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Code 404 (Sky/NOW TV)

Sky’s biggest comedy hit in almost a decade has quickly been renewed for a second series. Code 404 is a bit like a reverse Life On Mars – a police officer finds himself struggling because he’s been pitched into the future rather than the past. There are also nods to Robocop and The Six Million Dollar Man.

Set ‘a few years from now’, when detective inspector John Major (Daniel Mays, near right) is killed while working undercover, scientists use AI and stem-cell technology to resurrect him. A year after his death he’s reunited with his work partner DI Roy Carver (Stephen Graham, far right) and his life partner, Kelly (Anna Maxwell Martin).

Major expects to move back in with Kelly but she’s not keen. ‘Think of me as like… Oscar Pistorius,’ he says in an ill-judged attempt to reassure her that he’s still the same good guy he was, only with a few enhancements. Unbeknown to him, she and Carver are an item. Bit awkward. And although he used to be ‘the best cop in the unit’, Major’s not the man he was. He’s prone to malfunctions and requires regular software updates. Nevertheless, he’s determined to track down the man who shot him. Part of the fun is seeing Mays and Graham, actors we’re more used to watching in gritty, serious dramas, embrace the show’s broad, knockabout comedy. There’s subtle stuff going on too. Several characters are named after modern philosophers and there are philosophical references dotted throughout.

All in all, this show’s running on a highly efficient operating system.