Tittybangbang (2005–2007) User Reviews

Crude and rude Little Britain rip-off with female leads.

[Pedro_H · 17 January 2006]

Comedy is the hardest thing to get right and yet the thing the public hunger for the most. The end result: Lots of comedies that aren't very good, but are often watched and discussed a lot despite their mediocrity (Catherine Tate anybody?) The success of Little Britain was bound to bring forth a whole host of rip-offs of which TBB is just the first and -- when you think about it -- a welcome first step towards being the last.

The problem with this show is that the first episode got reasonable reviews from the critics and why not? Some of the acting is first class and lead Lucy Montgomery (the thin one) is a great mimic -- you can hardly recognise her from one sketch to the next, but I don't want to spend time with these characters. Middle class people from Primrose Hill can laugh at council house clowns and slimy perverts in smelly bed-sits, but I don't want to. I have actually had to live with some of these people and they are not so funny in real life!

Catchphrases equal desperation. Something from 1950's radio where you couldn't see the people and needed vocal references. This is more than catchphrases, this is the just another case of the same gag being done over and over again against slightly different backdrops. They come on -- show their dysfunction -- shout their catchphrase (often more than once) and then the screen fades to black. And then we start over. No wonder people still want to watch the Two Ronnies twenty years after they were made -- at least they only did the gag once!

All TV is an education. Even bad TV. I have learnt something from watching this. This is an extenuation of what I see in real life. Women getting away with acting badly. A man having sex with a corpse wouldn't have got past the BBC blue pencil, but a woman? Hell that is OK, just as long as it is clearly fake. They even put it on-line so children can watch it any time of the day or night.

We shouldn't knock this show too much, we need to get over our Little Britain period and try and find something that is really funny (and clever-funny would be a change), because comedy is about tons of failure for ounces of success. Like mining gold for real.

Dreadfully disappointing

[DWaterson · 1/10 · 13 January 2006]

With the quick-fire sketch show format of "The Fast Show" (1994), the risqué crudity of "The Catherine Tate Show" (2004), and the random absurdity of "Little Britain" (2003), clearly BBC3 were convinced they were onto a winner with this new all-female production.

Except, er, somewhere someone forgot to put the jokes in. Painfully unfunny, so far the programme has desperately relied on the repetition of catchphrases which weren't amusing in the first place. Maybe the quality will improve as the series progresses, but at the moment I'm not sure I've got the will to stick with it.

Some of the characters may have potential, and there were occasional flashes of inspiration; however these were more often due to skillful camera-work and editing of the scenes than any dialogue in the actual sketch that was taking place. Overall, if for some reason you crave an all-female sketch show, stick with "Smack the Pony" (1999); this was very weak indeed.

Utter Bilge... even by BBC3's increasingly wretched standards.

[jmccalmont · 1/10 · 31 December 2005]

*sigh*

A new year and the promise of BBC3 shoving yet another over-hyped and under-written comedy down the nation's collective throats is already enough to make me seriously consider not making it to midnight.

If the utterly hateful trailer was not enough to make you despise this rubbish then I'm delighted to say that I'm sure the pilot will be more than adequate (though it's not really a pilot the series will be airing regardless of whether anyone watched the pilot).

This series manages to bring together much of what is wrong with British comedy today. It offers a subtle blend of unfunny catchphrases, unchallenging and dull 'adult' content (that TV producers seem to think is hilarious) and endless mugging to weak jokes and a script that could have stood to have been re-written seven or eight times and should probably still not have been made.

• Lesbian Lion Tamers

• Necrophilliac morticians

• Exhibitionnist cleaners

Basically this is comedy that is all about marketing and viral spreading of catchphrases and ultimately not about good writing and good characters. In this respect it's quite typical of BBC3's output. Because the writers lack the skill required to put together a good line of comedy there's a tendency to systematically go for the shock... to reach for some sexual or "dark" angle that is essentially used to mask the inherently weak nature of the comedy. The problem is that A) this requires all the comedy skill of children shouting "Poopoo" and B) it doesn't fool anyone because it's not particularly shocking anyway because this tactic has been so over-used by weak comedy writers that it no longer has any effect.

Expect it to be hyped so heavily that it will become inescapable like Big Brother and Catherine Tate.

Hateful.

Give it a chance, it's a grower!

