The Gemma Factor

Apparently you can't give negative reviews, this saddens me almost as much as this waste of my money. Yes, I'm going to moan about the licence fee being wasted on a broad strokes cliché that lacks any sense of charm, humour or, well, any redeeming quality.

BBC 3 can give good shows to us (Being Human) but all to often it lumbers us with risible dross like the Gemma Factor or Coming of Age which are so ridiculously poor and puerile they make that Carry On films of the 60s and 70s seem like high art. Well, to be fair to the Carry On films they were funny, they had an innuendo mixed with a naive charm. The current out putting of comedy on BBC lacks any of that except the innuendo.

I could go on but I need to scrub my eyes and ears and memory of this visual faeces. I really hope it dies a death and doesn't tarnish our screens again.

The writing in this series made me laugh and smile, and at times gave me the wonderful cringe factor that made the characters so realistic. The entertainment industry can indeed be as subversive and opportunistic as the comedy demonstrates but its reliance on the characters is where this shines. There is a warmth to them, and the cast manages to gain a level of sympathy with the viewer.

The writing in this is on almost indeed on a par with Gavin and Stacey. I imagine that the humour is a little too much for some people. Yet its execution and timing are a masterpiece of TV.

10/10, and hopefully some more episodes...