Similar in many ways to Utopia (2014), The Hollowmen is a satire about the inefficiency of bureacracy. This time, up closer to the politicians themselves and dealing with all kinds of lobby groups and different parts of government.
The impossible task is to please everyone and the end result is always the same - a compromise which sounds good but achieves nothing.
Phillip and Warren are probably the funniest regular characters who always get in the way of the protagonists despite their best intentions. Their incentives are obviously the opposite of the Prime Minister's. The PM wants to go hard on terrorism, create some new military thing. What do Phillip and Warren come up with? Downsizing the military - it's inefficient and has too many parts. The last thing on the mind of Murph and Tony (the main characters).
Merrick Watts brings a lot of sarcasm to the show, often missed by other characters at first. I think he shows how I would react in such absurd situations.
Many political topics are covered and it's clear that the politicians care far more about looking good and getting votes than actually changing anything. Other characters who suggest things that might actually work are treated as nuisances getting in the way.
I get the impression many of the episodes are based on real events but it's hard to tell 13 years later. The amount of waste and reasons for it are completely believable but also kind of depressing.
In addition to the cutting satire, there are many nice comedic touches throughout with great, natural performances from the whole cast. Like Sitch's other shows, I may need to rewatch it sometime just to enjoy it again but also to keep up with all the little jokes, priceless reactions and bureaucratic details.
The impossible task is to please everyone and the end result is always the same - a compromise which sounds good but achieves nothing.
Phillip and Warren are probably the funniest regular characters who always get in the way of the protagonists despite their best intentions. Their incentives are obviously the opposite of the Prime Minister's. The PM wants to go hard on terrorism, create some new military thing. What do Phillip and Warren come up with? Downsizing the military - it's inefficient and has too many parts. The last thing on the mind of Murph and Tony (the main characters).
Merrick Watts brings a lot of sarcasm to the show, often missed by other characters at first. I think he shows how I would react in such absurd situations.
Many political topics are covered and it's clear that the politicians care far more about looking good and getting votes than actually changing anything. Other characters who suggest things that might actually work are treated as nuisances getting in the way.
I get the impression many of the episodes are based on real events but it's hard to tell 13 years later. The amount of waste and reasons for it are completely believable but also kind of depressing.
In addition to the cutting satire, there are many nice comedic touches throughout with great, natural performances from the whole cast. Like Sitch's other shows, I may need to rewatch it sometime just to enjoy it again but also to keep up with all the little jokes, priceless reactions and bureaucratic details.