This might not be to everyone's sense of humor but it had us laughing until our sides hurt! Haven't seen anything that funny for a long time - well done BBC.
81 Reviews
Really funny
jane-chambers-779692 January 2020
Laugh a minute
samlucas-2084525 December 2019
Absolutely Hilarious
awjn5 January 2020
One of the funniest shows I have seen in years, slightly bizarre python like quality to it, my 77 year old mother and my 17 year old daughter equally find it hilarious, if fact the Christmas episode gave both my wife and daughter asthma attacks they were laughing so much!
Absolutely Hilarious!!
joweston-425823 January 2020
Loved the Christmas episode - was great to have something lighthearted that we could enjoy as a family. Just watched the next episode and again a lighthearted funny programme we can enjoy with our 11 year old and all find entertaining
Find out the real winner at Christmas!
robot-dog27 December 2019
I don't think it's a spoiler, given the title of the show, to say that this a celebration of things going wrong. It's also a celebration of the cast's attempts to soldier on through it and try to make the best of it. The Christmas story itself is largely inconsequential as it's just a vehicle to cram in as much mayhem as possible. It occasionally feels like anti-Christmas (or an anti-Disneyfied version of Christmas) and is all the funnier because of it.
What's most impressive is the number of different ways that have been conceived for a production to go wrong. It feels like it's been distilled from Acorn Antiques, It'll Be Alright On The Night, the Alan Partridge Christmas Special, but with a flavour of its own too. It's so quickfire that you really need to watch it more than once to catch everything, and it's just as grimly funny the second and even third time around. An increasingly belligerent and cynical Santa ties the whole thing together beautifully, although it wouldn't be the same without a visibly frustrated elf, an invisibly frustrated elf, and a snowman that meets a bad end (how did that do that?)
Very much looking forward to the rest of this series.
What's most impressive is the number of different ways that have been conceived for a production to go wrong. It feels like it's been distilled from Acorn Antiques, It'll Be Alright On The Night, the Alan Partridge Christmas Special, but with a flavour of its own too. It's so quickfire that you really need to watch it more than once to catch everything, and it's just as grimly funny the second and even third time around. An increasingly belligerent and cynical Santa ties the whole thing together beautifully, although it wouldn't be the same without a visibly frustrated elf, an invisibly frustrated elf, and a snowman that meets a bad end (how did that do that?)
Very much looking forward to the rest of this series.
Refreshingly different
geraldisrael3217 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I have just watched the 4th instalment and think it is the most original, clever and funny thing to hit the BBC in years. The comic timing is superb, the art of pretending to try and get something right while obviously getting it wrong is a very difficult skill. The episode set in world war 2 (1961) had me in tears. In the latest episode the lodge there is a scene between the main character and a face in the wall that Abbot and Costello would have been proud of. Ignore the haters it's great.
A Classic
colin_mccooey3 January 2020
Truly brilliant.
eddiethefish25 January 2020
Love it or hate it.
atomrose-1565911 January 2020
Another classic from mischief theatre
kirstenfarr27 January 2020
green shoots of comedy recovery?
gilleliath11 January 2020
It's so good to see a BBC comedy which, while not an insult to the intelligence (Mrs Brown take note), is actually trying to make people laugh - and on prime time too! Daftness, slapstick, beautifully performed live stunts, and above all laughter. The trend for ditching studio audiences and laugh tracks has been a dead end - has led to a string of painfully up-themselves middle class memoirs posing as comedies. Because if you have a laugh track, you have to be at least a little bit funny or you just embarrass yourself - it keeps comedy honest.
To get postmodern audiences to accept this kind of material, though, the makers have framed the whole thing ironically: you're not laughing at what happens on the show so much, you're laughing at the show itself. The drawback is, there's no real story or characters to sustain your interest in the gags. Half an hour of this, therefore, is a lot. But it's definitely a step in the right direction, the first really hopeful sign from BBC1 comedy since Miranda - and that, as they recently reminded us, is now 10 years ago!
To get postmodern audiences to accept this kind of material, though, the makers have framed the whole thing ironically: you're not laughing at what happens on the show so much, you're laughing at the show itself. The drawback is, there's no real story or characters to sustain your interest in the gags. Half an hour of this, therefore, is a lot. But it's definitely a step in the right direction, the first really hopeful sign from BBC1 comedy since Miranda - and that, as they recently reminded us, is now 10 years ago!
Not funny in the slightest bit!
terrykelly-3451227 September 2021
IT'S SLAPSTICK, A COMEDY OF ERRORS DONE TO PERFECTION
gareth-7544226 January 2020
Warning: Spoilers
MORONS!! HEY, MORONS!!
YES YOU, giving this 1 & 2 stars you're either bereft of humour or intelligence or quite possibly both, this ISN'T a sitcom or a dramady it's quite simply an amazing cast of brilliant physical comedy performers playing the role of amdram stage actors whom fall foul of the endless problems of cheap props, lighting & sound faults, bad timing & forgotten lines, yes it's over the top with the physical gags & the numerous prop problems but the humour is superb from the cast.