[vectisdebs · 9/10 · 23 November 2006]

I was really excited about this show when it first aired last year as the trailers looked fab, and then I have to admit I was initially disappointed.. However, the originality of the characters, and quality of Lucy Montgomery's performance in particular, won me over. I was thrilled to see the new series advertised as I was not expecting the show back. I am glad to see the swinging rabbit sketch has disappeared though - very tasteless and not in the least funny. I love Maxine - you can't help but feel so sorry for her, and the Tom Cruise sketch is pure class. Overall, a fresh and funny selection box of caricatures. I love it!

Excruciatingly bad

[ken_westmoreland · 1/10 · 11 November 2006]

I thought that 'Little Britain' had gone downhill by the third series, but this was even worse. Characters are completely lame, and there seems to be the same embarrassing fixation with bodily functions as many other British comedies (a national embarrassment). Why is telling each other to 'shut up!' supposed to be funny, and what's all the stuff about 'duck and chips'? I think that the people who acted in it are more talented than this, and it amazes me that all professional actors are still supposed to belong to a trade union (Equity) when amateurs would turn down this kind of stuff. There's nothing wrong with having grotesque or dysfunctional characters at all, but these just aren't funny.

Under-rated

[philbuzz · 10/10 · 7 December 2006]

I feel the above comments are overly harsh, there are some genuinely funny sketch's present in both series ie the Darts women, the Geordy girls,women/man as the fisher woman, the pee man, the seepage woman, need I go on?!. O.k there are bits that craze you, but that happens in most comic series. The above comments should not be used as a definitive guide to the program as they are judging comedy on the BBC to that of live, or pioneering material. Its a comedy show on the BBC it is meant to appeal to a wide audience and that may compromise its originality, but compared to the comedy out there at the moment i.e Katherine Tate and two pints of lager its good! Watch it and judge for yourselves!!

Ridiculously Funny!

[collectorofsorts · 7/10 · 28 October 2021]

I just found this older series online and love it! It's rude and crude. But, if you're middle aged or older and grew up before all the PC stuff became the norm, you'll probably love it! Some skits are 10's. Some are 4-5's. So, I'm giving it an average rating of 7 Stars! Keep in mind that there are some dogs in the mix.

And so the BBC stoop lower!

[MacKrazy · 1/10 · 2 December 2006]

Just when you though UK comedy couldn't get any worse we get the laugh less TittyBangBang. As usual with bad comedies it is first shown on BBCtryout sorry I mean BBC-Three. How can I describe it, Imagine French and Saunders made Little Britain except with even less comedy and you pretty much got this pile of junk that the BBC should be ashamed of to ask a license fee for. It mostly revolves around the lead actors (I Refuse to call the comics) appearing in different costumes. I think we are supposed to be impressed by the BBC's prop and make-up department. Pity the actresses can only do about 3 different voices. They're innate attempt to try and get there repeat catch phrases to work just as annoyingly as the ones from Katherine Tate and Little Britain have pretty much fallen on their face. In the past few year the only decent comedy the BBC has churned out is Extras. I wonder what the hell is going on at the BBC, the people that gave us stuff like Only Fools, Black Adder, One Foot in the Grave and other well scripted, well acted FUNNY comedies. I won't say avoid this I say sit down and see how much of this dreadful sketch show you can take.

I love it!

[birdeto · 10/10 · 5 July 2007]

I've seen and heard a lot of comedy in my time and I also think some of the earlier comments are harsh. How many years now have Channel 4, E4 etc been subjecting us to endless re-runs of "Friends"? This is so lazy and shows no imagination. If anything was hyped it was that and it has surely more than out-stayed its welcome. Even really good US comedy like Seinfeld has barely seen the light of day compared with Friends.

BBC3 have committed to take risks and have brought forth some truly great shows from the UK. Lucy and Debbie are very talented ladies and I think TBB is hilarious!

Well done to them both and everyone else who works on the show. And the same to BBC3 for not being afraid.

How can so many talented actors star in such trash?

