TV Blog: The best (and worst) of the week's telly

It’s what we Brits do best; take a successful American idea and anglicise it by removing the glamour. E4’s latest naughty young ‘uns drama Misfits (Wednesday, 10pm) takes this trend to new heights; transporting the American-as-apple-pie genre of Super Heroes to a rough estate and making it’s characters a group of young offenders. Yup – it’s Heroes with ASBOs; but what sounds like a one joke pitch is fast shaping up to be one of the TV highlights of the year.

A group of squabbling teens on a ‘community payback’ scheme are struck by lightening and (all bar one) receive a super power. In a neat twist these powers are connected to a fear or character flaw unique to the individual; so the girl who thinks everyone judges her gains the ability to read minds, the lonely, bullied guy can become invisible, etc. It’s a clever device and one that allows for much unpacking of the characters neuroses and some great interpersonal drama.

E4 has found a niche for itself with well crafted home-grown ‘yoof’ programming such as Skins and while Misfits carries across some of that show’s edgy lifestyle and humour it’s a far more consistent affair - lacking the wild shifts in tone the former often throws up. This is mostly down to the series having only one writer, something of a novelty these days, and results in characters that progress in a believable manner.

In the age of falling budgets the production team have done well to make a low budget show feel glossy and epic and to find a cast containing no weak link. Special mention must go to Robert Sheehan, whose cocky Irish teen could easily have become a contender for ‘most annoying character on telly’ if it wasn’t for a performance that somehow makes a horrendously irritating idiot endearing. A success of superhuman proportions.

The show is currently approaching its halfway point but all previous episodes are available to watch at 4od. Check out the website too, which has lots of juicy extras. www.e4.com/misfits