User reviews

The fundamental flaw in this show is that we're told 'Pompidou' is supposed to be likable - he isn't. That's fatal. No caring for the protagonist is such a shame as Lucas can do better, indeed has done better. Second character 'Hove' is a thin foil, not a Jeeves. A great comic actor (see 'Julius' from 'The Thick of It'), underused. The whole show feels like Lucas trying to recover from the wilderness after some borderline racism in 'Come Fly With Me'. This isn't the vehicle for that. Maybe it'll sell in international markets like 'Bean', but Lucas is no Atkinson, sadly. Atkinson throws it all behind physical comedy, Lucas apparently doesn't have as much natural comedic instinct to throw behind Pompidou. 3/10 - those three are for the excellent dog puppet. It lit up the screen, and was more likable and developed as a character than either of the humans.

You know a comedy is in trouble when you realise that the dog is the best thing in it.

Matt Lucas flies solo here as a down on his luck and his last few pennies aristocrat Pompidou. He lives in a dilapidated caravan parked in the grounds of his crumbling estate. He has his put upon butler Hove (Alex MacQueen) and Afghan hound Marion who tend to be exasperated by his antics.

Lucas obviously was aiming at silent slapstick and farce like Mr Bean or heaven forbid Jacques Tati. However Lucas does not have the skill for physical comedy, the comedy here is painful and its not even silent as most of the characters speak in gibberish.

I could not last through the entire series. I gave it a try but enough is enough. Kids might like it but I guess even some of them have higher standards.

This was surreal to watch in that I couldn't figure out how this ever got the green light. I understand Netflix is willing to try new things and in many cases it has worked out to varying degrees but this is way off the mark of what they were going for I believe. I understand the idea of a family friendly show is going to have a restricted sense of humor but I don't see anyone over 3 years old finding this entertaining. I was embarrassed for the actors and hope this doesn't hurt Netflix's reputation for being open minded. The mumbling isn't quite silent film era, the physical comedy isn't of Benny Hill or Mr. Bean caliber and the set with a puppet was a really odd reach tat just made me feel like I was on drugs trying to watch it.

I'm really struggling to see what went through anyone's mind when this was commissioned, or allowed to air. Maybe the powers-that-be thought that if they didn't get it, then it must be edgy or good, or clever, or all three.

It isn't.

It isn't funny either.

This is why pilots exist. Make one, try it out on an audience, see what they think (although, honestly, it should never have got that far, the editor should have saved the rest of us the pain and wiped all the media before it left the edit suite).

Please, don't bother. I watched this so you don't have to.

I'm such a huge fan of Matt Lucas, his work in Little Britain & Come Fly With Me were admirable. He portrayed a wide diverse range of characters and if you've ever watched his work you'll agree he's very good at it.

However what is clear from Episode 1: 'Hunger' is that take away the vocal side of Matt and your left with not an awful lot. I watched the first episode in its entirety to see if it progressively got better but it amounted to nothing, psychical comedy is clearly not Matt's forte.

I understand this won't be his usual work given the pre-watershed time schedule therefore it cannot be crude or dark humour, but there is a reason why most comedians don't do silent comedy, because they don't have watch it takes to be a psychical comedian, Rowan Atkinson portrayed Mr. Bean amazingly and I'm afraid that level of genius is far out of Matt Lucas's reach with this new work of his.

I'll probably continue to watch the series in its entirety due to my admiration of Matt, but feel he has belittled himself with such a shoddy idea for a show, I'm sure he could of thought of something more intriguing that this.

This is undeniably silly. It's meant to be. I giggled through every episode. Matt Lucas is already a favourite actor of mine from previous TV shows & films. Hove and the dog interact brilliantly with him. While this series has been billed as "silent"; in actual fact all the characters speak. It's just in their own special "gibb-lish." The plots are easy to follow and full of comic visuals. Some of these are surreal. There is no crudity in the humour. Pompidou is an innocent who inadvertently causes trouble for everyone around him, especially Hove. He endears himself to the audience, occasionally breaking the 4th wall. This is evidently a project that Matt put his whole heart into and I hope he can make more. There's nothing wrong with SILLY, providing that's what you're looking for. And there's a special surprise for Little Britain fans. (Ep 5.)

