Bordering on the ridiculous ....
SOFT BORDER PATROL
BBC ONE, 10.35PM
WELL, the weather bomb has truly exploded and, as is our way, we have reacted with typical Irish stoicism. In other words, we’ve all started screaming and had a national panic attack. But still, on the upside, we’re all stuck at home as everything has simply shut down.
So, working off the presumption that most of the live shows planned for the next few days (the ‘Late Late’, Cork against Bohs etc) have either been completely cancelled or severely curtailed, here’s a random pick of the best of the rest. Although, having said that, the best TV news of the week was the announcement that Sky is bundling Netflix onto their already superior Sky Q service.
This, finally, will save us all from the drudgery of... having to use an extra remote to get streamingservice onto the TV screen.
In the meantime, here are some nuggets.
Best new bet for the weekend is Soft Border Patrol (BBC1, tonight, 10.35pm).
Given the North’s, ahem, troubled history, it’s no surprise that it has produced some great stand-ups who mirror the wonderful, obsidian humour of the natives.
Yet it has seldom managed to parlay that onto the small screen.
I’m not talking about ‘Derry Girls’, which is a wonderful and universal coming-of age comedy, I’m referring more to the strange absence of biting political satire.
Neil Delamere is the brains behind ‘Soft Border Patrol’, which follows – mockumentary-style – a newly formed and utterly hapless customs unit struggling to cope with a post-Brexit landscape.
Devoid of any real power, it is reduced to showering gay couples who just got married ‘down south’ with confetti as they return to their Norn Irish homes, and while it has already been hyped in some circles as being in the mould of ‘W1A’, let’s hope it goes more for ‘Reno 911!’-style silliness.
Delamere has had always had a pleasing whiff of sulphur about him, and as long as it stays away from the dreaded tag of ‘gentle comedy’, there should be a few decent gags.
For some truly unfathomable reason, ‘The Big Bang Theory’ became one of the biggest sit-coms of the last few decades. Well, each to their own and while the appeal was always a mystery of Fatima-like proportions, the highly touted spin off show/ prequel, Young Sheldon starts on RTÉ One tonight at 7.30...
If the snow reminds you of the 1980s, Synth Britannia (BBC4, tonight, 10pm) looks at the great synth bands of the decade.
Throw in a few power cuts, and it’ll be just like going back in time.
It’s followed by Synth At The BBC, which features the likes of Roxy Music, New Order and Soft Cell.