iPlayer review by Steve Bennett

Another full-length sitcom pilot released under the Comedy Feeds banner, and another which seems to have a very stifled ambition for a strand which, you’d hope, would be a nursery for the more adventurous ideas away from the glare of terrestrial TV.

Fail starts with a scene in which twentysomething Paul tries to have a wank in the bathroom, but is interrupted by a couple of knocks on the door. Then he says something dirty in a phone call to his girlfriend, unaware – of course – that he’s on speaker and her parents are listening. Cheap gags both, and pretty much setting the scene for the unadventurous parade of predictable sex jokes that follow.

The premise is that Paul, still living at home with his mum and dad and a template socially awkward young man, invites his girlfriend Claire to move in. Cue his parents’ presence dampening his sexual ardour – although they seem to to suffer any such physical inhibitions. Then there’s Claire’s ex, the sexy and confident Greg (Jassa Aluwalia), who appears back on the scene, sparking a jealousy that eats him up.

So he tries to be cool, smoking dope and heading to a nightclub which turns out to be a sex club, where he’s more than a little out of place in his geeky jumper amid all the leather…

 As Paul, Will Merrick channels all the gangly gaucheness of James Acaster, but sadly the script doesn’t allow him any of the wit; he just has to look uncomfortable in an orgy. Job done. The rest of the characters are even more shallow. For the second lead, Claire (Ruby Thomas) is little more than ‘pretty actress’ who has to roll her eyes at Paul’s awkwardness.

Fail has been written by Tom Melia, who has previously worked on Hollyoaks and doesn’t seem to be pushing the envelope here. It’s perfectly functional sitcom, following all the rules – which is exactly its problem, we’ve seen it all before.

Seems like the title is tempting fate just a little too much.

• Fail is one of the BBC Three Comedy Feeds released on iPlayer as part of the BBC’s Landmark Sitcom season. Click here to view.

Review date: 8 Sep 2016
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett