alissabonnett My father caught me watching this and sneered. It's one of those programs that remains 'meh', hence the 5/10 rating. An 'alrighter'. An 'it's decent, yeah' one. The acting is what you'd expect from a bunch of comedians: they behave as they usually do, being humorous over deep. Sometimes there are moments of character building, but the amount of care put into them is shallow. Alan Davies was surprising, as he managed to play quite a different character than his QI persona, and, out of all the team, I'd say he was the most interesting.The saving grace of this one is the fact that Jo Brand has had experience with social work and the greatest pits of human suffering. When watching, you get the impression she may have pulled this from reality, which makes Damned more touching to watch. The scenes expressing mature or morbid lives in less fortunate households do work, and the viewer finds themselves rooting for the poorly funded, barely functioning team.The plot, whilst working when it needs to, does often feel bare, with reality somewhat being prioritised over interest. There's a lot of filler, so to speak. It relies on the banter to keep it going, which is moderately humorous, but nothing above what you'd hear two strangers on a bus laughing about. I think for Damned to have been more successful, it should've really taken control over the resources it has, since the setting is that of room of sweating, miserable people. There was room for a darker sense of humour, true gallows, mischievous stuff. It might've retracted from the message, but that's precisely the problem. Damned is a social commentary, and that's respectable, but it's not educative ENOUGH for it to work, and nor is it risky enough to be truly comical. It's in a grey area, and it had to push one way or the other to be anything above 'decent'.

icefire-51225 Just binge watched this show up to the current episode and I have to say, I love it. While certainly this isn't jolly laughs, it's very in depth and very realistic. This show is very much comedy, however it's done in such a way that, it replicates real life in many ways, it leaves in many depressing and unfunny moments which is really atmospheric and really makes you sympathise with the characters. One other thing this show does well is it's ability to know when to end things. There are many overarching plot lines but with each episode there are definitive ends and good developement towards characters and setting. It also cuts out many times where I have not wanted to continue, i.e. Awkward situations, for which I am thankful for.

david-kraft I really wanted to like this. Alan is such a character on Q.I. and I haven't really seen him outside of it. The setting is something that could have the potential of being something like The Office, but I got a serious headache out of it and only half way through the first episode I had to stop watching. It wasn't funny at all and I generally love all the comedy that is produced on Britich television. It was such a mess with phones ringing all the time and very short and seemingly unimportant encounters that you just wanted it to end. Everything seems to have been filmed by a 6-year old too because it's very shaky and badly filmed. I hope it does become better after half the first episode, but even if it does, it has to be so much better that I actually think it will be impossible.:(

loftyonthehill-69-847141 As a man who grew up on tough council estates I always felt a bit damned as a child. Run with the pack or get run down by them - literally if Ada...(censored for legal reasons)...ey had stolen a car again. Just about every flat had a harassed looking man or woman knocking on the door armed with a file and a weak smile. These were the earnest souls from Social Services, looking to fill in the disastrous chasms with a metaphorical tube of polyfilla.Now Channel 4 pays tribute to these national band-aids with a dark comedy about their exploits. Familiar faces Alan Davies, Kevin Eldon, Jo Brand and Georgie Glen portray staff in an office that always looks on the verge of breakdown. There's Alistair (Davies) constantly fending off his former client Anne Marie's stalking - physical and cyber. Then there's Rose (Brand) who's received so many kicks in life that she's developed a healthy dose of cynicism. However, that heart just won't stop coming to surface when faced with suffering. Sneaky Nitin (Himesh Patel) is the sort of ambitious p***k who makes all workplaces miserable. Various other characters knit together the whole Hellhole perfectly.Right... I can safely say this is brilliant observed satire with just enough balance to stay perfectly amusing without being spiteful, poignant without being sentimental and well crafted without being plagiaristic.A pat on the back for everyone involved. I consider myself quite hard to please but this had me enthralled from start to finish. Maybe too early to call this the new Derek (Ricky Gervais' wonderful series set in a care home) but here's hoping. Damn fine creation!