Review by Steve Bennett

McCloud and Black come across like two drama school students putting on an end-of-term "comedy" project.

They're good drama school students, certainly - more than passably convincing in a range of roles from schoolchildren to pensioners - but they just cannot write decent jokes.

Their sketch show is constructed around a school sports day with the daughters of two competitive mums - one the stay-at-home type, the other a determined careerist - trying to get on despite their parents' antagonism.

They work OK as characters, but it's the script that lets them down. Aside from a couple of nicely snide insults, there's very little comedy meat on the bones. And beware any writer who names a character Willie; the double entendres will inevitably follow.

A couple of sketches seem very familiar, too. One in which the sensible child chastises her petulant mother could have come straight from Ab Fab, and a theatre in schools spoof clearly betrays their drama school sensibilities.

They also comply to the unwritten rule - let's call it French's Law - that any female double acts must include some deliberately graceless dance routine in their repertoire.

As actors, the couple have decent comic instincts and wonderfully expressive faces, but there needs to be more to an hour-long show than this.

Perhaps this showcase will land the pair some minor acting roles - which was perhaps the objective - but as a comedy show in its own right, it's left wanting.

Review date: 1 Jan 2003
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett