Review of Mawaan Rizwan's new BBC Three comedy

Joyfully bucking the trend for realistic comedy-dramas, Mawaan Rizwan has successfully harnessed his on-stage silliness into a delightfully bonkers sitcom. Juice, which feels both fresh and refreshing, has a playfulness running through every scene yet doesn’t neglect its emotional core. 

The comic plays Jamma, a young showoff with pudding basin haircut who’s not ready for adulthood – and not far from Rizwan’s clownish stand-up persona. To set the surreal undertone, we first see him battling through the rainforest for what turns out to be a meeting with his boss in a marketing agency, charged with promoting a new yoghurt for men. 

It’s the sort of ‘fun’ workplace that’s full of trampolines and yoga balls, and he’s the life of it, entertaining colleagues (including Emily Lloyd-Saini as Winnie) with silly walks that put John Cleese to shame. And when, in a later episode, he is interviewed about renting a room, he tries to impress his potential flatmates by making his naked butt-cheeks dance – all part of the physical comedy that’s an intrinsic part of this ever-lively show.

While this is great fun, what keeps you invested is the relationship between Jamma and his more strait-laced boyfriend Guy, played by the ever-watchable Russell Tovey. ‘I love your house,’ Jamma tells him. ‘It makes me feel like an adult.’ ‘You are an adult,’ comes the deadpan response. Guy, a therapist, is clearly yearning for a more mature relationship but Jamma literally feels the walls closing in on him when the notion of settling down is raised. 

However, with bags of chemistry between the leads, there’s an obvious tenderness between their characters that contrasts nicely with the utterly dysfunctional relationship of Jamma’s parents. Rizwan’s real-life mum Shahnaz plays the domineering Farida, even more obliviously self-centred than him, while his taciturn, eccentric dad, Saif, is played with wonderful grubby slobbishness by comic Jeff Mirza. 

The family casting continues with Rizwan’s real brother Nabhaan playing Jamma’s sibling Isaac, who threatens to upstage him at work. 

However, on screen, nothing is likely to upstage Mawaan. The comic was surely always destined to be a star even without a vehicle such as this – but as a cheerful expression of his unique comic sensibilities, Juice has plenty of zest.

• Juice is on iPlayer now and the first two episodes air on BBC Three from 10pm tonight

Review date: 18 Sep 2023
Reviewed by: Steve Bennett