I do understand most people would not really like Pompidou. However I come from truly enjoying and knowing most of the Laurel and Hardy shorts - and to me Pompidou is a great mash up of the old Laurel and Hardy formula with a modern twist to it. Knowing the old material, there are lots of parallels and they are done quite well.

But they could do better. These initial six episodes - I can only take one per sitting. The "dialog" is funny but I can only take so much. I do like how they will pick certain words that can be heard clearly, such as the signature "That really hurt me" and "out". But I have to say every one of the six contain several moments that are hilarious to me.

4 episodes in and Wow… talk about dross TV.

There is only one good element to this show and that's the puppet dog. The dog is the creation of the people that helped to make another BBC show called 'Mongrels' (epic win). To watch Pompidou just to enjoy the puppet character Marion though would be like; eating crap just to enjoy a piece of sweet corn.

BBC Controller of Comedy Commissioning Shane Allen said: "The concept is wonderfully imaginative, the writing hugely inventive and it's the perfect vehicle for Matt – one of a handful of performers in the whole world who could pull this off."

Well.. it isn't, it isn't, it may well be and he couldn't. The "writers" last "wrote" for Chucklevision BTW.

Danny Cohen should have stopped this sham… was he on holiday?

Well, I think the review before this one was pretty unfair. This is a classic British comedy after the pattern of Monty Python and Mr. Bean, except that it really pushes the boundaries of normal TV. At first watching, it is a little hard to believe what you are seeing, but I think that is a good thing for a medium that is normally so totally absorbed with ratings and making money. It is a worthwhile effort, and despite its strangeness, gave us some good laughs. Relatively poor reviews will probably mean that these six episodes are all we will ever see of this, but I hope the BBC keeps whatever commitment it has to this sort of original programming.

Everyone who worked on this should be ashamed of themselves for being absolute failures. Not only have they completely failed to understand what works in silent comedys, it also fails to understand what works in any comedy. There is an inexcusably low amount of jokes and the jokes it had I could see coming from a mile away. Also, every single one of these boring, milquetoast, stupid jokes went on for about two minutes.

This is the worst comedy I have ever seen, and that is coming from someone who actively seeks out bad movies. Painfully, unreasonably bad. So bad I can't even understand the mindset of the writers. I can't imagine how anyone could ever think this was funny. I'd be embarrassed for it if I wasn't so angry and astonished. It also makes me sad because it's attempts to bring back the dead genre of silent comedy probably did more bad than good. An absolute waste. Watch this if you're interested in just how bad comedys can be. Otherwise, avoid at all costs.

I only gave this one star because the option for zero wasn't available.

Agree entirely with the other reviewers - this is just plain awful. The only BBC programme that's ever made me feel like I'm being robbed.

This from the Daily Telegraph:

"BBC Controller of Comedy Commissioning Shane Allen said: "The concept is wonderfully imaginative, the writing hugely inventive and it's the perfect vehicle for Matt – one of a handful of performers in the whole world who could pull this off.""

Lucas has been unmasked as nothing more than Little Britain's Andrew Ridgely.

This should never have been commissioned, and if Shane Allen thinks this is comedy, he should instead be cleaning the BBC toilets, where he'd have plenty to laugh at.

From the very beginning title sequence, this is clearly a weekday morning CBBC show, the kind of thing churned out daily with completely predictable, overly exaggerated slapstick humour designed to keep 2 – 4 year olds quiet.

I think it may achieve this for a few minutes before they changed the channel. There is no deeper meaning behind this simple premise, this is it.

What on Earth is this doing on at a mainstream TV programming time? The actors involve could be doing so much better.

If this show is attempting to reproduce Mr Bean or Monty Python's Flying Circus style sketches, it similar sketches, it has failed, epically.

I have been a HUGE fan of Matt Lucas and his work on shows like "Little Britain" and "Come Fly With Me"--excellent television programs that have made me laugh out loud for several years. So, I was very excited to see that he'd made a new program--a made for Netflix show called "Pompidou". The idea for the show sounded great--a man from a rich, noble British family has fallen on hard times and has been forced to leave his manor to live in a trailer! However, despite a promising idea, the show is simply god-awful and practically impossible to watch. Much of it is because the show just isn't funny--a serious problem for a comedy! Much of this is because instead of dialog, Lucas and the rest of the cast mumble instead of talk--making the experience a bit like watching "Mr. Bean" or "The Baldy Man"...unfunny versions of these other shows.

