Nick Mohammed

In an overworked and battered genre, Mohammed is a breath of fresh air

Review by Chris Williams | 19 Aug 2007

You'd be forgiven for thinking that sketches based on the quaintness of people from the provinces are a little tired. After all, there are only so many times you can laugh at someone for putting on a Lancashire accent and bellowing a sentence constructed entriely from cliches. But even though Nick Mohammed's humour is firmly rooted in the hackneyed phrase mocking department, somehow it's fresher and more vivid than your average Catherine Tate gag.

4uarters takes four simple situations - a house viewing, the filming of a wildlife documentary, a loan assessment and an anger management course - and picks holes in them till they are lying bloodied on the floor. Mohammed's keen eye for observation darts at the idiosyncracies and flamboyantly exposes them.

Although use of the age old "repeat it till it's funny" technique means Mohammed's lengthy set-pieces can occasionally get bogged down, so accurate are his send-ups and so perfectly does he maintain his characters that attention never diverts to the relative merits of your shoes for very long.

In an overworked and battered genre, so refreshing is this production that producers won't leave Mohammed waiting by the phone for much longer.