ITV's Headcases does Gordon Brown
Headcases, ITV's CGI animated topical sketch show, started on Sunday and stank the place out. It seemed to make a virtue of creating thin premises and then brutally stretching them until they snapped. Jordan has large breasts and is overexposed in the media. Amy Winehouse gets drunk, takes drugs and, get this, so does Peter Doherty. You don't say?
The show is so in love with CGI that it extends every sketch way beyond its welcome. This is a fatal flaw. The nature of sketch comedy means it has to be quick fire. Every line should develop the premise - build comic tension or release it. There's simply no room for filler and the Katie Price/Peter Andre sketch felt like it was never going to end. It's difficult to think of a more redundant target. Not only are Katie and Peter self-evidently preposterous they are also palpably aware of it. It's like satirising a clown for having a red nose or a car that falls apart.
A little knowledge is indeed a dangerous thing. Topical humour suffers as the technology becomes more sophisticated. Have I Got News For You works so well because if the jokes are weak, there's no show. In 10 days it starts its 35th series on the BBC with three more already commissioned. There are no gimmicks, no format revolutions - just consistently strong, witty writing.
As it careered through its long decline from its golden age, Spitting Image got away with some terrible scripts because of great impersonations and impressive puppetry. Similarly, you had the cretinous lookalike antics of Double Take. In possibly the worst judging decision since Roy Jones Jr got stiffed in the Seoul Olympics, Double Take won a Bafta in 2002. Never mind that it was one of the weakest scripts ever commissioned, the industry saw its technical skill and broke out the kneepads to pay homage. That's the kind of thinking that gives you shows like Headcases.
A show this bad demands a rethink - a back-to-basics overhaul. Leaving the writers with nothing to hide behind but their material will lead to better topical comedy. Because with award-winning puppets, animation and lookalikes at their disposal the path of least resistance proves just too tempting.
