''Big Bad World'' is a

British television Regular television broadcasts in the United Kingdom started in 1936 as a public service which was free of advertising, which followed the first demonstration of a transmitted moving image in 1926. Currently, the United Kingdom has a collection ...

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ne ...

which first aired on

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...

in 2013. Created by

Joe Tucker Joe Tucker is a British comedy writer, director and animator known for directing and co-writing the award-winning short film '' For the Love of God''. He has also directed a number of music videos for Hot Club de Paris and, together with Lloyd W ...

and

Lloyd Woolf Lloyd Woolf (born 1981) is a British comedy actor and writer. Personal life Woolf was born in 1981 in Swansea, and grew up in the Swansea Valley town of Pontardawe. After graduating with an English degree from Cambridge University The Universit ...

, it stars

Blake Harrison Blake Harrison is an English actor, comedian and dancer. He is best known for playing Neil Sutherland in the BAFTA-winning E4 comedy ''The Inbetweeners'' and more recently as 'Medium' Dan, in the ITV sitcom Kate & Koji since 2020. Career H ...

as Ben, a directionless, young graduate who returns to his home town of

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. A pop ...

after leaving university.

Cast

as Ben Turnbull *Rebecca Humphries as Beth *

David Fynn David Fynn is a British-Irish actor, producer and screenwriter, best known for playing Brett in the NBC TV sitcom '' Undateable.'' He began playing Dewey Finn in the West End cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical '' School of Rock'' (based on ...

as Oakley *

Seann Walsh Sean Christopher Walsh (born 2 December 1985), known professionally as Seann Walsh, is an English stand-up comedian. Early life Walsh was born in Camden in London, but was brought up in Brighton. He left school with one GCSE examination pas ...

as Eggman *

James Fleet James Edward Fleet (born 11 March 1952) is an English actor of theatre, radio and screen. He is most famous for his roles as the bumbling and well-meaning Tom in the 1994 British romantic comedy film ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' and the dim-w ...

as Neil Turnbull * Caroline Quentin as Jan Turnbull *

Scarlett Alice Johnson Scarlett Alice Johnson (born 7 April 1985) is an English actress, producer and drama teacher. She is best known for her roles as Vicki Fowler in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' and Laura Derbyshire in the BBC Three sitcom ''Pramface''. Early ...

as Lucy Deacon *

Alex Lanipekun Alex Lanipekun (born 7 April 1981) is a British actor. He trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art but left early to join the cast of the BBC drama '' Spooks'' as journalist-cum-spy Ben Kaplan, the role for which he is best known. Earl ...

as Steve *

Julia Deakin Julia Margaret Deakin (born 20 May 1952)Clarke, Gemma (5 September 2016)"GRAND RE-OPENING OF GAINSBOROUGH HERITAGE CENTRE" ''Gainsborough Heritage Association''. Retrieved 10 August 2021. is an English actress. She is known for her roles in the ...

as Shirley *Jay Brown as Dean

Episodes

Reception

The show received a generally positive critical reaction with some mixed reviews. ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' praised the series as "a surprisingly engaging original series from Comedy Central UK" and "a funny take on the challenges of adulthood". The ''Metro'' said of episode 1, "So far, so promising. Harrison is adept at the whole man-child thing and he's surrounded by a convincing bunch of slacker, lives-going-nowhere mates, for whom a trip to Chelmsford is the height of excitement” and later praised the show as "a clever and funny insight into graduate life". Criticising the show as being "marred by some unnecessarily post-

Partridge A partridge is a medium-sized Galliformes, galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide Indigenous (ecology), native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They a ...

moments", the ''

Radio Times ''Radio Times'' (currently styled as ''RadioTimes'') is a British weekly listings magazine devoted to television and radio programme schedules, with other features such as interviews, film reviews and lifestyle items. Founded in May 1923 by J ...

'' nevertheless said, "''Big Bad World'' sparks into life when it stops trying too hard and forges its own path. Ben and Beth are easy to warm to, while Scarlett Johnson expertly cuts a diabolically fluffy figure as femme fatale Lucy." ''DIY'' magazine praised the opening episode's "innate watchability", commenting that "Making us care for characters is no mean feat and creators Joe Tucker and Lloyd Woolf seem to have a plan to make us fall for Ben and his merry band of men and women. A few more episodes in to allow for everyone to settle in and it’s fair to say that the future is promising for Big Bad World."

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=2662356, title=Big Bad World 2013 British television series debuts 2013 British television series endings 2010s British sitcoms Comedy Central (British TV channel) original programming English-language television shows Great Yarmouth Television series about families Television series by All3Media Television shows set in Norfolk