15 Storeys High

Well, had been on my 'to watch' list for a while now and this viewing has been hastened by Sean Lock's untimely death.

In my opinion this sitcom captures a spirit (for at least some of us) of a period in our lives where we are broadly speaking free of responsibilities and obligations to others (e.g. For me, my mid to late twenties). The aimless abandon of Sean Lock's character who is long on time, but short on money leads to the viewer journeying into his innermost thoughts and idle wanderings. These are most readily manifest in 'imaginings' of what's happening in adjacent flats - brief and bizarre scenes ensue.

Benedict Wong, ably plays the naive flatmate to the Sean Lock's character who places frequent demands on him.

Okay, I just bought the DVD of the first series because the reviews suggested that this was the type of humour that I like best (Black Books!!Yeah!!). After watching the first episode, I was left with mixed feelings. My mistake....

A couple of days later I decided to give the second show a shot. No mixed feelings now-this one's a gem! Lock & the rest of the cast's deadpan delivery is enhanced by the lack of canned laughter, & the bizarre situations are played out almost a la reality TV. Also, as an ex-pat Londoner, while these situations may seem genuinely odd to a few people, I was reminded of a whole slew of people from way back when. Which is probably why I moved as far away as possible.

To summarize, a top-notch show which may need to be given a couple of viewings. I can't wait for the second series to get a DVD release..

Having been a fan of Sean Lock's comedy for many years I looked forward to this series and it did not disappoint. It is hilarious! To anyone who hasn't seen it, buy the BBC DVD right now. To summarise Vince, a swimming pool attendant, and his jobless flatmate, Errol, live in a block of flats. And, as in most sitcoms, hilarious adventures ensue. However, the brilliance comes from Lock's surreal writing. The two characters are flatmates but not friends, the adventures range from the problems of being addicted to a cheap energy drink (Blue Rat), trying to get your flat decorated when you use Readers' Wives for style tips ("You can't have sex in a living room. That's where you have Christmas") or simply the problems that come from killing a swan. Each episode is broken up by short glimpses of what is going on in the other flats. These vary each week and go from the sublime to the ridiculous (the man who wants "dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, spot!" for his spotted dick is fantastic.

If you like comedy- give it a go. If you want a change from canned laughter filled colourful sitcoms - give it a go.

After his sad and untimely passing, the BBC decided to return Sean Lock's cult sitcom to the iPlayer, to allow it to find a new audience. I watched "15 Storeys High" at the time, and my recollection was that I liked it, but I thought I'd take the opportunity to watch it again. After a couple of shaky episodes, the show really finds its feet and has some great comedic ideas.

Two men, the brusque Vince (Sean Lock) and naïve Errol (Benedict Wong) share a flat in a South London complex. Their interactions, with each other and their neighbours, form the basis of the sitcom, but each episode shows us the lives of other people living around the complex and the increasing idiosyncratic way that these people live their lives.

The first couple are, admittedly, a bit shaky. The first episode has a scene recreating "Jim'll Fix It" which has unintentionally become a lot more shocking since the revelations about Saville came out and I'm perhaps a bit surprised that the BBC didn't decide to edit this out of the re-release. Once you reach the third episode though, it settles down into the right rhythm and tone and the last four episode of this run are really good.

There's a lot of actors across this season who would go on to become regular faces in comedy across the next twenty years, Cavan Clerkin, Michael Smiley, Martin Trenaman, Toby Jones, Peter Serafinowicz, and Paul Putner are just some of the names who would appear.

It's a very funny show and makes it even sadder than during Sean's time he didn't write more narrative based comedy.

Great stuff. Sean locke's character is just a mean bloke who seems not to be able to stand anyone else. Despite this he shares his flat with Errol, who is a simple fellow, perhaps a more less caricatured version of Father Dougal.

The beauty of it is that despite the strange situations they make for themselves, they remain real characters you can believe in. Errol is naive and extremely likable. Vince is the opposite, cynical, and nasty, taking out his vitriol on other people in unprovoked acts of spite (but in a funny way).

The supporting characters inhabiting the rest of the building are the exaggerated, strange beings, and i thought that a great deal of their antics were just slightly too bizarre to exist alongside Vince and Errol's reality.

But this is one of the funniest first series I have seen, and I look forward to seeing the second (hurry up and release it on DVD!!)