There are a couple of problems with hi-tech dramas.
One: they can often be a bit like watching someone typing really fast. Or to put it another way, as dull as a party political broadcast.
Two: the script usually features more jargon than a memo from Bill Gates.
Producer and deviser Tony Garnett was well aware of this when setting up his new series, perhaps best described as This.Life2. So he kept just enough hi-tech lingo in to keep the computer fans happy but never let it swamp the proceedings.
Give the man his due: Garnett really knows how to hook the viewer from the word go, as he proved with Between the Lines and The Cops.
So in episode one, we had a heady mix of nude skateboarding followed by the obligatory bedroom scene to stop millions switching channels in the first five minutes.
However, unlike many shows that fail to keep viewers hooked, the pace did not let up for the next 50 minutes.
The plot, in a nutshell, centres on a sexy young internet startup company with a cool boss (Burnside veteran Justin Pierre), his gorgeous Liz Hurley lookalike wife and partner (Claudia Harrison) and the inevitable cross section of geeks, eclectic co-workers and a money-grabbing boss who seems okay on the surface but turned out to be a leech.
Thrown into the mix was cyber stalking, the fact that the firm had just enough money to keep the company afloat for a week and the slight problem of losing two days work and having to do everything again.
Whether it becomes as addictive as This Life remains to be seen, but with some fine scripts by TL veteran Richard Zajdlic and ex-Corrie actress Amelia Bullmore (Steph Barnes), not to mention a cast of likeable losers and sexy yuppies, it's going to be a lot of fun finding out.
Unmissable.com.
