SunTrap is a new comedy series on BBC One. The premise for the series, is that Woody (Kayvan Novak) is on the run from the British Security Services and goes to his former mentor Brutus (Bradley Walsh) for help – then they solve crimes for some reason. As it is the first episode – titled ‘Look Who’s Talking’, there is a lot of exposition especially in the first half, and the quick-fire dialogue does make it hard to follow what’s going on.
I think that’s the main problem: there’s just too much going on at once. Jokes come in like a machine-gun and there’s just not enough time for the mind to stop and think as to why the joke was funny. But it’s not a bad show, it’s just that the jokes that do work are quickly overwhelmed by ones that aren’t. I’ll give you an example of something I liked: there’s a superyacht called ‘The Orphanage’. That works because it plays against the viewer’s expectations: it’s a front for a money laundering scam and doesn’t even hide the fact.
It’s going to be pretty obvious going in that this is a Kayvan Novak vehicle. His shtick is that he is a man of a thousand voices, and I did find him to be quite good in Fonejacker. I think that worked better as an improvisational routine, where he could work on the fly with his characters. It hasn’t quite gelled in a scripted situation because the writing gets in the way of the comedy instead of helping it. It’s just too rigid.
I’m going to give this show a chance though. It shows promise and more often than not, in retrospect the first episode of anything is not going to be as good as the later ones. Once the show has hit its stride, only then shall I pass judgement. It’s only fair. SunTrap is now available on BBC iPlayer.
#Peace.Love.SunTrap
