Review of Radio 2's first Funny Fortnight pilots

Radio 2’s Funny Fortnight of comedy pilots kicked off last night with the most traditional of sitcom ideas: a clash of classes.

The Taylors revolves around a nouveau riche family of working-class Londoners moving to a more middle-class area in Slough, where they rub up against their more snobbish new neighbours.

There’s a touch of the Del Boy about Gary – as played by EastEnders star Shane Ritchie – who speaks about the Dow Jones Index but can’t pronounce it and surely doesn’t understand it, while boasting about being in ‘high-end event management’ (ie hiring out bouncy castles). Meanwhile, his wife Melissa (Hannah Waddingham) is a brassy, salt-of-the-earth type.

‘No more ducking, no more diving,’ Gary vows as he tries to persuade his family –which includes two older kids – to present the best version of themselves to the rest of the street.

Writer Simon Carlyle, creator of TV's similarly suburban Two Doors Down, doesn’t move too far from archetypes with the working-class life defined by karaoke, caravans in the driveway and teenage pregnancy, while their neighbours – accountant Oliver (Nicholas Burns) and dotty Belinda (Ella Kenion) are overly worried about outward appearances.

But the characters are realised with some charm, and there’s a kernel of realism to the way they try to find some common ground. Away from the central relationship, though, some gags seemed forced – not least the double entendres. After Gary extends the hand of friendship only to have it shunned, he laments: ‘They have sniffed at my extension.’ Fnarr, fnarr… 

Innuendo is the entire raison d’etre of the second pilot, the panel show Censored. So who better to host than Julian Clary, who is actually relatively restrained her, only occasionally interjecting a deliciously filthy thought.

The premise of the game is that various  audio clips have words bleeped out to make them seem dirtier than they are – an idea similar to the 'censored song' round on I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue or Jimmy Kimmel's 'unnecessary censorship' segment in the States:

So the panel of Dane Baptiste, Rachel Parris and Arlene Phillips had to figure out what was meant when a documentary said that Winston Churchill liked [BLEEP]ing, or what people in the street were talking about when asked if they had ever tried [BLEEP]ing.

It’s a one-joke idea and the redacted words are normally quite obvious (as if that was ever the point?) but the game plays out entertainingly with Baptiste, especially, proving himself an imaginative presence in this episode.

Though whether this [BLEEP]ing game has the legs to run for a full series is dubious. There’s probably a good reason it remains only a segment in other shows.

• Radio 2’s Funny Fortnight continues tonight with Jeremy Vine: Agony Uncle at 10pm and Josh Widdicombe Will Make Your Life Better at 10.30pm. Hear The Taylors here, or Censored here.

Review date: 24 Apr 2018
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett