Review by Steve Bennett

Someone's clearly been watching Chris Morris in The Day Today.

But they've spectacularly failed to understand the humour, and instead produced a fifth-rate rip-off, largely devoid of the cutting comedy that made the original so wonderful.

This takes the form of a magazine news programme, with a stern anchorman linking 'live' reports and filmed clips.

In fact, more of this show is on screen than on stage, making the whole experience more akin to watching a video.

And the Morris 'inspiration' is everywhere - from the host baiting one journalist (called, err, Bill Reporter): "Are you really live?" to the deadpan telling of ridiculous stories. But this lacks any satirical bite, and constant reminders of the source do nothing to flatter he copycats.

There was one amusing - though still derivative - sketch involving a family whose baby boy lived inside a vacuum cleaner after being accidentally hoovered up. But elsewhere, the ideas never really took off.

And, at worst, the team resort to some truly dreadful lines - ending a report on a close-up of a cleavage and cutting to the comment: "What a lovely pair" would have embarrassed even Benny Hill, but not this lot. I suspect that is supposed to post-modern irony - but it isn't.

There's some decent acting talent on display here, and the piece is performed with conviction. But the writing is just so unexceptional and unoriginal as to make the whole experience nothing but dreary.

Review date: 1 Jan 2002
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett