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Buffering is an ITV2 sitcom co-written by Iain Stirling, the man with the most irritating voice on television, that sounds like the end result of someone using a cheese grater on him. Hmm… that gives me an idea.
He’s got his fingers in so many ITV pies, rather like the similarly irritating Keith Lemon, that they clearly know where all the bodies are buried.
Then again, ITV’s last attempt at a sitcom that I recall was Kate & Koji, so shit rises…
They all face the ‘challenge’ of millennial living. Ugh, millennials. I hate them already.
Looking at Buffering as objectively as I can, Iain (playing a character with the same name as him, unsurprisingly) is a children’s presenter, doing the same kind of junk we had from Philip Schofield in the Broom Cupboard in the ’80s. So, we can expect him to come out in 30 years time and upset his family.
For whatever reason, the earliest episode in this series which was available for preview was episode 3, out of 6, and it gives you a summary of what’s already been on then. Despite that including a tragedy which I won’t describe here, I’m surprised there’s so much smiling going on.
The episode I saw featured the age-old trope of centering a script around a school reunion, even though those are things which never actually happen. Given that the reunion is for people who graduated in 2009, I was guessing this was filmed in 2019, so has been on the shelf for a very long time, but then the end credits include dedicated COVID staff, so presumably they were too cheap to get balloons dated later than 2009.
Elsewhere, Iain tries to get on the Celebrity version of The Chase. Will he succeed? Will you care?
Given how this cast all live in a big house with a large communal space, clearly, they’re trying to aim for a Friends vibe, but it’s not working whatsoever.
Buffering begins on ITV on Thursday August 5th at 10pm with a double bill, and then is on weekly after that, but after the double bill, every episode will be on the ITV Hub.
It’s not yet available to pre-order on DVD, but if you try looking up ‘Buffering’ on Amazon, you get… er… a different DVD entirely. It’s probably more entertaining.
Episode 1 Score: 25 minutes wasted (plus adverts)
Director: Martin Stirling
Producers: Jane Bell, Serena Cullen
Writers: Steve Bugeja, Christine Robertson, Iain Stirling, Eleanor Tiernan
Cast:
Iain: Iain Stirling
Olivia: Elena Saurel
Ashley: Rosa Robson
Greg: Paul G Raymond
Thalia: Janine Harouni
Rosie: Jessie Cave
Finn: Steve Bugeja
Fraser: Daniel Barker
Serena: Brona C Titley
Megan: Phoebe Sparrow
Steph Wakely: Ellie Goffe
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.