What makes this even funnier is the fact while not all these problems crop up in every amdram production. They do happen, this is simply an amalgamation of those problems experienced by stage actors in amateur productions.
Those that don't or can't appreciate this show have never sat at a school or civic hall & watched an amateur production take place & witnessed the problems that arise from such events & the awkward embarrassment & humour of the cast dealing with it, the real comedy isn't the trips, falls or dodgy props & sets the real comedy is the reactions & actions of the actors dealing with their "play" going to pieces.
If you can't deal with real comedy don't watch this go watch re-runs of boring dead beat shows like"as time goes by".
YES YOU, giving this 1 & 2 stars you're either bereft of humour or intelligence or quite possibly both, this ISN'T a sitcom or a dramady it's quite simply an amazing cast of brilliant physical comedy performers playing the role of amdram stage actors whom fall foul of the endless problems of cheap props, lighting & sound faults, bad timing & forgotten lines, yes it's over the top with the physical gags & the numerous prop problems but the humour is superb from the cast.
What makes this even funnier is the fact while not all these problems crop up in every amdram production. They do happen, this is simply an amalgamation of those problems experienced by stage actors in amateur productions.
Those that don't or can't appreciate this show have never sat at a school or civic hall & watched an amateur production take place & witnessed the problems that arise from such events & the awkward embarrassment & humour of the cast dealing with it, the real comedy isn't the trips, falls or dodgy props & sets the real comedy is the reactions & actions of the actors dealing with their "play" going to pieces.
If you can't deal with real comedy don't watch this go watch re-runs of boring dead beat shows like"as time goes by".
Original British Comedy is still alive !
cush146514 January 2020
Refreshing and funny
suego-492933 July 2021
This show is a refreshing change of pace and a fun way to spend a half hour. It is quite slapstick, so that has to be your cup of tea. Even if it isn't, give this a try. It might just surprise you by how much you enjoy it. But if you don't, that's okay too. Unlike many reviewers here I don't feel you have to agree with me or that makes you a "hater" or "stupid" as some have stated. We all have our own tastes and likes/dislikes. Doesn't make either side right or wrong. But give the show a try. If you like/love it, great! If not, there are plenty of other choices out there for you to enjoy.
Fantastic! So glad to see them come to series tv!
debdshaw6027 May 2020
I first saw Their version of Peter Pan and almost died laughing. I saw the touring company of The Play That Goes Wrong love and just had a blast. Seeing it episodic form is epic!
England does the best physical, silly comedy on the planet!
England does the best physical, silly comedy on the planet!
Decent comedy which is rare on BBC
edwards_dale31 January 2020
Funniest thing I ever saw.
mlbroberts31 January 2021
I had the good fortune to see this on Broadway. I laughed so hard I had to go back and see it again, and I laughed just as hard the second time. Non-stop. I have to say that seeing it in person is even way more funny that the TV production, because there is a lot of audience participation in the play, and the scenery is such an integral part of the the "going wrong" that "feeling" it makes it even funnier than just "seeing" it. Nevertheless, the premise is hysterical on stage or on TV. A British mystery play where everything about the presentation goes wildly wrong. Scenic gimmicks like locked doors don't work right, stage crew keeps turning up visibly when they are not supposed to. In the stage production the entire set - predictably - falls completely apart at the end. The only production that actually literally made my sides hurt from laughing.
Very clever and very, very funny!
stuartwilcox15 March 2020
Quite simply the funniest programme that has been on TV for a long time. It's brilliantly conceived and all of the actors execute everything to perfection. You have to marvel at how the actors make everything look as if it's complexly natural. I would definitely recommend going to see the stage show. When you see it being done live, it clearly demonstrates that there are no special effects involved. Absolute genius!
Flawless !!! - Ha Ha ha!
robinrid5 February 2020
Glde they did it but
coynieuk6 February 2020
I am a fan from the original 10/10 Peter Pan Goes Wrong the shoe leads of with another Christmas special and continues to amuse and entertain
However they are not all winners and some are by the standers of the original not good but you will laugh and smile so enjoy
This is for those out there who enjoyed Laurel and Hardy the Three and WB Tom and Jerry Buggs Bunny Daffy Duck etc you see it coming you laugh any way
It is slapstick silliness with fantastic timing and great actors/characters this is adult panto at its best
However they are not all winners and some are by the standers of the original not good but you will laugh and smile so enjoy
This is for those out there who enjoyed Laurel and Hardy the Three and WB Tom and Jerry Buggs Bunny Daffy Duck etc you see it coming you laugh any way
It is slapstick silliness with fantastic timing and great actors/characters this is adult panto at its best
The most inconsequential rubbish ever
clarablossoms17 January 2020
Brilliant
planet_hag6 February 2020
Now the series is over, I'm finding myself bereft of tv programmes that will make me laugh like I did when I was a child. Genuinely side-splitting stuff on a weekly basis. The art of the over-performance is played perfectly by all...the pride that the "actors" take and the fact that not one of them corpses adds to the comedy immensely. Love it. Absolutely love it
Laugh out loud funny
rpforsey8 March 2020
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
