The Job Lot

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.

ITV has a patchy history with sitcoms and here is a great one that didn't get the mainstream exposure which it deserved. A strong well chosen cast playing engaging and believable characters which an audience can easily relate to, no canned laughter and very well written with a high laugh hit rate. Other reviewers have compared it to The Office - the setting may be similar but I find it more gentle with the characters better developed.

...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.

Lets have this on Netflix season4 the best comedy since Only Fools And Horses. I actually didn't fancy it at first as i hate the job centre. The more i watched it the more i wanted. Itv2 will replace it with some reality tv tripe. We all need laughter in our lives. I suffer with depression i need more of this not the depressing crap they normally put on tv. Only watch old comedies now the new ones mostly suck apart from this one. Proper gutted.

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.