First Take: People Just Do Nothing: Big In Japan - back on the air like the renegade master

SYNOPSIS: Since the end of their pirate radio station, life has been quiet for the Kurupt FM boys, but everything is about to change. News reaches them that one of their songs has been used on a popular game show in Japan. They’ve made it!

In 2012, following a series of online shorts, the BBC commissioned a pilot for a mockumentary style comedy based around a pirate radio station in Brentford- it would go on to have 5 series between 2014 and 2018, becoming one of the final major BBC Three (and BBC Two for its final episodes) success stories before the channel went exclusively online, something which will potentially be reversed in January. Now, in true BBC style, the Kurupt FM boys have their own movie. And while it’s OK, there are elements which struggle to fill even the most dead cinematic airwaves.

As he did on all 27 episodes which make up the source material, Jack Clough is in the directors chair, and for his first feature credit, this is not a bad way to debut- with characters and talent he knows inside and out, there was only one man worthy enough to take this film, especially working closely with the writers Allan Mustafa and Steve Stamp to take a 27 minute show and flesh it out to 1 hour 37 minutes, but unfortunately the pacing does leave a bit to be desired- it may pass the 6 laugh test, but there are segments that felt a bit long, so a bit more care should’ve been taken in the edit. Behind the camera is Matthew Wicks, who nails the mockumentary style, and because of this, there is no formal music credit- so I can’t deliver much detail there.

The cast will be recognisable to fans of the show - having created the show and written the film, Mustafa, Stamp, and contributing writers Hugo Chegwin and Asim ‘Chabuddy G’ Chaudhry are able to continue the work they have become known for with the original series, and like the source material they are joined by Lily Brazier (a fellow contributing writer), Dan Sylvester, Ruth Bratt, and with new Japanese talents including Hitomi Souno and Ken Yamamura, the film has enough to fill a feature length story- but the fact it has been put out on a wide cinema release is a bit baffling. Obviously the powers that be want it on free-to-air TV in time for Christmas, but for a show so niche to get a film under the BBC Film umbrella is a big move, so they will be watching the box office very closely.

THE VERDICT

People Just Do Nothing will certainly appeal to fans of the show, but casual audiences will struggle to understand the humour and the storyline due to its reliance on the series finale back in 2018- it feels like the natural continuation of the story, but whether a cinema release was justified remains to be seen.

RATING: 3/5