Robocop meets slapstick in this fun new comedy
The central joke of Code 404 (Sky One) is that it is a comedy with Stephen Graham in it. Graham, perhaps the finest British actor working today, has cornered the market in serious roles that require him to be miserable, tortured or just plain unpleasant, all while looking as if he’s about to start a fight in a pub or steal your car.
The show began in typical Graham fashion: he’s Detective Inspector Roy Carver, a hard-faced cop overseeing a covert drugs operation. His colleague, DI John Major – played by fellow Line of Duty alumnus Daniel Mays – does the deal but ends up shot dead after his cover is blown. So far, so Graham.
But then we cut to a scene in which Carver visits his fallen comrade’s grave, and who should pop up behind him but Major. The show is set in the near future and Major has been brought back to life thanks to artificial intelligence. The main problem is that the intelligence is sorely lacking, so Major is now a hopelessly blundering detective. Mays has described Code 404 as “Robocop meets Some Mothers Do ’Ave ’Em”, although his character’s dimness tends more towards Neil in The Inbetweeners.
There is another problem, which is that Carver was having a clandestine affair with Major’s wife, Kelly (Anna Maxwell Martin, also from Line of Duty – there is a theme here), and is now in a relationship with her, which is put under some strain by the resurrection. Luckily, Major is too stupid to notice this. “I’m the man you married but with new wiring. Think of me like Oscar Pistorius!” he tells her.
This is an original comedy from Sky and possibly their best one, thanks to the cast. The joy is that in another universe this could have been a po-faced drama, and the three leads are sending themselves up. “Is he like before?” Kelly hisses to Roy after John returns home. “Yeah, he’s a bit of a knob,” replies Carver, which is funnier than it sounds written down here.
The action frequently descends into slapstick – Major reacting to the sight of some cocaine at a drug dealer’s house by hoovering up the lot, turning into a gibbering wreck and accidentally getting his partner run over. It’s daft fun and half an hour whips by. And after a recent run of Save Me, White House Farm, A Christmas Carol and The Virtues, not to mention Martin Scorsese’s
The Irishman, Graham deserves a bit of light relief.
TAbsolutely India: Mancs in Mumbai was faintly alarming. Was ITV sending a bunch of lairy Northerners out on the lash? Thankfully not. It was a sweet mix of travel show and family bonding session, as the Thomas brothers went in search of their roots.
Emmerdale actor Adam, Coronation Street star Ryan and former Love Islander Scott embarked on the trip with their father, Dougie, who had disappeared from their lives for several years after splitting from their mum but was now back in the fold. Dougie’s father, Nolan, emigrated from India to Britain in 1947, and the boys knew little about him. Here was their chance to find out, aided by a healthy programme budget (a stay in the Oberoi, don’t mind if we do).
The show breezed by on the strength of the brothers’ openness and easy charm. They seemed guileless – well, as guileless as TV performers can be – and threw themselves into everything with gusto, from entertaining children at Nolan’s old school to trying street food. They sampled fire paan, which seems to be India’s answer to a flaming Sambuca, and cheerily proclaimed it the worst thing they had ever tasted. And they found everything hilarious. “They call it Mumbai now.” “Why do they call it Mumbai now?” “It just sounds better.” Cue guffaws.
The brothers claimed to know nothing about Mumbai, which must mean they don’t watch much TV. Trevor Mcdonald and Michael Portillo have visited by train, Anita Rani and Dan Snow have broadcast from its railway station, and TV chefs can’t get enough of the place. They ticked off the sights – the Gateway of India, the Taj hotel – and visited the Times of India building, where Nolan got his first job aged 18. It was reminiscent of Who Do You Think You Are? but with Dougie’s behaviour as the elephant in the room.
This was the first of a series, and future episodes will delve deeper into how the boys were affected by their father’s abandonment. It’s a tricky combination to get right, cheery travelogue and family soul-searching, but it works surprisingly well.
Code 404 ★★★★ Absolutely India: Mancs in Mumbai ★★★