Pompidou

I'm such a huge fan of Matt Lucas, his work in Little Britain & Come Fly With Me were admirable. He portrayed a wide diverse range of characters and if you've ever watched his work you'll agree he's very good at it.

However what is clear from Episode 1: 'Hunger' is that take away the vocal side of Matt and your left with not an awful lot. I watched the first episode in its entirety to see if it progressively got better but it amounted to nothing, psychical comedy is clearly not Matt's forte.

I understand this won't be his usual work given the pre-watershed time schedule therefore it cannot be crude or dark humour, but there is a reason why most comedians don't do silent comedy, because they don't have watch it takes to be a psychical comedian, Rowan Atkinson portrayed Mr. Bean amazingly and I'm afraid that level of genius is far out of Matt Lucas's reach with this new work of his.

I'll probably continue to watch the series in its entirety due to my admiration of Matt, but feel he has belittled himself with such a shoddy idea for a show, I'm sure he could of thought of something more intriguing that this.

You know a comedy is in trouble when you realise that the dog is the best thing in it.

Matt Lucas flies solo here as a down on his luck and his last few pennies aristocrat Pompidou. He lives in a dilapidated caravan parked in the grounds of his crumbling estate. He has his put upon butler Hove (Alex MacQueen) and Afghan hound Marion who tend to be exasperated by his antics.

Lucas obviously was aiming at silent slapstick and farce like Mr Bean or heaven forbid Jacques Tati. However Lucas does not have the skill for physical comedy, the comedy here is painful and its not even silent as most of the characters speak in gibberish.

I could not last through the entire series. I gave it a try but enough is enough. Kids might like it but I guess even some of them have higher standards.

This is undeniably silly. It's meant to be. I giggled through every episode. Matt Lucas is already a favourite actor of mine from previous TV shows & films. Hove and the dog interact brilliantly with him. While this series has been billed as "silent"; in actual fact all the characters speak. It's just in their own special "gibb-lish." The plots are easy to follow and full of comic visuals. Some of these are surreal. There is no crudity in the humour. Pompidou is an innocent who inadvertently causes trouble for everyone around him, especially Hove. He endears himself to the audience, occasionally breaking the 4th wall. This is evidently a project that Matt put his whole heart into and I hope he can make more. There's nothing wrong with SILLY, providing that's what you're looking for. And there's a special surprise for Little Britain fans. (Ep 5.)

I do understand most people would not really like Pompidou. However I come from truly enjoying and knowing most of the Laurel and Hardy shorts - and to me Pompidou is a great mash up of the old Laurel and Hardy formula with a modern twist to it. Knowing the old material, there are lots of parallels and they are done quite well.

But they could do better. These initial six episodes - I can only take one per sitting. The "dialog" is funny but I can only take so much. I do like how they will pick certain words that can be heard clearly, such as the signature "That really hurt me" and "out". But I have to say every one of the six contain several moments that are hilarious to me.

The fundamental flaw in this show is that we're told 'Pompidou' is supposed to be likable - he isn't. That's fatal. No caring for the protagonist is such a shame as Lucas can do better, indeed has done better. Second character 'Hove' is a thin foil, not a Jeeves. A great comic actor (see 'Julius' from 'The Thick of It'), underused. The whole show feels like Lucas trying to recover from the wilderness after some borderline racism in 'Come Fly With Me'. This isn't the vehicle for that. Maybe it'll sell in international markets like 'Bean', but Lucas is no Atkinson, sadly. Atkinson throws it all behind physical comedy, Lucas apparently doesn't have as much natural comedic instinct to throw behind Pompidou. 3/10 - those three are for the excellent dog puppet. It lit up the screen, and was more likable and developed as a character than either of the humans.