Big Train

Big Train
3 / 5

Channel: BBC
Series: Two
Aired: 1998-2002
Cast: Simon Pegg, Mark Heap, Kevin Eldon, Amelia Bullmore, Rebecca Front, Catherine Tate et al

Calmly sitting upon my Simon Pegg shelf is Big Train. I say shelf, it is more of a pile, though I have visions that in the future it will be an actual shelf, adorned with DVDs galore of my second-favourite comedian and first-favourite actor. Rarely do I buy DVDs, or hard copies of anything but books, but when it comes to Simon Pegg I will shell out whatever I've got.

Brief conversations with someone sent me to the open arms of Big Train. I had seen several of the sketches (the Artist Formerly Known As Prince sketch is probably the most famous) without actually knowing what they were from and had always enjoyed them. A lovely realisation came when I noticed that Graham Linehan had written the first series: (he of Father Ted, The IT Crowd, Black Books fame) he is one of my favourite TV writers and major influences and anything he writes is bound to be of excellent quality with a touch of surrealism, if not entirely laugh-out-loud.

As with most sketch shows, it's a mixed bag. I really enjoy the hit-and-miss feeling you get from sketch shows, though I can't say why. Perhaps it's because they're not my favourite kind of comedies and if they're a bit hit-and-miss I'm neither disappointed nor surprised. As mentioned, there are wonderful sketches that have lived on in compilations and enter the consciousness of comedy-watchers like myself, regardless of whether you know where they're from or not, so it's not as if there's a larger supplement of miss than hit.

There are tame sketches mixed with more surreal Monty Python-esque moments, like a bored wife who stabs her husband because she's embarrassed by him, and it often journeys in to the immature adult content. I like the varied approach, though the only thing I will say is that the staring contest is bland and boring and completely unnecessary, and there is far too much of it.

I probably gave it one more star because of Simon Pegg, and maybe half a star more because of the Goodbye, Mr Chips reference. It's well-thought out and well-written just, as I said, hit-and-miss.