Produced by Adam Tandy (The Thick of It), Charlie Brooker's new cop show "A Touch of Cloth" (penned with TV Burp writer Dan Maier) is quite simply brilliant. In every scene, every line of dialogue, you can almost taste Brooker's bitter, vitriolic view of the universe, and that makes it very funny indeed.
DI Jack Cloth is beautifully underplayed by John Hannah, who I still cannot watch without expecting him, at any moment, to utter "stop all the clocks," and burst into tears. Cloth has the usual arbitrary, drink soaked, tragic past, and he and his partner Anne Oldman (pronounced Old Man) soon find themselves at Rundowne Estate, investigating the grisly murder of a pensioner. As the murders stack-up, and the blood splatters gratuitously, the gags come thick and fast. Naked Gun meets The Comic Strip. Airplane meets CSI Miami on the set of The Bill.
Brooker & Maier employ visual and verbal repetition with the flair of Seth McFarlance, and use deconstruction delightfully – like when police chief Tom Boss tells his team to get over to crime scenes "during the ad break". The script may be a little unsubtle at times, but who cares. Watch it, record it and then watch it again.
For daily TV reviews visit Mouthbox.co.uk.
DI Jack Cloth is beautifully underplayed by John Hannah, who I still cannot watch without expecting him, at any moment, to utter "stop all the clocks," and burst into tears. Cloth has the usual arbitrary, drink soaked, tragic past, and he and his partner Anne Oldman (pronounced Old Man) soon find themselves at Rundowne Estate, investigating the grisly murder of a pensioner. As the murders stack-up, and the blood splatters gratuitously, the gags come thick and fast. Naked Gun meets The Comic Strip. Airplane meets CSI Miami on the set of The Bill.
Brooker & Maier employ visual and verbal repetition with the flair of Seth McFarlance, and use deconstruction delightfully – like when police chief Tom Boss tells his team to get over to crime scenes "during the ad break". The script may be a little unsubtle at times, but who cares. Watch it, record it and then watch it again.
For daily TV reviews visit Mouthbox.co.uk.