''Bluestone 42'' is a

British sitcom A British sitcom or a Britcom is a situational comedy programme produced for British television. Most British sitcoms are recorded on studio sets, while some have an element of location filming. A handful are made almost exclusively on location ...

about a British bomb disposal detachment in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

during

Operation Herrick Operation Herrick was the codename under which all British operations in the War in Afghanistan were conducted from 2002 to the end of combat operations in 2014. It consisted of the British contribution to the NATO-led International Security Ass ...

, first broadcast on 5 March 2013 on

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, cur ...

. The third and final series began on 9 March 2015 and ended on 13 April 2015. In July 2015, writers

Richard Hurst Richard Hurst is a British writer and director of comedy, theatre and television. Biography Born Richard Turner in Surrey, he attended Boston Grammar School and Oakham School before studying at St Hugh's College, Oxford, and training as a direct ...

and James Cary confirmed the show would not return for a fourth series, citing BBC Three's impending move to online and the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan as contributing towards the show having run its course. While the show takes place in

Helmand Province Helmand (Pashto/Dari: ; ), also known as Hillmand, in ancient times, as Hermand and Hethumand, is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, in the south of the country. It is the largest province by area, covering area. The province contains 13 ...

, the series was filmed in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

Synopsis

A mix of

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to disc ...

and action, ''Bluestone 42'' focused on the camaraderie between soldiers, situational comedy, bureaucracy, conflicts of interests and relationships, and is contrasted with the deadly situations the soldiers are required to defuse. The show's name refers to the unit's call sign and is rendered verbally as "Bluestone Four-Two".

Cast and characters

Overview

Episodes

Series 1 (2013)

Christmas Special (2013)

Series 2 (2014)

Series 3 (2015)

Reception

''Bluestone 42'' has been met with positive reviews. In ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'', James Rampton described the show as "''

The Hurt Locker ''The Hurt Locker'' is a 2008 American war thriller film directed by Kathryn Bigelow and written by Mark Boal. It stars Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty, Christian Camargo, Ralph Fiennes, David Morse, and Guy Pearce. The film follow ...

'' meets '' Miranda''" and said that it "strikes the right balance between edgy and entertaining". Rich Johnston of BleedingCool.com compared the show favourably to ''

M*A*S*H ''M*A*S*H'' (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) is an American media franchise consisting of a series of novels, a film, several television series, plays, and other properties, and based on the semi-autobiographical fiction of Richard Hooker. T ...

''. Corporal Daniel Whittingham, a British Army bomb disposal expert, said the series' black humour was "spot-on" and its action scenes "pretty accurate".

Distribution

DVD

Broadcasts

In December 2014 Series 1 was broadcast on the Australian ABC network, and online player ABC iView.Bluestone 42
ABC Programmes. Retrieved 9 February 2015

References

External links

* *{{IMDb title, id=2708572, title=Bluestone 42 2010s British black comedy television series 2013 British television series debuts 2015 British television series endings BBC television comedy BBC television sitcoms English-language television shows Military comedy television series Television shows set in Afghanistan Works about armies