The Smoking Room

The characterastion of The Smoking Room is the best I've seen in a sitcom since The Royle Family. For example the character of Robin evolved over the course of the series from a mild-mannered trivia fiend to a man whose afraid of his fellow smokers finding out that he's gay and also afraid that Ben from the Postroom isn't in love with him. The character of Annie is afraid that she's going to end up alone so she'll go to any length to get a man even if that means dressing up like a policeman. Lilian on the other hand is afraid of getting older and being alone

And Janet is afraid that because she's the boss' P.A. and she's a bit more well-bred than the other characters than she'll never be accepted as one of them. On the surface Sally seems like an easily irritated loudmoth but on the inside she is very caring. She is the only person who realises that Robin is gay and doesn't tell any of the other smokers. She comforts Annie at any point when she's about to break down and in her last scene of the series she even cheers Janet up by agreeing to having a girlie chat with her.

And while Sharon likes to stamp her authority on the other smokes she's as insecure as the rest of them. She doesn't know how to communicate with any of the others and in the last episode they rejected her social advances.

There are some stereotypes Barry the guy who can't do the crossword, Heidi the most boring woman you'll ever meet and the foul-mouthed security guard Len. I Hope this comes back for a second series because its enjoyable and a good concept. 9/10

I missed this program when it first appeared on BBC 3 around two years ago. The BBC, and the UK in general have produced some dreadful "sit-coms" of late, so when I seen advertised what looked like a hybrid of The Office and The Royle Family I gave it a miss. That's not particularly true though. It's like The Office only in the fact it's set in an office and like the Royle family only because it's set entirely in real time. Few will agree but I think it's much better than both.

If I were to compare it to other sit-coms I'd say Friends crossed with Daria( MTV cartoon, very cynical.) I think you have to watch quite a few episodes to get the feel of it. Initially they all seem quite ordinary and not especially likable characters. Over the course of the series though you realise the cause of all their irritating habits. Annie is irritating and irritable because she is massively self-deluded about her life being a success. Lilan initially seems desperate but you later realise it's because she's starved of attention. Janet appears prissy and stern but she's seems to be trying to shed that image by socializing with the smokers( even though she doesn't smoke) in nearly every episode. I could go on with the other characters but they'd definitely be spoilers.

It's now half way through the second series and we now have a very well developed set of characters, excellent writing( just look at some of the quotes on this site) and brilliant actors and actresses. The sort-of-main character( he's on screen from beginning to end of every episode unlike any other character) is played excellently by Robert Webb. He seems to get bleaker every episode. Robin is clearly more intelligent than everyone else around him, but prefers to make snide( and hilarious) comments about others stupidity than do anything with his own life. It's an excellent character as it's one which is common in real life. This is true of the rest of the cast and show in general. It's strange but not a contrived way. It's the genuine oddness and humour you can find in the real world, though obviously compacted into a shorter space of time. It doesn't get bogged down in the dull realness of The Royle Family either though. Nor is it as ridiculous and pained as The Office or Friends often were.

It's probably fair to say that The Smoking Room has stolen ideas and inspiration from other sit-coms. But unlike many others it stole the best parts. A good example is the sit-com device. How many sit-coms have never seen characters, love triangles or a will they, won't they relationship? A lot, and they all have the same outcome. The Smoking Room uses a much better, though already used one,; The never directly mentioned, long running storyline. It actually makes people think a bit more about what their watching and makes people notice jokes they may otherwise have missed. The only other example I can think of was in Daria. It's a difficult thing to do correctly, it can just look blatant and stupid. The strength of the writing and acting though hold it together excellently, like the show itself. Forget Little Britain or anything Peter Kay's in: This is the best British comedy around by some distance.

In every workplace there is a place where the shunned go – a place where people go who have only one thing in common but spend several times a day together nonetheless. They are the office smokers; some hang around outside the building but in this office they have a room together. As the smokers come and go on their various breaks we are treated to all manner of inane discussions, banter and office politics.

Although it doesn't help to compare this show to the vastly superior The Office it is hard not to. Not only is it set in the 'real work' much more than most BBC sitcoms but the marketing for it all tried to make sure that we came to this off the back of The Office's fame. Initial disappointment is pretty much guaranteed because this is not as sharp as the observation from The Office and is funnier in a different way. Once I realized that this had been mis-sold and is really just a normal sitcom then I was able to settle into it a lot more. As a sitcom it is better than the norm as it is at least recognisable (as opposed to forced family sitcoms) and the jokes are quite good and pretty much match the sort of banter you wish you could have. In reality most smoking room conversations are just small talk and b*tching but that wouldn't make for much of a series, so the pop culture references and the amusing dialogue keep it moving much better.

The lack of a sharp edge on the material is a problem and I didn't feel that the series managed to build characters and stories as well as it should have done. The cast are all OK but I was never really sold on them as 'real' people – rather they were always actors albeit actors delivering some funny lines. In The Office (sorry to keep comparing – but the BBC started it!) the people were all recognisable and the laughs were tempered by the horror of seeing our workplaces slightly condensed into this one. Here performances are OK from Ayres, Webb, Marshall and the others but they feel like a sitcom cast and it is only the funnier than normal material that makes them rise above the genre.

Overall this is not The Office and it is important to know that and not be sucked in by the attempts by the show and the BBC to align it with that. Rather this is a sitcom that is set in an office environment – it is not as sharp or as well observed as it could have been but it still manages to be funny. Watched as a sitcom it is funnier than the genre and blessedly free of canned laughter but this is just a sitcom and comparisons to The Office will only help it get an audience at the start – not keep it.

Like some other similar British sitcoms of this type, you may decide to try and plug it to a friend, perhaps by retelling a joke on it, you'll find it wont have the same affect on them as it did on you. Because they are different types of jokes. There are not beautiful people sitting around, glamorous, making jokes about life, they are regular people, talking about life. The characters are ordinary, the situations they are in are ordinary, but it is the way they are portrayed and their outlook on all of this that makes the smoking room so funny.

I will not slander this hilarious show by comparing it with 'the office' or 'the royale family' because, being honest, them shows had there high points, but were never as constantly funny as the smoking room.

Go watch it. NOW!

This show is just what witty dialog should be. If you don't have a attention span then you probably wouldn't like it, but if you can really listen, it will have you in stitches. It's just so funny because it's what someone would really say without trying to be funny. There's no real plot, its just hilarious people who are very relate-able in a setting that's very relate-able. You can really get to like the characters after a while with a lot of running gags. The punchline at the end of the first episode is pure gold. Why can't there be more shows like this, i mean Clint is one of the funniest characters ever. Just good actors and great lines in very down to earth situations.