Man Down

Series one, episode one
Greg Davies’s latest venture into sitcomland is comedy writ large, from the initial fart joke, to a pair of lost trousers and some slapstick scenes that are so preposterous as to be surreal.

The premise is a tried and tested traditional one – newly dumped, middle-aged teacher (Davies) lives in a flat attached to the house of his mum and dad (Rik Mayall, in a near-perfect piece of casting, if you overlook the fact that Davies and Mayall are roughly the same age), and is surrounded by idiosyncratic/idiotic ‘fucking mental’ friends who do things such as sing him out of bouts of angst under the disapproving gaze of a battleaxe café proprietor.

It’s touches such as these – and Davies’s utterly silly but joyous classroom scenes, and lines such as ‘He’s a good boy. He’s normal. He’s not into your rubber shorts, your plastic fists, your glory holes,’ delivered by the local tailor discussing his work experience schoolboy – that could have you warming to both Davies and the series, particularly if you like puerile, juvenile, violent comedy. Ageing ‘The Young Ones’ fans will love it.