TV: Phoneshop

by Chris on 06 January 2011

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/phoneshop/4od

A look at E4's newish sitcom

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Pros

The trailer was bad, the concept was great, the first episode was disappointing but I ended up rather enjoying the first series of Phoneshop. I still think it could have been better than it was given such a perfect setting.

I bet you could walk into a phoneshop anywhere in the world and the experience would be 95% the same. It takes a certain kind of person to want to work in a phoneshop, and I’m not talking about work experience or jobs you get to fund travelling, uni and messy nights out.

The guys who start at 20 and are still in the same store 10 years later, with their technical beards, strong aftershave and love for technology (well mobile phones really, I’m surprised how many don’t know their way around a laptop or the internet.) they are the guys on the shop floor.

Then there is the store manager, he’s a bit older, wiser, fatter, less sharply dressed, probably divorced. Although he still will most certainly of made a cringeworthy attempt to roll back the years, usually by bleaching his hair or getting a diamond earring. Managing his store is all he’s got left, it’s his only real achievement if it can be classed as one, targets are his friends albeit friends he aims to smash.

Where are the women?

The last couple of paragraphs are just what I recall from my early teenage years, haunting phones shops for entertainment purposes like the seaside arcade but for the middle class urban child that I was, my point is I never remember there being any women working in the phoneshops, only the odd one as a customer perhaps.

Therefore this is one of my big gripes about Phoneshop, the main female character
Janine was unnecessary and just seemed to clog up the main flow of the show, particularly as her character was a recovering anorexic which leads to a fair few awkward scenes with Janine talking about how she officially died twice when she was younger etc, it just wasn’t funny or needed.

Cons

My other biggest problem with the Phoneshop lineup is the main character new guy Christopher, he’s ok most of the time it’s just when he springs into David Brent mode with gestures and the tone of voice more commonly seen in the smash hit sitcom The Office it just feels cheap and unoriginal.

The ‘new guy’ character could have been more of a lad, a young lad who couldn’t wait to get into the business, who would lap up the stories and style tips from the older cooler ‘floor guys’ who he idolised.

The last point where Phoneshop in my opinion falls down is the production, generally this script is great, it’s a well observed sitcom with great depth and detail such as the ‘we don’t run on the highstreet, we run the highstreet’ scene which is a personal highlight, but it just looks shit, there are too many scenes that wouldn’t be out of place from an episode of the Mighty Boosh.

I’m not saying it should be as serious and straight as ‘The Office’ but there are a few points where it seems as though the show doesn’t even take itself seriously, cheesy and unbelievable are words that come to mind and was surprised there wasn’t a laughter track (i’m sure it crossed the producers mind).

Maybe the original vision of the creator and writer Phil Bowker was twisted and deformed by the production team as corners were cut and satisfying all audiences became priorities over originality and quality.

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