Grass

Billy Bleach (Simon Day) the pub know-all and compulsive bull****er from the fast show witnesses a gangland hit and is put on a witness protection programme. Harry Taylor the crime boss puts a contract on Billy's head and the story is then a zany romp in to the hapless Billy's adventures set in and around a village in Norfolk where Billy is holed up and being guarded by the village copper and a couple of "cossers" from "The Met". A great cast including the Fast Show's Mark Williams as the eccentric pub landlord, Philip Jackson and his sidekick as bent cossers in the gay way, and Roger Sloman as an older version of the nutter in Mike Leigh's classic "Nuts in May". The locations are great and all the cast are good. I have only seen five of the eight episodes and it seems Harry Taylor's two hitmen are closing in as Billy is beginning to enjoy his life in the village.

For some reason the Beeb have stuck this on BBC3 which means the audience will be minimal. As it happens I think BBC3 are going to be the best comedy channel as it appears to think in the 21st century with shows like "Grass" and "Little Britain" to name but two of a host of fresh comedy.

Finally tracked down the DVD of this excellent comedy. Can't recommend this highly enough. Simon Day is a fantastic character comedy performer and it's great to see Billy Bleach in his own series. Has some really classic one liners, some comedy elements lost a little as they got the story line / drama into 8 episodes but every single episode is a classic for me. Brilliant writing, a clever story for a comedy show the supporting cast are just excellent. Beautifully shot in Norfolk (Great Massingham) the whole production deserved a second series. It's a tragedy the BBC are no longer commissioning stuff like this.

Done with time and space so you can appreciate the whole scenario. For some reason it doesn't appear in some Wiki lists and it took me n age to remember Simon Day's name so I could source it. Very funny and I suppose a precursor to Brian Pern.

Genius. one of the best out of the uk in years. the only thing is why on earth the bbc chose to air it at 10pm on a Saturday night!? idiots! To this day i have only met about two other people who ever saw this and i am very into comedy and so are a lot of people i know. In fact i only saw about two episodes myself.. who on earth that would be interested in this is actually home at that time?? yeah maybe a couple of nights in across the 6 or 7 episodes, but not enough to 'get into' it and remember its always on or to record it etc. Really gets my goat that the bbc resigned this fantastic comedy to its grave by airing it at such a ridiculous time! :( I'd love to actually tell you a little about it rather than just freak you out with my resentful rantings but i cant remember much to be honest (except that my wife and i loved it) and as much as i would love to buy it they haven't released a DVD so... Anyway, i'll live!

A lovely series, brilliantly acted, written and conceived. Beautiful country locations in Norfolk.

It doesn't really fit into a box - there are laughs now and again but it's not a gag-based show despite the Fast Show connection. Presumably this didn't help it succeed in Britain, where it was totally overshadowed by the unpleasant and unfunny Nighty Night. Typical.

You could almost shed a tear as Billy laments his failings in his discussions with Heartbeat, his "minder". Then again you could cackle loudly as he tries to explain his other minders, the gay coppers, to his would-be girlfriend Jemima. ("Drink fires his muse" - sublime).

I read tonight that a) this is coming out on DVD soon. Odd decision but excellent news, and b) there was an attempt to get the beeb to commission a second series but they wouldn't play ball.

My cunning plan is to agitate a huge wave of "Grass" DVD purchases, persuading to BBC to think again and do the right thing - re-commission Grass, or it's natural successor and stop producing tiresome tosh like Man Strokes Woman or the utterly predictable "seen one episode, seen them all" Little Britain. (Well, I suppose that's had it's day but you know what I mean).

Do yourself a favour - if you haven't seen it - buy this DVD. If you have then you're unlikely to need any prompting from me.

"A Sausage Sandwich for the Soul" - available from all good bookshops.