Cockroaches Starring: Daniel Lawrence Taylor, Esther Smith and Jack Whitehall Distributor: ITV Studios Global Entertainment RRP: £14.99 3711536683 5 037115 366832 Certificate: 15 Release Date: 23 February 2015

Tom and Suze are both 19. When Nuclear bombs start falling, they have sex. Unfortunately, they then survive. Eight years later, they’re stuck with each other, wandering the wasteland where England used to be. They're joined by Laura, the daughter they conceived on that fateful night. They end up at a camp of fellow survivors, where it turns out that surviving a lack of food and water is merely the start of their problems...

Cockroaches is a comedy about what happens after a nuclear apocalypse. It's about one family's struggle to survive in a wasteland full of cannibals, perverts and an insufferable ex-boyfriend. Ultimately it's about what it means to be human, in all our sad, savage, weird, romantic and hilarious glory.

While, on balance, I did enjoy this show, I couldn't help thinking that it was something of a missed opportunity. It ticks all the right boxes and has some great acting, but sadly the comedy isn't quite what it could have been. You'll snigger every now and then and, if you're lucky, you'll laugh out loud a couple of times, but the humour could have been so much better.

There are some great moments (like the Alien homage and the Noel Edmonds segment) but they are few and far between. I couldn't help but be constantly reminded of Maid Marion and Her Merry Men when watching Cockroaches; in that it's funny, but just misses the mark.

Jessica Emily Rose, playing daughter Laura, deserves a special mention for turning in the series' most believable acting. It was also good to see Nigel Planer and Caroline Quentin turn up; actually, Planer has probably this series' best visual gag in his racist balloon joke.

It's funny and entertaining, but it could have been so much more. There are no extras on the disc.

7

Nick Smithson