Comedy duo use blunder and banter
Enjoyment of this fitfully funny series comes down to your tolerance for slapstick-led shtick and mixing jaded cynicism with optimistic naivety, writes James Croot.
If you only know Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc as the original hosts of The Great British Bake Off, then their latest collaboration will come as something of a shock.
The British comedy duo, who first met at the University of Cambridge, play an unlikely pair of ‘‘cleaners’’ in the darkly humorous six-part sitcom Hitmen (which begins screening on Wednesday at 7.30pm on Sky TV’s Vibe channel).
When we meet Fran (Perkins) and Jamie (Giedroyc), they’re hanging their latest target upside down several floors above the ground. While it initially looks like a shakedown, the truth is they’re barely hanging on to try to keep him alive.
‘‘Let us pull you up, so you can get warm – and we’ll kill you in a civilised manner,’’ Fran suggests to their quarry. But as he tries to negotiate a 10-second headstart, the absentminded Jamie lets her grip slip after Fran suggests she be the sole arbiter of time. The result is not pretty.
There’s no time to dwell on such disasters, as ‘‘Mr K’’ has another job, requiring them to babysit a dodgy lawyer who made the ‘‘mistake’’ of wearing a wire to a meeting. As the minutes turn into hours, the conversation shifts towards today being Fran’s birthday and the surprise dinner Jamie has planned. While she had high hopes of gathering a crowd, everyone seems to be busy.
‘‘Graham was going to come, but he suddenly remembered he had to go to his mum’s funeral.’’
‘‘She died six years ago,’’ an incredulous Fran intones.
‘‘And they’re only burying her now?’’ comes the reply.
Fran worries that their reluctance may be down to last year’s infamous incident at their karaoke club. ‘‘I had no idea they had UV lighting. If I had, I would have changed my clothes straight after the hit.’’
She asks Jamie just how many people will actually be in attendance. ‘‘Well, it will be me, you – and a takeaway.’’
‘‘That’s not special, that’s every Friday night!’’ Fran says.
However, before she can wallow too much, one of Jamie’s other surprises arrives at the side of their Ford Transit.
To her dismay though, rather than the stripper she’d thought she ordered, it’s a selfproclaimed human spider (Ted Lasso’s Nick Mohammed). And it isn’t long before his seemingly endless witterings push Fran’s buttons once too often.
Much of Hitmen’s comedy derives from misunderstandings and miscommunications between the central duo – and those they encounter.
Series creators Joe Markham and Joe Parham (best known for cult animated series The Amazing World of Gumball) certainly provide the pair with plenty of opportunities for blundering and banter, but subtle this is most certainly not.
A cadre of familiar faces (especially to fans of Taskmaster) appear throughout the series – everyone from Jessica Knappett to Asim Chaudhry, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Alice Lowe and Mike Wozniak – however, your enjoyment of this fitfully funny series really comes down to your tolerance for Perkins and Giedroyc’s slapstick-led shtick and the chemistry of mixing jaded cynicism with optimistic naivety.
Hitmen begins screening on Sky TV’s Vibe channel at 7.30pm on Wednesday.