Big Top Online

I just viewed the first episode of the new British comedy "Big Top" and it will be the last time I will ever watch this show. It features a traveling circus full of misfit clowns and incompetent performers managed by the only competent person on the show, Lizzy, an attractive female ringmaster. Boyco, the acrobat character is almost unbearable to watch with his horrific Eastern European accent. The jokes are second rate retreads, and overused clichés. I had to force any of the few laughs I had while watching it. I've seen some great British comedy series such as "Spaced", "Peep Show", "The It Crowd", and "The Office" and this series just makes me appreciate them more.

Hideous acting, and worse writing - Big Flop was doomed from the start. Basically Amanda Holden runs a circus and tries her hardest to warm the nation into appreciating her as a comedian. Unfortunately she isn't the slightest bit funny, and has made the entire country question how she ever became a judge on the popular 'Britains Got Talent'.

Fortunately there is light at the end of the tunnel. If you feel this is an accurate description of the show you can complain to the BBC - they have, after all, used your money to make the show and pay Amanda's ridiculous wage.

For America viewers I apologise but this is by no means considered watchable television in Britain.

You can imagine the BBC big-wigs planning this, let's take a star from each of the following hit shows - The Fast Show, Blackadder and Hi-de-Hi. Add the sister of a movie star, a foreigner with a comedy eastern European accent and Amanda Holden, clearly one of the current "flavours of the month" from Britain's got Talent and the celebrity magazines and we should have a massive hit......

Well, what a disaster: tired flat jokes, a wooden and unfunny performance from Holden and predictable writing Tony Robinson is in some sort of catatonic trance throughout each episode. He's clearly there in body, but his eyes tell you he'd rather be in a trench talking about pottery.

If this programme was a horse, it would have been taken out and shot. It is a prime example of being less than the sum of it's parts.

1st of all, an apology to any overseas viewers.

If you tuned in expecting the sardonic writing of The Office, the eloquence of Yes, Minister or the raw genius of Fawlty Towers: Sorry! This can only be blames on current "blue sky" thinkers at the BBC's programming department.

Amanda Holden, With minimal talent (ahh, the irony!) to start with, must have pulled in every favour/loan/threat in her portfolio to get this made. Poor comic timing, dire scripts, sets recycled from "Crossroads" & something approaching no appreciable acting talent on display.

Oh, & what the hell is Tony Robinson doing in this mess?! what a way to see the 00's out. We saw it in with the aforementioned "Office" in 2001, & this wipes the ass of the decade!!

Still, there IS a plus side to this. There cannot be anything worse than this in the 2010 schedule.

can there????

Having just watched an episode of Big Top, I was moved to write my first IMDb review in years! What a piece of ****!!

Some of the best comedy ever penned has been for the BBC so it amazes me that they could commission something as banal and witless as Big Top.

The gags are obvious, clumsy, and devoid of any humour and I was constantly reminded me of the spoof Ricky Jervais comedy, 'When the Whistle Blows'.

Got to be seen to be believed.

PS. If you are someone who enjoyed this show (statistically there must be some), I suggest you check out Ballamory and Mr Tumble on Cbeebies.

Very possibly the worst alleged comedy the BBC has produced in years. With few rivals for worst ever you need only see Amanda Holden's name in the credits of anything to know it's bad but this has to be her personal best/worst. This turkey was moved to a late night slot after the 2nd or 3rd ep to limit the damage. Contrived plots with wooden acting combine to swallow the hopes and dreams even the most dedicated career actor who has the misfortune of being cast in this, the 2nd worst ver sitcom to come from the same management team. It is hoped that just this once the BBC go back to the practise of reusing video tape to insure the complete erasure of this embarrassing pile of ick.

Family friendly sit-com set in a travelling circus, featuring a surprisingly top notch range of comic performers (its good to see Ruth Madoc back performing regularly on TV again), this show is never going to win any awards for the quality of its scripts, but there are some inventive touches that show there is enough potential for a second series.

Other reviewers have commented stating that it bears no comparison to The Office, Fawlty Towers etc - and indeed it doesn't, but this show is clearly aimed at family viewing and is going out in a relatively early evening time slot so should be viewed in that context.

In one episode of this 'comedy' series someone suggests the lead character should sleep with a Health and Safety Inspector to pass a routine inspection. Maybe this is a case of art imitating life and the sales pitch to the BBC involved a little indoor wrestling on the casting couch.

Seriously, I came across this on the cable channel BBC Entertainment and just sat hypnotised by the sheer awfulness of this show. I mean, was this the organisation that gave us Tony Hancock and Fawlty Towers? How did a member of the 'Blackadder' team end up spewing out trite one-liners which were nowhere near as venomous and cynical as his former master (but were obviously intended to be)? Could the cast read? How hungry do you have to be to do this sort of stuff? Added to the terrible scripting was a cheap, shoddy production in which the principle characters were backed up by extras doing nothing in particular in the background, and obvious inserts of a real circus audience for 'performance' sequences.

If you need something to take your mind off a toothache don't watch this, live with your toothache, it will be funnier.

I've forgotten the last time the BBC did an amusing comedy , as has the majority of viewers in Britain , so I'm guessing BIG TOP with its large ensemble cast playing a circus troupe is a throw back to the days of DADS ARMY , HI DE HI and ARE YOU BEING SERVED . It also features Tony Robinson best known for Baldrick one of the truly great comedy characters from the classic BLACKADDER series , and there's John Thomson from THE FAST SHOW fame . That said the cast also features Amanda Holden at the top of the cast list who is so untalented she strikes me as someone who'd have a problem playing herself . If the omens weren't good the reality is far worse than can be imagined

As has been pointed out the jokes are lamer than a horse that's had its limbs amputated . This is only be expected from a BBC comedy from the 21st century . That's not the main problem . One episode centres around the immigration bureau investigating one of the circus acts who might be an illegal immigrant . Being a BBC show there's not much call for racist gags - which might have raised a chortle if only for nostalgia's sake - but no the real offence comes with Holden's character thinking about whoring herself to the immigration investigator ! This in a show broadcast at 7.30 pm ! It's amazing the amount of sexual references and innuendos there is in a sit-com that on the surface considers itself a family show . In fact if you can imagine a children's show with sexual references this is what it looks like - a kind of TORCHWOOD with canned laughter

I just caught an episode of this dreadful "sitcom". The writing, acting, sets and costumes can only be described as appalling and dated. You'd think it was a repeat of something made in the early 70s.

I agree with the other reviewer who couldn't believe our licence fee was spent on this. I also can't believe that people like John Thompson (of Fast Show fame), Tony Robinson (of Blackadder and Time Team fame) and Sophie Thompson (who was amazing in the film version of Emma) got involved in this tripe!

Even Amanda Holden is above this. She should clearly stick to Britain's Got Talent. Even if this is a classic example that it clearly has not.