Fun with foot in both camps

American remakes of British sitcoms have a somewhat chequered record. For every Three’s Company and The Office, there’s been a Payne or Men Behaving Badly.

In Camping’s (8.30pm, Thursdays, SoHo2, from Thursday) favour is that not many people will have seen the 2016 six-part original. Written by and starring Gavin & Stacey’s Julia Davis, it focused on a group of mates whose celebratory outdoors trip to Devon goes rather pear-shaped.

This eight-part HBO version has the more highprofile leads of Jennifer Garner (Alias, Juno) and David Tennant (Broadchurch, Doctor Who) joined by their friends and family at Brown Bear Lake to mark Tennant’s

character’s 45th birthday.

But, despite its ensemble premise, this is very much a vehicle for Garner, pictured, making her first foray back into TV in more than 12 years.

She plays Kathryn McSoreley-Jodell, a woman both living with chronic pain and considered one by all around her. When not updating her near 11,000 followers on Instagram about her daily thoughts and activities, the binder-toting Kathryn is busy fretting about potential dangers or problems. Naturally, she has every moment of the weekend mapped out for all nine of the participants.

However, things are almost immediately thrown into chaos when her sister, Carleen (Ioane Skye), announces that she has brought along her 16-year-old stepdaughter ‘‘because she took a knife to chorus’’, a jolt that is quickly followed by the news that married couple Margaret and Miguel aren’t coming because they’ve broken up.

As she’s still reeling from that, Miguel (Arturo Del Puerto) unexpectedly shows up with his new girlfriend, Jandice (Juliette Lewis), in tow. She is truly Kathryn’s worst nightmare. A DJ, reiki healing notary who makes her own nut cheeses, the charismatic Jandice is just the kind of free spirit that’s likely to deviate from Kathryn’s carefully ordered itinerary and take others with her.

Those tensions are what lie at the heart of Camping’s rather broad comedy. Girls’ duo Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner seem less cutting-edge, if no less cutting, in their observations of modern life here. The show feels more reliant on slapstick than verbal dexterity for laughs and many of the supporting characters feel rather onedimensional.

Also, although boasting an impressive American accent, Scottish actor Tennant seems a little out of sorts here, an observer to the more interesting battle between the always charismatic Lewis (Secrets and Lies )anda surprisingly effective Garner.

Like the activity itself, Camping is likely to divide audiences, with only some prepared to see it through for the duration.

Although boasting an impressive American accent, Scottish actor [David] Tennant seems a little out of sorts here.

– James Croot