Perhaps the program will improve in later episodes but I don't see how. It's so bad I simply cannot make myself give it another try. Horribly written and a waste of talent.

I don't know what this is, aside from weird. Its not weird in a Noel Fielding bizarre way, its weird in the way of why did they think this would be funny? Combining Pingu with Little Britain just falls incredibly flat. I suppose the problem will be that the audience for Matt Lucas does not intersect with the audience for Pingu. I, for instance, am a fan of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin & Co, but I found the jokes here tended to rely heavily on deciphering the odd word amongst the gibberish and found myself straining to interpret was what being said, rather than appreciating anything physical that was happening.

A baffling experience. Failing a miracle I'm giving up on this one,

1/10

I believe its a great clean- cut comedy that thinks outside the box. The whole point of comedy is to make original raw episodes that grab the watcher. I used to love Mr. Bean when I was a kid, note I"m saying kid. This means Pompidou not only captures and older audience but younger one too. I'm so sick of the new up to date comedy thats about sex and money. The whole point of this show I think is to laugh and to keep laughing at stupid silly sayings that stick in your head. I catch myself using some just for kicks. I think the producer is brilliant and the writer really gets a new form of comedy one that a lot of others have tried to get. Pompidou is the new clean cut silly adventure comedy. Please consider that just because the majority are a money grubbing sex appeal kind of audience not all of us are. I'm a very homely yet family man. Me and my wife enjoy clean comedy that we can share together. I hope you consider doing more episodes. Thanks for the six that I get to enjoy with my family..

If you like dogs, and I know you do, then you will love the dog in the series once known as Pompidodoo. It sings, it likes food, it gets shocked and it gets frozen to a cube, all the qualities you love in a big hairy dog. It has a master of course, ser Pompidoo of Pompingtown and his man-servant Goo'afternoon. Very funny indeed, but can be very tedious and subpar, I am no fan of Freddy Mercury indeed, but I have to say Matt Lucas did it better than Rami Malek. The wrong academy award went to the wrong,, proper fellow. If you enjoy haphazard adventures, with little-to-no dialogue, then you will love this series. If you are a serial-killer then you will love it pompi-too. But if you hate humour and funny things, then you will also hate the dog and it's appearance. And then you hate life. Good luck with that.

I've been an avid IMDb.com reader for years and years; I check the app almost every day, but have never registered as a user. I usually don't register for anything online.

This show was so bad that, that I created this account just to write a review; I feel like I have warn possible future viewers. THAT BAD.

I am a big Mark Lucas and Little Britain fan, and was definitely excited to see his new show. There are certain standards Mark and his fellow script writers and actors have made for their shows and comedic material, so I had faith that even if it was no Little Britain, that I would've discovered a funny little new show...

I watched the 1st episode in it's entirety, hoping it would get better, but it went absolutely nowhere. The same with the second episode. NOWHERE. I was sitting through it going, "There's a half hour left of this? This."

This saddens me. Did he, the writers and all people involved actually think this was good? That this was funny? I actually am in shock with how bad it is. I am sad.

I'm going to give it another chance and watch a few more episodes... but seriously, I'm blown away by the absolute lack of comedy in this COMEDY. I don't know if I'll be able to get through it.

So sad.

If you like quirky, this show is for you. It's rather over the top, but also quite inventive.

A disgraced Lord Pompidou, his butler and his dog live in a sublime mashup of 'caravans' (known as travel trailers here in the US), and scheme daily to get back their glory, or at least get something to eat.

Eliminating most speaking, I think, brings out Matt's acting talents as he ends up 'showing, not telling' most of the time.

The dog really completes the piece, and is very well done, with a large collection of expressions while still retaining essential dogness. I puzzled over it a bit before I was sure it was a puppet; it's that good.

I will have to warn the prospective watcher of this show: nothing really makes any sense. It is subtle slapstick of a really new kind, which is pretty rare on television these days and I, personally, applaud Netflix for putting this sort of show on.

