Peter Kay's 'Phoenix Nights' is simply the funniest British sitcom for years. The setting is cliched, but its so full of bleak comic invention, every scene bursts with sight and word gags mercifully unflagged by studio laughter. The underlying sense that there is no salvation for any of these characters adds a poignant edge to the hysteria, and Peter's Kay's Brian Potter is brilliantly foiled by Dave Spikey's Jerry, a man almost (but not quite) intelligent enough to realise he'd be better off somewhere else. A real gem, utterly silly but very true to life.
Review of Phoenix Nights
