Show Rating:

They're a bit rock and roll, these three. They've have got the pumping intro, the charisma, the chemistry and the energy. They've even got some great ideas, even if not quite enough to fill the hour.

Their skill is in taking quite traditional sketch formats and giving them a silly twist, cranking up the comedy a notch. It means the cast of characters is quite familiar, although most are enhanced by some serious personality defect

Some great ideas - a futuristic world of hover-police and hover-fireplaces turns out to be 2004; a lovelorn doctor is wonderfully played; and they have a lot of fun with gay builders.

It's all done with merry abandon - the skilled performers (the team behind Channel 4's The Estate Agents) are clearly having a ball, and that enthusiasm shines through.

The best moments are when they can unashamedly ham it up, exaggerating every line and gesture for all its worth. But it's a mixed bag, with many sketches feeling derivative.

At times they are very Pythonesque - and never more so when they drag up a screeching housewives. They share both the best and worst aspects of the Flying Circus mob as they zig-zag across that fine line between inspired stupidity and self-indulgence.

And the Thundercar sketch, a ridiculously overacted piece of corporate melodrama, is reminiscent of Fry and Laurie's no-bullshit middle managers.

That's not a bad heritage to have, and at best they seem like worthy successors.

But there are too many moments that don't quite gel properly, when the funny ideas that inspired them don't, for whatever reason, translate to the audience.

These trio have most likely got a brilliant show in them, but this isn't quite it.