I only watched this because one of my favourite actors (Osian Morgan) guest starred in it and even he couldn't make it look funny.
I also used to work in a call centre.
This programme aims to portray call centres as wacky, zany places where everyone likes and respects each other. Call centres are NOT like that, not one bit. I agree with another reviewer who described call centres as 'hellish'. Furthermore, the customers that Ruby and her team interact with are different from the customers that call centres usually face. In real life, customers expect you to wave a magic wand and sort out everything for them, then get nasty with you if you don't have all the answers.
The casting needed to be stronger. Jayde Adams is not a comedienne or a good scriptwriter. I was highly disappointed by the casting of Osian Morgan as 'Harrison, the security guard' in the last episode. He is a fantastic actor, but he just fell flat. I suspect he was told to exaggerate his accent as well as his voice sounded to me to be at odds with how he usually has spoken and acted in other roles. He's best known for playing complex characters in dramas, and it felt to me like the role wasn't the best use of his talents. Also, I wouldn't say I liked many of the other characters. The only character I did like was Katherine Kelly's character Vicky Because it felt to me that she at least attempted to inject some humour into the show.
Other reviewers have also pointed out that the storyline, which implied that they might be a romantic frisson between Ruby and her posh, middle-class supervisor, Mark, was just poorly executed and unrealistic. The whole storyline with the choir could have been more robust as well.
I hope this doesn't get another series. It's not a programme I would stay in on a Friday night to watch. ITV could do much better than this. It's a 1/10 from me!
