This Is Jinsy

If you have read any of the press, you will know that 'This is Jinsy' started life on BBC Three and was then picked up by Sky Atlantic for a full series.

Jinsy is a fictional island and nothing is normal there! Only two episodes have screened in the UK at this time of writing and already the voice of Jennifer Saunders has warned us about the dangers of electric owls which attacked a man and excreted A4 or A5 size photocopies of his horrified face, the size depending upon the owl's age. Yes, I did warn you that this was surreal.

Watching Jinsy is an immersive experience. It transports you into the bizarre and is neither a sketch show nor a single continuous narrative. It has elements of both. Imagine what Surrealist painter Salvador Dali might have imagined to amuse himself, and you get close.

Episode one features some of former Dr. Who David Tennant's best moments on screen ever. Adorned with Thatcheresque lacquered orange hair, a bright yellow jacket and horribly patterned overly tight trousers, his Mr. Slightlyman is an hilariously camp creation that deserves a show in its own right, or at least many returns to Jinsy. In this instance he is overseeing the island's wedding lottery, which happens every three years. And yes, you did read that correctly. Every resident is entered into a lottery and paired off for three years, with often hilarious results.

Episode two draws some parallels with another comedy classic team - Monty Python . . . specifically their cult masterpiece, Life of Brian. A cupboard salesman is recognised (or mistaken) to be a being of great power in Jinsy. Cue lots of visual gags alongside a slightly weaker story. It does develop the characters further though.

Jinsy goes beyond the single episode narrative though. Each episode appears to have returning elements, an unexpected highlight being Harry Hill in drag, dishing out punishments to islanders who have committed amusingly odd and hardly offensive crimes. His/her tastefully gloved hand hovers seductively above a rather lethal looking red button while the seedy details are recounted with a cosy yet conspiratorial and somewhat malevolent gaze. It gets funnier the more you see it and has to be one of the gags you long for each time you return to Jinsy. And I say this as someone who has never really bothered with Mr. Hill's ITV shows. He has transcended himself! Other gags pop up as songs, and unlike most comedies, these are actually FUNNY. So many times I have watched otherwise brilliant comedies, such as Smack the Pony, and felt that the musical bits were only funny to those who wrote or performed them and were ultimately just fillers. On Jinsy it is different. They are so weird they are brilliant. Episode one features a song contest judged by a dog, whose paw wavers over a green 'Woof' button, or a red 'Enoof' button. The song itself is a bizarrely catchy creation about . . . a dog . . . licking. Obviously all songs in the contest aim to win the dog's praise! In episode two, the cupboard based story takes to music with a very retro Eurovisionesque man in drag singing about types of wood . . . "La La La La La Larch . . ." etc. It sounds mad and it is, and it works. It at once references Monty Python and feels immediate because it knows its own genre so well.

Also of note is the short segment in episode two featuring a dishevelled art critic who details the controversial depictions of fruit with leaves removed. How immodest! Words fail to express how spot on this character is. Just think of old BBC Open University broadcasts and you will have an idea of how funny it is. His back is so bent and his gaze at first seems awkward, progressing to be so off-kilter that he has to be 'revolved' back to face camera. A moment of pure genius.

So there you have it. All of the above is Jinsy. Having seen two episodes, it is not all perfect, but there are enough comedy treasures in there to warrant repeated viewing, and yes it gets better each time. Central performances are sufficiently weird and wonderful, and not just the cameos. Lesser known talent is starting to shine too.

I suggest you visit the island, and if you find any of it funny, go back several times, because you will like it all the more. Let's hope Sky realises that while it may take a while to catch on, it really is a comedy classic. Kudos to all involved.

This is - I'll admit - a patchy but also occasionally brilliant comedy. Rather like League of Gentlemen or Monty Python, any surreal and original comedy will have moments where it doesn't work; this, like those programmes, is worth watching for when it does. The musical interludes are superb as are the guests who join in the fun - such as Rob Bryden's performance of "Female Badger" (see youtube). Don't watch it before visiting the supermarket as you'll end up singing questionable lyrics to bemused fellow shoppers. The use of language is also inventive and generates the claustrophobia of small communities. It is criminally under appreciated and definitely deserves to be better known.

...There is every chance you'll enjoy this. This is its own thing. But it's never going to escape style comparisons with Monty Python. And darn it, if you love weird, surreal, off-the-wall and unconsciously jarring British humour, Jinsy is going to sink under your skin. Even when you can't find it amusing, or find it repetitive, the visuals alone will haunt your back brain.

Jinsy also has flavours of Brazil, The City of Lost Children, The Delicatessen, and Twelve Monkeys. It includes the sort of self-consciously ironic music-comedy skits that peppered The Big Gig and The Sideshow variety shows from Australia.

I predict that in 10 or 20 years Americans will discover another reason why cults become classic.

The songwriting skills of Neil Innes at his best, the intelligent madness of Spike Milligan and an inventiveness that defies description, these are just a few of the elements that make This is Jinsy the best British comedy for many years. Justin Chubb and Chris Bran are to be congratulated on an original character based comedy that has joined sit-com to sketch-show with a joyful confidence and utter success under the superb direction of Matt Lipsey. The series is supported by a surreal design team led by Nic Pallace the captures an entire world of insane parallel development.

The highlights are almost too numerous to mention, but gold stars have to go to the entirely too believable civil service banter and by-play between the two main protagonists that occasionally riffs on Yes, Minister for the niceties of political structure formalities; Harry Hill as the sadistic Dominatrix punishment manager; The Jinsy Singers for some entirely too complex harmonies; Alice Lowe as the darkly frustrated yet interestingly sensual Tessellator engineer; the narcoleptic historian; David Hatton as the Weather Monk Tracee Henge, surely Spike Milligan on top Goon Show gibberish form reincarnated; songs you find yourself humming three weeks later; Simon Callow, Kevin Eldon, Jane Horrocks, Nigel Planer, Jennifer Saunders, Peter Serafinowicz, David Tennant and Don Warrington completely off the wall in guest roles.

It all makes a kind of mad sense, suspension of disbelief is entirely too easy, not to mention enjoyable as you immerse yourself in a very different normality. You can't help but laugh all the way through, each episode has gem moments, but the overall absurdity is a giggle form start to finish. Bravo, more please.

Since I watched this in '15 I occasionally checked to see what they'd do next...nothing! This was unique, funny, bizarre and canceled before its time. The high caliber guest stars and great songs made me think we had a pair of great tv creators for decades to come. I'd really like to know what happened to these guys.

If you like any of the absurdist Brit comedies ya gotta see this. The premise is brilliant. The ensemble of regulars seamlessly weaves in guest stars who all appear well into the joke. My recommendations fall on deaf ears and blind ears among my friends and acquaintances but if you've found your way here....search this out.