Cabin Pressure, B.B.C. Radio Four. Series Four Review.

Published on February 15, 2013 by admin in TV and Film
Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * * *

Cast: Benedict Cumberpatch, Roger Allam, Stephanie Cole, John Finnemore.

The B.B.C. has always given comedy shows that gain a good following on the radio a big leg up to television when the time was right, the crossover a seamless and natural curve in the life of decent shows that grow up to big favourites on the small screen. From the days of Hancock’s Half Hour , the B.B.C. has nurtured the radio comedy like a gleaming talented child. It is a bit surprising to find that even after four series of the hilarious and cleverly written B.B.C. Four Extra programme Cabin Pressure, it still doesn’t seem to be any closer to getting the nod to transfer over.

It maybe that it stars one of the most bankable actors on television and film at the moment in the Captain’s chair, the very cool Benedict Cumberbatch but these things can be got round.

READ MORE: http://www.liverpoolsoundandvision.co.uk/2013/02/15/cabin-pressure-b-b-c-radio-four-series-four-review/

SCOOPED BY TEE PAULSON AT SCOOP IT!BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH!

Benedict Cumberbatch: Cabin Pressure; In Concert: a week in radio This contemporary sitcom has an impressive cast, including Benedict Cumberbatch, and a script packed with superb lines (GUARDIAN)

Nosheen Iqbal

Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays the prissy, uptight captain in Cabin Pressure. Photograph: Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images Europe

Light relief in the dreary first full working week of the year came from the return of Cabin Pressure to Radio 4. One of the station's few contemporary sitcom successes (more on that subject another week), it has lured Benedict Cumberbatch and Roger Allam back for a fourth run at playing odd-couple pilots Martin and Douglas. The pair man MJN Air: a tinpot, one-plane budget airline owned by middle-aged divorcee Carolyn, played by Stephanie Cole. It's an impressive cast – Allam does a great line in supercilious grumps and he is in his element as the snarky first officer to Cumberbatch's prissy, uptight captain. But perhaps the real star of the show is its writer John Finnemore, who also plays Carolyn's doofus air-steward son, Arthur.

"The code red is there to stop me being too helpful, and I can't stop being too helpful by being more helpful," he bumbled at his mum, in a script packed tight with superb lines. The crew had assembled for Birling Day, the annual jolly enjoyed by their stupidly rich (and often drunk) regular customer, who charters a flight each year to take him to see the Six Nations rugby final. Except this year, the match was taking place at Twickenham, a short drive from Birling's own house. No matter.

READ MORE:http://www.guardian.co.uk/tv-and-radio/2013/jan/10/cabin-pressure-in-concert-radio?_tmc=PyFAG0M1lP2LmAW5KJegGwTnt3ivfDU8rhR0yNh4crQ