This is an unfairly neglected, essentially 'silent' comedy, with shades of Wallace and Gromit as well as Mr Bean. You could read it as self-indulgence - it was at a time when Lucas could probably write his own ticket - and a lot of people are going to think they're too clever for it; but I think it's a return to comedy basics. Not hilariously funny, it's nevertheless a much more likeable show than any of his others. It's only slightly off-putting that Pompidou bears a strong resemblance to Boris Johnson; and of course, crass though he is, he isn't anywhere near as childish or stupid.

To be completely honest, I'm far from a fan of Matt Lucas. I think he is an utter fool and he does not understand what makes a good joke. But I never thought he would sink this low. Sweet bumbling Christ this show is awful! Nothing about it works. As a man who enjoys writing and directing my own short films I genuinely find it hard to consider it worth continuing if this is what is now considered entertainment. Every joke is the same; it is either Matt Lucas making miscellaneous mumbling noises that vaguely resemble language or a small visual gag with the dog, mostly involving him doing something usually associated with humans. When I first watched an episode I thought it might be a crap attempt at a children's show. But there are so many 'jokes' that children simply would not understand like the wine tasting scenes and the physical sex 'gags'. Not to mention the close ups of breasts and the very adult and shallow mindedness in the treatment of any female characters. None of the characters have any personality beyond very surface level stereotypes related to their sex, appearance or social status. Every line, despite being inaudible, is repeated constantly. I say that, but it simply is just constant screaming and mumbling for half an hour. Nothing special or even half decent in any of the visual elements of film (cinematography, editing etc). All of the music, especially the opening theme, is just as bad as all the other sounds in the show; and not a single performance is good in any way, they are especially unfunny. Basically, this is one of the worst TV shows I have ever seen in my life.

This is by all stretches of the imagination , best summed up with the words : SHITE & TURD . . How the usually entertaining Matt Lucas put his name to this steaming pile of horse s**t, one really does have to wonder. For those of you who have'nt seen it : Firstly - CONGRATULATIONS , Secondly - as a brief description , this is classed as a silent comedy (altho some words are spoken,in a strange mumbled way) , it portrays a down on his luck aristocrat who gets in to all sorts of jolly un-entertaining japes , accompanied by his ( sometimes ) trusty butler. I really don't want to go into detail , mostly because there is'nt any. Avoid at all costs !

Yikes !! If ever an example were needed of how nepotism is the scourge of creativity then this pile of manure must surely be it. Is there nobody at the BBC with at least some pride when filtering out commission proposals? Surely it takes more than just a well known face and some of his writer chums before the BBC green light an idea. The people behind this drivel kept touting it as "innovative" and "ground breaking" so perhaps the men in suits were a little scared to tell the emperor and his cronies that he doesn't have any clothes. Claiming that this garbage is in any way posited in the same genre as Stan and Ollie or Charlie Chaplin is like the winner of an egg and spoon race claiming they're in the same league as an Olympic athlete. The BBC have quietly let this disaster slip into derided obscurity and no doubt the same mob have moved onto other license payer funded projects. Time the gravy train that's the BBC put a few of the old boy network out to pasture. They must be knackered constantly patting themselves on the back.

Yiyiyigh goobruubruu gabluhhh?

Ghumbiguhgiyiyii?

Yuhhyuhhyuhh, magraaaaa?

OVER AND OVER THERE ARE NO WORDS THERE IS NO DIALOGUE IT IS TORTURE TO WATCH THIS IS THE WORST SHOW EVER MADE IT IS AN ABOMINATION I DARED A FRIEND TO WATCH IT IN IT'S ENTIRETY AND HE IS PERMANENTLY SCARRED.

Imagine listening to an old British person with dementia and no teeth gumming a bowl of porridge for hours, spitting and ranting and raving.

There is a stuffed dog puppet wearing glasses that makes more sense as a character than Pompidou. I don't even know if the main character's name is Pompidou or not, because no words are said in the entire, horrible show.

I love Matt Lucas's incredibly unique style in this show. The unintelligible but intelligible speech is a unique experience and well done. I think it's pretty damn funny. Pompidou's child like mannerisms make him likable, but are twisted by a lack of common morals. The humor is light and somewhat slapstick. I find the combination to work quiet well. My only complaint is that there are moments when things become a little too unrealistic and it's hard to connect with; however I do enjoy that we have to suspend reality a bit to get along with the show. I think the production value is quality and acting is spot on. It's always a pleasure to see Matt Lucas work. I'm looking forward to more!