Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Vicky Jessop

Pushers on Channel 4 review: its heart is in the right place, even if its jokes aren’t always

Channel 4’s new comedy Pushers lays out its stall early. Hero Emily (Rosie Jones) is in the office of an irate council worker, trying to make her case for being allowed to stay on benefits.

“You’ve ticked, walking long distances brings you considerable pain,” she’s told. “You got here. You don’t seem to be in considerable pain. Your words. Do you regularly soil yourself?”

When Emily fails to tick enough boxes (read: she doesn’t regularly soil herself) to qualify, she’s out on her ear. Fortunately for her, she bumps into her old school friend Ewen (Ryan McParland) in the council toilets. Alongside committing benefits fraud, he needs help turning his coke-dealing business into something profitable. Soon enough, Emily is diving into a life of petty crime, dragging her friends and work colleagues with her and transforming her place of work (a dubious charity aimed at kitting out disabled loos) into a drug laundering business par excellence.

This is a passion project for Jones, inspired by the depressing current state of affairs as well as shows like Dinnerladies, and set in the fictional northern town of Bracklington.

Jones clearly has stuff she wants to say. When it’s not swinging for the punchlines, Pushers does make serious points about the ways the system fails people, as well as the patronising way in which some people look down on and underestimate those with disabilities. We didn’t need that scene where Emily fools a police officer into overlooking the bag of drugs she’s holding by spilling a can of beer down her let to make it looks like she’s wet herself – but the police officer’s horror and little-kid voice make it worthwhile anyway.

Is Pushers funny? It has its moments. Co-writer Peter Fellows cut his teeth on Veep and The Death of Stalin and the absurdist elements come through strongly here, along with hefty helpings of slapstick. One scene in which the extremely daft Ewen asks what a “yute” is, while holding up a carton of UHT milk, made me chuckle. On the other hand, the obsession with all things toilets (particularly the boys’ obsession with hitting the ‘pee tile’ in the gents urinals) did not. Neither did a particularly off-colour rape joke.

Ewen (Ryan McParland) and Emily (Rosie Jones) (Channel 4)

As the plot bumbles on, the cast lurch from one semi-disaster to another. Ewen tries to seduce his childhood friend (who is, incidentally, way out of his league); Emily asks her hot boss (Rhiannon Clements) on a date; the pair work on transforming Emily’s charity into a drug pushing business with the help of some disabled stickers and TikTok.

Everybody feels like a bit too much like a caricature. There’s Hot Boss, naturally, but also the Dim-Witted Dad (Clive Russell), the Violence-Inclined Weirdo (Jon Furlong) and the Thuggish Guy with a Heart of Gold (Trevor Dwyer-Lynch). Emily, too, doesn’t feel so much like a character as Jones-by-proxy, dropped into Sheffield and cracking wise about drugs to her new pals. There’s no nuance.

The absurdist element also extends to the police, lending the whole show a distinctly low stakes feeling. After all, why would anybody be worried about getting caught, when Emily can just pedal her tricycle stuffed with drugs past the local cops, no questions asked?

If you have the patience to stick with it, however, you’ll be rewarded. As the show goes on, the plot settles into a smoother rhythm and the cast relax. Pushers has flashes of brilliance that alleviate some of the painful dialogue and cliché’d scenes, and it’s great to see a cast on screen that presents disability (as well as Jones’ sexuality) in such a matter-of-fact way. It’s not BAFTA-winning television by any means, but it’s a fun way to spend a few hours.

Pushers is streaming now on Channel 4

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.