Skip to content
Piglets is a new ITV sitcom and… yes, another ITV sitcom… I know, but try and bear with me.
The show has garnered some criticism for being a play on ‘pigs’, the derogatory word for those individuals who can barely be bothered to do any work, and takes place in a fictional police training college.
The opening credits – where the new recruits walk along and then bump into each other as they reach the end of the screen – are reminscent of the same for the short-lived, defunct Fox sitcom Shovin’ Buddies.
However, the jokes are over-obvious, such as when the cop in charge of the new recruits refers to their eventual “passing out day”, and one of them literally passes out, as in faints. Plus, Steph (Callie Cooke – Doctor Who: Dot And Bubble) is the ex-girlfriend of cop Mike, who’s training her and the others.
I did get one laugh from the very weird admin lady – which is one more laugh than I got from The Family Pile, but while it’s amusing to see Mark Heap, he’s the same as he always is, and may as well have brought Milson with him from Friday Night Dinner. Plus, I wouldn’t have spotted Sarah Parish (Geek Girl) if I didn’t know she was in the credits.
So, yes, one laugh out of ELEVEN WRITERS!!!
Piglets begins on ITV on Saturday night at 9.30pm, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
I expect on day one, the whole series will be online on ITVX.
Series Directors: Sam Leifer, Victoria Pile
Producer: Victoria Pile
Writers: Robert Harley, James Henry, Oriane Messina, Victoria Pile, Fay Rusling, Alex Bertulis-Fernandes, Omar Khan, Abiola Ogunbiyi, Richard Preddy, Farhan Solo, Nusrath Tapadar
Music: Adem Ilhan
Cast:
Stephanie Jackson: Callie Cooke
Superintendent Julie Spry: Sarah Parish
Superintendent Bob Weekes: Mark Heap
Sergeant Mike Gunn: Ukweli Roach
Melanie: Rebecca Humphries
Paul: Jamie Bisping
Sergeant Daz Black: Ricky Champ
Leggo: Sam Pote
Afia: Halema Hussain
Geeta: Sukh Ojla
Dev: Abdul Sessay
Chief Superintendent Cunningham: Colin McFarlane
Aunty Nooch: Kiruna Stamell
Ch Supt Timothy Legland (Pimp): Paul Thornley
Driving Instructor: Nicholas A Newman
Gavin (SCO 19 Officer): Tom Andrews
ACC Phillipa Legland (Prostitute): Phillipa Peak
Lindsey Brown: Rachel Lin
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.