Aruu

Unfortunately E4 have a habit of pimping out shows that turn out to be awful. We've had the 'School of Comedy' all but forced down our throats for the past few weeks in the form of adverts, text within other programs, and the promise that we're going to wet ourselves laughing at children acting like adults.

Unfortunately it failed to deliver. It's a good concept if the thought of children acting like grown ups is enough to make you go into fits of laughter, but if you're expecting anything deeper you'll be disappointed. The child actors are not to be faulted in the slightest, there's some very promising performances from them, especially given they work through different accents and characters quite seamlessly. The writers appear to think that we'll simply be bowled over by children swearing, and don't bother to try and include any deeper reaching comedy; a shame since it seems these children are quite capable of it.

In short, very impressive acting from such a young cast, ultimately let down by poor and very lazy writing. Here's to hoping they buck up their ideas, or that these endearing children get a chance to go on and star in something decent.

Coming of Age has very few redeeming factors about it, one being the surprisingly intriguing advert showing the main cast performing euphemisms for masturbating. For example one girl was shown flicking jellybeans to represent 'flicking the bean', and one of the boys was shown spanking a monkey with a table tennis paddle, for 'spanking the monkey'. Unfortunately the writers used up all their creative juices in that alone, and left the series bone dry.

The acting is poor, and the jokes are boring, bland and extremely predictable. The characters are one dimensional, something akin to how the cast of 'Two Pints of Larger' after the series had ran out of decent ideas; not a good look for a brand new show. The show runs on toilet humour, mentions to bodily functions and genitalia are supposed to bring in the majority of the laughter.

If you're a big fan of Two Pints of Larger, or a thirteen year old who giggles at 'naughty words', then this show might be for you. It had the potential to be half way decent but falls very short of the mark.