Review of Grass

Introduction

Billy Bleach (Simon Day) is that person you find in every pub or walk of life, the know-it-all who is relatively harmless and occupies his own little world. Billy lives with his mum and is taking Thai cooking lessons, the results of which he foists on his mum who only wants fish fingers. Billy also has a brother called Darren (Matthew Ashforde), who is serving time on behalf of local gangster Harry Taylor (Ian Burfield).

Darren persuades Billy to visit one of Taylor`s clubs to pick up a packet of weed, which actually turns out to be cocaine, hidden in the ceiling void of the men`s toilets. Billy`s timing is impeccable though, as hidden in one of the cubicles he witnesses the murder of a local businessman by Taylor. No-one spots him and he thinks he can soldier on, but reckons without his presence being caught on CCTV by the Police. As he left the cocaine behind in panic, the Police had him over a barrel and persuade Billy to go into Witness Protection and testify against Taylor.

Billy thinks he is going somewhere nice, but is dropped off in the middle of nowhere in Norfolk, where he is picked up by rookie local copper Craig Harriet (Robert Wilfort) who Billy immediately christens `Heartbeat`. Billy also meets local vet Jemima (Josephine Butler) who seems to have a bit of a liking for alcohol. Then two coppers from the Met turn up to keep an eye on Billy, partners who are a bit too close.

In the meantime Taylor is banged up in nick and sends two hitmen after Billy…

Video

Looks good, I have to say. Some nice location shots of what is presumably Norfolk, I certainly hope they filmed it there as that is where it`s supposed to be based.

Audio

Adequate sound, not really much else to say about that.

Features

Commentary for episodes 1 & 8 - didn`t listen to them so couldn`t tell you who they`re with or what they`re like.

Conclusion

I had relatively high expectations for this when I heard it was Simon Day and Mark Williams, but I should have known better really. It`s another Fast Show character transplanted into a larger setting than a two minute sketch and it doesn`t really work. I`m not convinced that this series really decided what it wanted to be or how the viewer was expected to view the central character. The mix of comedy and `drama` was a little confusing and I was never 100% sure whether to laugh at Billy or with him.

There were some nice character actors in this, don`t get me wrong, but I just couldn`t help but think that Day and Williams are stuck with the Fast Show now and can`t escape it. Trouble is, as well, there are so many characters in there that there just isn`t the time available to develop them properly. I didn`t particularly like psycho hitman Sunshine (Eddie Marsen) but his character simply ended too quickly. On the other hand I did like vet Jemima, Heartbeat and Met cop Marco (Tristan Gemmil) as the policeman well in touch with his feminine side. Billy`s brother Darren was an annoying chav-like character and much more annoying than that was young lad Crispin (Liam Hess) who was dressed as if his parents favourite film was The Omen and his character traits were a little TOO weird for me. It didn`t help when a piece of gratuitous sex was added to scene that involved setting his character`s almost telepathic link to Billy was being established.

Overall it wasn`t too bad but should have been a lot tighter and better overall. The ending was a complete cop-out as well, pun very much intended.