Whites: Series 1 Episode 1

First episodes are tricky beasts, especially so for comedies. You have to introduce the characters, introduce the situation and make people laugh. BBC Two's new sitcom, Whites, manages two of these.

Set in the bustling kitchen of a country house hotel restaurant, Alan Davies stars as head chef Roland White - a man desperate for the taste of success again after falling out of the limelight. Helping out is his long-suffering sous chef Bib, played by Darren Boyd, and completing the main trio is restaurant manager Caroline, Katherine Parkinson.

The main cast have all got pedigree, especially with delivering laughs, but sadly it's only Parkinson who gets the chance to shine (though she is just basically playing Jen from The IT Crowd). The boys are just too jaded and cynical, too sarcastic and bitter to give flavour to the thirty minutes.

There's no real laughs either to lift you out of their career slump. And the fact that the direction, as impressively eye-catching as it is, is more akin to a gritty drama does not aid their cause.

There is hope in waitress Kiki, however. Isy Suttie, so brilliantly effervescent in Peep Show, plays her character with smiling sweet stupidity which unfortunately allows for some more rather predictable meanness from the men. In the laughs department, next door to the trouser department, it's the girls who win the giggles (such as they are in this episode).

BBC Two has hit some pretty damn enjoyable heights in recent times when it comes to their new sitcom generation, with both Rev and Miranda displaying variety, style and, most of all, genuine humour and warmth - something severely lacking in Whites.

However, we're not ones for writing off a new series off the bat and, thankfully, the ''Next Time" trail did actually make us laugh (more so than this episode). So perhaps Whites deserves another chance, despite being starved for laughs here.



Airs at 9pm on Tuesday 28th September 2010 on BBC Two.

Reviewed by Cameron K McEwan.