overall it was an amusing but realistic peek into the world of modern diplomacy at the day-to-day level. I hope there will be another series.

Although it only had a three episode run, this was a truly well done program. It was realistic and dramatic, but it contained so much genuine humor as well. Definitely worth the watch.