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Intelligence is a new 6-part comedy set at GCHQ Cyber Security where NSA agent and all-round smart-arse Jerry Bernstein (David Schwimmer) is about to join the team, leading us into a mismatch comedy where he’s tall, prim and proper, whereas his UK equivalent, junior analyst Joseph Harries (Nick Mohammed, also the writer), is short and slovenly.
Add in a bit of “watch in the background” slapstick, such as when Jerry’s making an important phone call, while Joseph struggles with the heavy suitcase from the new arrival, plus another stick in the form of ‘stuck up her own bum’ Director of Cyber Security Christine Clark (Sylvestra Le Touzel) – who Jerry is convinced she has a thing for him, and a staff of clearly-defined sitcom staples such as token, savvy and clue-up East Asian hottie Tuva (Gana Bayarsaikhan), dowdy Mary (Jane Stanness) – who’ll reveal her secrets as the episodes go on, and Evelyn (Eliot Salt) – the archetypal young woman who can’t be bothered, such as when Christine calls her into her office, causing the youngster to moan, “Oh, my godddddd!”.
Some random elements from the first two episodes, Jerry needs to get his ID pass from HR, but is told is can take around a week for them to respond. Meanwhile, he needs one to actually get into the toilet! He also reckons he predicted 9/11 and could’ve stopped it.
Episode 2 has accidental file deletion, and a reference to the film Titanic and it grossing $2.1m at the box office, when it was $2.1 BILLION.
Overall, Intelligence is amusing and worth a watch, if not essential viewing. There’s only six episodes to the series, so I will check out the others in due course.
I loved the look of the trailer, initially, and I mostly remember Nick Mohammed from BBC’s Sorry I’ve Got No Head, which is still one of the funniest sketch shows ever made, even though it was intended for kids. You can see him in one of the brilliant clips below.
Intelligence begins on Sky 1 on Friday February 21st at 9pm, with two episodes being broadcast each week. The series is not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Episode 1 Score: 6/10
Episode 2 Score: 6/10
Director: Matt Lipsey
Producer: Charlie Leech
Writer: Nick Mohammed
Music: Defoe Music
Cast:
Joseph Harries: Nick Mohammed
Jerry Bernstein: David Schwimmer
Christine Clark: Sylvestra Le Touzel
Tuva Olsen: Gana Bayarsaikhan
Evelyn: Eliot Salt
Mary: Jane Stanness
Quentin O’Higgins: Oliver Birch
Tim: Tim Ingall
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.