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Hullraisers is a new Channel 4 sitcom which begins with a young woman doing the early morning ‘Walk of Shame’ as she comes home from a night out, at a time when everyone’s long since started getting on with their day.
Of the trio of women in this series, Paula (Sinead Matthews – Ideal) vapes a ‘meat pie’ flavoured variation – because the local shop has a Yorkshire range, Rana (Taj Atwal – Cold Call) goes on the date from hell with a lad who’s too young for her – and still lives with his parents, and Toni (Leah Brotherhead – Zomboat) is the only one of them with a husband and child – and it doesn’t take long before she shows herself up to be an embarrassing mother, not least because she’s gasping for a good night out, exclaiming, “I’m so excited about tonight. I’m even looking forward at feeling shit tomorrow”
…However, you don’t actually see the night in question, just hear about it.
With an additional sub-plot of Toni and husband Craig (Perry Fitzpatrick – Line of Duty Series 6) taking their daughter to the local Mini Stars talent show, the opener made for a passable episode, but there were no big laughs, and while it’s completely inoffensive for a post-watershed comedy with some swearing and gross bits, I can’t get excited about it, and wouldn’t rush to check out more.
However, Zomboat was good. Maybe Channel 4 should recommission that after ITV2 dropped it after one series? You can find it on the ITV Hub link from my review. They could also bring back Ideal after BBC Three cancelled that after several series.
Hullraisers begins on Channel 4 on Tuesday April 12th at 9.45pm, after which, the entire series will be on All 4.
The series is not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Director: Ian Fitzgibbon
Producer: Lisa Mitchell
Writers: Lucy Beaumont, Caroline Moran, Anne Marie O’Connor
Cast:
Toni: Leah Brotherhead
Paula: Sinead Matthews
Rana: Taj Atwal
Seany: Emun Elliott
Gloria: Felicity Montagu
Craig: Perry Fitzpatrick
Nima: Shobna Gulati
Irene: Dearbhla Molloy
Elaine: Wanda Opalinska
Baker: Jack Brady
Ashley: Natalie Davies
Grace: Matilda Firth
Connor: Kriss Dillon
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.