Whilst Britain was mesmerised by 'The Fast Show', a vastly superior sketch show appeared on B.B.C.-2. 'Big Train' was in the 'Monty Python' mold, featuring sketches that started out as one thing before turning into something else, such as 'Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Working Class'', a 'Saint' style fight breaking out at a posh dinner party, or Chairman Mao leaping off his death bed to do a Bryan Ferry impression. The cast threw themselves into the thing with commendable straight faced enthusiasm; Simon Pegg, Julia Davis and Catherine Tate later became major stars. My favourite, however, was Kevin Eldon. His 'Sir George Martin' was staggering! Mark Heap was also brilliant. This was Arthur Mathews and Graham Linehan's first series since 'Father Ted' and alas suffered by way by comparison. The two shows are just as funny, but in different ways. It takes genius to make the notion of a 'stare-out' contest funny. 'Big Train' deserved to be a greater success ( a lot of it went over people's heads ) than it was. "Is that a reference to me not being married?".
Review of Big Train
