'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.

Mof Gimmers, TV Scoop, 12th June 2009

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.

Harry Venning, The Stage, 17th March 2009

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.

mofgimmers, TV Scoop, 19th December 2008

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.

Cool Blue Shed, 18th October 2008

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

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.

So, the first joke. Drama teacher: "Chloe, your character hasn't seen Dick since the war broke out. And Matt, your character is desperate... for Fanny." Oh dear. That was just the tip of the double entendre iceberg in that scene. The very first scene in the show. It was like watching TV from the 1970s. But with teenagers delivering the lines and not Richard O'Sullivan. It was weird.

The rest of the episode was a blur. Not necessarily a blur, but more of a smear. It was just one long smear of a knob joke. Every single line was peppered with both single and double entendres - it was like a teenage Carry On film. Without the finesse.

Honestly, after the first 10 minutes I realised I had never felt such rancour towards a television programme. It's just so insulting to the viewer. E4's The Inbetweeners proved you can do a teen gross-out comedy with style, but this missed the mark like a blind archer.

Paul Hirons, TV Scoop, 8th October 2008

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.

The set-up, such as it is, is about a gang of sixth-years more obsessed with shagging one another than studying (as is their teacher). One cries: "If I fail my A-levels, I'm gonna have to go to drama school!" All I can say is the cast must clearly have been highly academically gifted.

Coming Of Age, believe it or not, makes Two Pints Of Lager look like the height of wit. Actually, the makers doubtless look up to Two Pints as vintage comic genius, the Porridge or Fawlty Towers of their generation. Oh, god.

Andrea Mullaney, The Scotsman, 1st October 2008

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!

His sitcom about excitable sixth formers and their unique concerns - handing in essays and, er, the pleasures of the flesh - is truly a historic moment.

Because if you trust the laughter track on this, every second line should have you doubled up in mirth. Tears will be gushing down your face. After 30 minutes of all this non-stop guffawing you will be physically ill and, quite possibly, dead.

Alternatively, you may be sitting there stony faced in horror that your licence fee has been squandered, yet again, on buying happy pills for the people charged with providing the synthetic belly laughs for the BBC's fake chortling department.

If you want to salute some really incredible comedy acting, however, look no further.

Jane Simon, The Mirror, 30th September 2008

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.

It's set in and around a sixth-form college in Oxfordshire, with an exclusively youthful cast (even the teacher, played by Ed Coleman, can be hardly out of his twenties) and plotlines involving stolen coursework, romantic mishaps and sex.

Crudeness abounds - "She's big, she's fat and she's minging: she'd obviously be well up for it!" is a representative sample - but neither wit nor charm has tagged along for the ride.

Pete Naughton, The Telegraph, 30th September 2008

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

Article about Tim Dawson, with photo of Dawson and Paul Mayhew-Archer.

Written by Gordon Rogers. From This Is Oxfordshire, 13th April 2007