[StormSworder · 1/10 · 22 January 2009]

Comedy shows which often rely on catch-phrases can work if there's depth to the characters and something to laugh at besides the catch-phrase. For example, Little Britain, The Fast Show and The Catherine Tate Show are hilarious. But Tittybangbang is comedy writing of the laziest kind. Each show consists of the same characters popping up, saying the same things. The problem is that half the catch-phrases in this show aren't funny to start with. Dragged out to an entire series they're a total chore to sit through. A lot of the time it's just a case of "look at the funny people". Once you've seen the buck-toothed posh woman or the half-naked middle-aged women once there's nothing more to them. Characters like the Jamaican-talking gang, Salty Tales and the film star sketches are total filler material, lack any gags of any kind. A lot of it is just in-yer-face crudeness without any style or humour. The real shame is that the two female leads are great at doing a wide range of characters, and there's a strong supporting cast. Unfortunately it doesn't matter who's in it. If you ain't got the scripts then you ain't got the show.

TBB is brilliantly funny... but not on a level that actually makes you laugh. It's a satire on the state of modern comedy...

[mike-3139 · 22 January 2006]

TBB is brilliantly funny... but not on a level that actually makes you laugh. It's a satire on the state of modern comedy... it's full of empty catchphrases, paddling-pool characters, endless repetition, forced "dark" humour, and cloning of successful shows. It's not "like" Little Britain - it parodies it mercilessly! You have to watch for a while to really see what's going on: it's taken me a while to "get" it. But TBB is revolutionary! It turns the whole genre on its head by taking every current trend in comedy, and extrapolating them to their logical extremes. The result is a blistering attack on the stale state of TV comedy today. They're saying "Look what we can get away with!" (listen closely to the end of episode 1), and at the same time illustrating everything that is wrong. It's what Nathan Barley could have been, if the makers hadn't wussed out and decided to put jokes in it.

Hats off to the BBC for putting this on an entertainment channel! Considering how clever it really is, it ought to be on BBC4.

I wish there were more shows like Tittybangbang. I hate to think of BBC budgets being wasted on other so-called "comedians".

Incidentally, this was actually co-written by Bob Mortimer, under a false name (Robert Renwick). I don't really understand why. If I was Bob Mortimer, I'd be really proud of myself after this. Probably his finest work.

TittyBangBang

[chris_owen73 · 8 April 2006]

Its about time that the BBC got to spending the license fee on something that is original and funny, yes some of the sketches my be a little too much to bear i.e the necrophiliac police officers, but other than that i find myself watching and wanting more.

Also its about time that we had some truly funny ladies on the TV, its has been a while.

The only way i can think of summarizing TBB is: Bloody brilliant... enough said...

Just don't be to closed minded and expectant, its just for laughs.

but i would have to say its aimed towards the younger audiences.

Tittybangbang ROCKS!

[kt_homz · 17 February 2006]

This is one of the best things since Little Britain. I don't know how people don't like it. I LOVE it. People will start liking it after the first few series like they did with Little Britain. It is very Little Britain-like in some of the sketches but others are more difficult to understand. For example, Mr. Peacock who likes to "piddle" on people, some would find offensive and crude, but it contains some phrases like "All that and everything" which he says in most of the scenes. This is similar to Little Britain in which all the characters have their own phrase. People think the comedy is too rude but I don't understand why people would say that when Little Britain and Catherine Tate to some extent, are much ruder. I hope people wake up to the amazing comedy abilities of the actresses and appreciate the script, which for a first series is pretty good.

This show is class

[eilerson · 8 February 2006]

BBC three released two comedy sketch shows within two months. One was rotten, but TBB was a gem. When TBB started being advertised I was of course very reserved in my enthusiasm, little Britain is a hard act to follow...

TBB really is unique and brilliant for many reasons. The editing couldn't be better, the choice of music is inspired, just look at the use of Divine comedy's national express as the entertainers theme. Then at the start of Peacocks scene you can hear the music coming up through the floor of his apartment!

So many funny characters, I am very hopeful for a second series.

Quite Brilliant

[pcls18192 · 19 March 2006]

I found the whole Tittybangbang series quite brilliant. Both Lucy Montgomery and Debbie Chezen are at least equal to French and Saunders in my opinion. Some of the characters were a little unsavoury and I would love to see the BBC produce a second series but without the forensic detective who has sex with corpses, that was very OTT and not necessary. I was equally pleased to see that the lion tamer remained in the pilot only and I really see no point in the half naked womens sewing circle.

Other than that the Italian Maid was my favourite and The Darts Team were brilliant, also Mr Peacock, who although a bit lacking in good taste, was a very funny character. The show deserved better reviews than it received and I sincerely hope that there will be a second series.