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'Coming Of Age' In The Press...I'm sorry. I'm so very, very sorry. The BBC have commissioned another series of tawdry pusfest Coming of Age. That means, somewhere in the world, Jas, Ollie, Matt, Chloe and DK will be proffering lame jokes about gobbles on the sofa and erections over inanimate objects. If you haven't seen it and like putting yourself through absolute torture, then it's worth catching it. Honestly, it makes White Chicks look like a Hitchcock thriller. Review of the joint Comic Relief Special with Two Pints and Grownups: Having crammed the casts of all three programmes onto one small set, leaving them with little to do except stand awkwardly around like infants at a Christmas concert, the show proceeded to unleash a barrage of the lamest jokes ever be to inflicted in the name of charity. In a good cause? Certainly. Terrible? Definitely. But then my opinion is poisoned by an abiding aversion to Coming Of Age. Working to combat poverty, suffering and injustice is all well and good, but if Comic Relief promised to eradicate Coming Of Age I would really put my hand in my pocket. By a light year, this was the worst show of 2008. So bad was it that I briefly considered jacking my job in as a TV critic... no lies. Imagine the most tawdry, lazy, vapid, vacuous show you've ever seen and then multiply by a million. If you can imagine that, then you're about a third of the way to understand just how dismal this show is. Without doubt, Coming of Age is the worst thing ever broadcast in television history. There isn't a word invented to tell you how bad it is. When I wrote my original review for this show, I noted that although I thought it was pretty naff, I didn't mind it. Since that first episode, however, my ability to put up with endless knob gags from a bunch of unreal teenage characters has declined rapidly. There's just no getting away from it. This is an absolute pile of shit. The BBC should be ashamed. I sat through Coming Of Age with the will to live seeping from my every pore, leaving me drenched in a puddle of despair. Apparently writer Tim Dawson was 19 when he wrote it, which is about six years older than I would have guessed. Written by Harry Venning. From The Stage, 13th October 2008 Richmond College student stars in BBC sitcom An article about Anabel Barnston, who plays Chloe in Coming Of Age. Written by Melissa Hills. From Richmond and Twickenham Times, 13th October 2008 Coming Of Age is one of those shows that, patently, you either love or loathe. One thing was for certain - BBC Three was obviously aiming at its new, laser-like precision demographic. I was intrigued and was willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. I strapped myself in... and was amazed. Coming Of Age may be the worst BBC Three sitcom yet. It is, like most of the channel's output, supposedly aimed at teenagers, even written by one (19-year-old Tim Dawson), but I refuse to believe that even the easiest-to-please teenager is happy to accept something so horribly written, horribly acted and horribly vulgar in lieu of actual humour. OK, I'll be honest, I was expecting to really, really hate Coming of Age. That's not a good way to approach a new television show, I know, but I couldn't help it. I'd seen the trailer. It looked bad. And yes, having now seen the first episode, my opinion is that there is indeed a hell of a lot wrong with Coming of Age. Written by David Sharpe. From Cool Blue Shed, 1st October 2008 Getting a 19-year-old to write a sitcom reflecting the lives of young people is a good idea. Letting him (Tim Dawson) get away with something that plainly doesn't work is a very, very bad idea. There seems to be no point in the piloting process if the channel controller picks one of the weakest entries for a full run and then makes it a lot less funny than the original. From The Custard TV, 1st October 2008 Ladies and Gentlemen, I know I've said this before, but this time, I mean it. I've seen the worst TV show ever transmitted in broadcast history. Imagine the most tawdry, lazy, vapid, vacuous show you've ever seen and then multiply by a million. If you can imagine that, then you're about a third of the way to understand just how dismal Coming Of Age is. Written by Mof Gimmers. From TV Scoop, 1st October 2008 To create a comedy its core audience will like, BBC3 asked 19-year-old Tim Dawson to write about a gang of A-level students. But do teen viewers want Coming of Age's creaky old gags, desperate puns and endless, hammeringly unsubtle innuendo? It's a depressing prospect. The Radio Times, 30th September 2008 To create a comedy its core audience will like, BBC3 asked 19-year-old Tim Dawson to write about a gang of A-level students. But do teen viewers want Coming of Age's creaky old gags, desperate puns and endless, hammeringly unsubtle innuendo? It's a depressing prospect. The Radio Times, 30th September 2008 At 19, Tim Dawson is the youngest scriptwriter ever to have a series commissioned by the BBC. Wow! Pitched somewhere between E4's Skins and the Beeb's Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, this sitcom, written by teenager Tim Dawson, clearly has the youth demographic in mind. BBC3 continues its mission to be painfully hip and down with the young audience it is desperate to attract with this woefully misfiring sitcom about a group of sixth form students. It's hackneyed and feels like it was made about 10 years ago with gags that fail to hit their mark with alarming regularity. Just because it's written by a 19 year old doesn't mean it's going to appeal to the youngsters. Avoid. Mark Wright, The Stage, 29th September 2008 Scriptwriter pens BBC sitcom at 19 Article about Tim Dawson, with photo of Dawson and Paul Mayhew-Archer. Written by Gordon Rogers. From This Is Oxfordshire, 13th April 2007 |
