Alan Davies sitcom gets off to a good start

BBC Two’s new Tuesday night comedy strand got off to a strong start, with Alan Davies’ new comedy Whites winning 2.37 million viewers.

It means just under ten per cent of the entire TV audience at the time were watching the sitcom, set in the kitchens of a lavish country house restaurant, with another 100,000 watching in HD.

It was above BBC Two’s average audience for 9pm on a Tuesday, of 1.88 million or the year so far

The return of Harry & Paul immediately afterwards attracted 1.99 million – or 8.5 per cent. Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse’s sketch show was bumped to BBC Two after two series on BBC One.

Critics gave White’s a tentative welcome.

In the Guardian, Tim Dowling wrote: ‘It's gentle, subtly played, often funny and quite promising. At times it got a bit predictable, but I blame the leisurely pace’

The Independent’s Tom Sutcliffe said that it started badly, with gags past their sell-by date and ‘over-strained’ writing, but added: ‘Then it all began to come together... I'll be going back for another course.’

But Metro said: ‘The gags and the characters feel like lukewarm leftovers, while new boy in the kitchen, the sinister Skoose, is more serial killer than sous-chef. Odd, but not in a good way.’

Published: 29 Sep 2010