Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

Tetrady not as good as all the hype

ScoobyWell Great visuals, story delivers no surprises

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

mike-27565 I stumbled across this early in series 1 while late-night channel hopping and rapidly grew to love it, other members of the family have accumulated along the way and it's now (early series 3) become required viewing. The sharply observed writing careers recklessly across the full range of comedy styles while a solid cast of identifiable characters bicker and connive their way through a lethal tour in some miserable outpost. The unsentimental approach leaves you with a strong suspicion that any member of the cast might be explosively written out at any time (probably in a blackly hilarious way), giving it a tension the likes of MASH and Dads Army would never have aspired to (although the description of this as "Dads Army for our time" is spot on).For my money series 3 has faltered a little at the start, hopefully it will find its footing again and maintain the standards of the first two.

stuart duncan Having read the positive reviews for this series, most peoples' take on it seems to be that it accurately captures the gallows humour of an armed forces unit. Fine. So be it. But those folks must also allow for the opinions of Civvy Street, where any review is based solely on the series' merit as a comedy drama. I'm not sure it's even such a good subject for this treatment. We don't have the benefit of hindsight here that we had with the likes of MASH and Dad's Army; the rights and wrongs of this current-day conflict haven't yet been chewed over sufficiently to make it worthwhile looking for the funny side. This makes the whole project feel a bit cynical, like it's cashing in parasitically, looking for laughs in the wrong places and milking an unfunny scenario for financial gain. Sure, the real-life situation could indeed flip from the mundane to the tragic in seconds, but would everyone still be laughing post-flip? The dialogue is glib and smart-ass and unrealistic in the same way that MASH scripts could be; but it's just not funny. Couple that with the drama school-grade performances, distorted guitar riffs, slow motion action sequences and the inane macho posturing right from the opening credits, and you've got something that - to me at least - feels quite sickening.

Tweekums One might have thought the war in Afghanistan wasn't a likely source of laughs but this BBC comedy attempts to prove otherwise. The titular Bluestone 42 is a mine clearance unit lead by Captain Nick Medhurst; an officer who, when he isn't defusing mines, is trying to seduce the new padre; an attractive blonde called Mary. The rest of the team is comprised of a couple of Scots who mock just about everything, a female signals operator, a corporal who is forever the butt of others jokes and another corporal who is incredible keen and precise in all he does. They get in a variety of situations; some deadly others involving larking around back at base.I was initially unsure whether this would be any good; fearing it would either be puerile or just in poor taste… as it turned out it was a little bit of both at times but that didn't matter as it was genuinely funny and had a likable cast of characters. It wasn't afraid to shock either… in the opening episode an American travelling with them was shot and killed and the team continued to joke about his boasting about his time in Fallujah. There is a good dynamic between the team which felt believable and the cast do a fine job. It must be noted that most things here are strictly played for laughs; there is no deeper meaning like in M*A*S*H; that doesn't mean there aren't tense moments though; the final episode featured an edge of the seat scene where it looked as if a major character might be blown up by a car bomb. It must also be noted that the characters use realistically robust language that might offend some viewers. Over all I'd heartily recommend this and was pleased to learn that a second series is promised.

peter-jf The Sunday Times television critic, A A Gill, likened Bluestone 42 with that of a former BBC, military situation comedy programme, It Ain't Half Hot Mum. If A A Gill thinks that Bluestone 42 is almost "like a remake of "Ain't Half Hot Mum, then I would have to say that he is an idiot, the only thing the two programmes have in common is that they are comedies about members of the armed forces.The casting ensures sufficient eye candy for both sexes, the South African locations are passable as Afghanistan. The comedy realistically highlights the spirit of the armed forces. It does contain "very" strong language but that and the gallows humour is a true representation of likely banter by those in such front line roles. This is a strong comedy drama deserves a much greater following.