TV: Sliced, Dave

News: Second Slice Of Sliced

Samson Kayo is on a roll at the moment. He has recently signed up for the Hollywood movie Mouse Guard with Idris Elba and Andy Serkis and now, after making a splash in Famalam and Timewasters he has his own sitcom on Dave, which finds the funny side of being young and skint in contemporary south London.

Kayo and Theo Barklem-Biggs play Joshua and Ricky, two mates trying to earn a crust delivering pizzas. In the first episode life is tough for Joshua. He is still living at home and his mum wants the rent he owes. But how is he going to get £150 quickly on a pitiful zero hours wage? And more importantly when he gets it how is he going to hold onto it long enough to pay for his keep?

Joshua and Ricky might pootle around on their little bikes but there is no pootling around where the script is concerned. It is fast and snappy and as crisp as a fresh Quattro Formaggi, if just as cheesy at times. Joshua is a bit hapless and a bit useless, but very amiable. You can't help rooting for him as he tries to flog his childhood possessions to raise some cash.

Kayo has drawn on his genuine experiences delivering pizzas around Camberwell when he was a teenager, but the tone is more sentimental than gritty. Even the crime portrayed feels lighthearted. When there is a violent mugging it is a pretty genial one rather than a scary one. And Joshua clearly has a good soul, at one point saving the life of a potential suicide played by Phil Daniels. There is good support too from David Mumeni, as Joshua's boss who calls himself Mario but is about as Italian as a plate of falafel and Weruche Opia (pictured with Kayo and Barklem-Biggs), as Naomi, who works in the pizza shop. 

Sliced, co-written by seasoned hand Phil Bowker who worked on PhoneShop, is only three episodes - being screened over consecutive nights – but like the best Italian food it leaves you wanting more. 

Sliced, Dave, May 15 - 17, 10pm.

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