The Job Lot

...but still manages to be funny in its own right. Like every BritCom of the last 25 years, everyone is doing Gervaisisms (see Harry and Paul's YouTube clip for a very amusing crash course) but once you've managed to tune that out there are some good laughs to be had. All the stereotypical office/Office characters are here - the insecure boss one, the uptight one, the roguish laddish one, the macho/probably ex-SAS one, the aggressive little woman who swears profusely, the decorative female one...the writers do some interesting things with them nonetheless. Undemanding.

The show was cancelled just when the characters were taking shape and one was getting "attached" to them. Somebody new -also potentially interesting- had just been introduced. Pity, it was very good comedy.

Accurate too the name. So funny. Love this show! Well worth the watch!

Having spent a short time doing work experience in a job centre the crazy stuff the staff get upto is almost spot on. I seen a whole lot of weird and funny stuff but something like coworkers disappearing and the whole office knew that they were going to the toilet to have sex, other crazy things like that so this show isn't really that far from the truth but the comedy factor is just my style of humour so that makes it work for me. Russell Tovey has been in some amazing shows and I started watching after "Him & Her" another similar show but about a couple. Laura Aikman coming in for season 2 really takes it up a notch and adds the office romance between her and Russell's character so that's an added bonus to the comedy. Overall not for everybody but it's my style of humour and I really enjoyed watching it.

It was inevitable that this programme would draw comparisons with "the Office" and "Vicious" (in which it appeared in a double bill.

The first scene has Russell Tovey's character Karl complaining that he has an Art degree, and that he "shouldn't be reduced to this". You think he's a job seeker, but in fact he's "reduced" to working in this sterile ugly job centre.

It's actually quite watchable, and better than the average ITV sitcom.

The most amusing characters are Trish, the neurotic, anxious manager (who has just been through a divorce, and tries to steal her chocolate labs Ferrero and Rocher back from her ex-husband) and the bitchy Angela, who works to rule, generally undermines the others, and throws her weight around. The security guards are laughable - one's a tiny woman, and the other's a nut with military pretensions. Then there are the bizarre job seekers, one of whom is like an English Rab C. Nesbitt, and an undercover agent who attempts to catch benefit cheats. Only trouble being that he's bearded and Asian, and sticks out like a sore thumb in many environments.

Yes, it's another sitcom about tedium, but it's quite fun. I think it suffered from being on too late at night and was overshadowed by its admittedly better sibling "Vicious", but it's worth a look.