A Touch of Cloth

2012

Seasons & Episodes

  • 3
  • 2
  • 1
  • 0
7.8| 0h30m| TV-14| en| More Info
Released: 26 August 2012 Ended
Producted By: Zeppotron
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.sky.com/tv/show/a-touch-of-cloth
Synopsis

Hannah plays DI Jack Cloth, who is called in to investigate an apparent series of serial killings alongside his new partner, DC Anne Oldman, described as a "plucky, no-nonsense sidekick". Playing with the cliches and conventions of British police dramas, subplots include Cloth dealing with visions of his dead wife and the bisexual DC Oldman coming to grips with her feelings for both her female fiancee and Cloth.

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Reviews

Cubussoli Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!
GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.
UnowPriceless hyped garbage
Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic
morpheusatloppers Thirty years ago, Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker created a spoof genre that has often been imitated, but never equalled - until now."Airplane!" and "Police Squad!" heralded a new style of comedy, which mixed sight-gags - some in the background - with dead-pan delivery of absurd cliché lines by famous, serious actors.The sheer number of jokes often required several viewings to get them all.And now, Charlie Brooker has taken that formula to the max. "A Touch Of Cloth" - a reference to the popular but tedious police procedural, "A Touch Of Frost" - crossed with what happens to people who do not make it to the bathroom in time - does to Brit cop shows what "Police Squad!" did to Quinn Martin productions.It's all there - background gags like the poster showing items of fruit, with the title, "Fruits Which Are Not Oranges" (a reference to the controversial drama series, "Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit") and the "Now Wash Your Hands" sign in the toilet - featuring a silhouette wearing a police helmet.And cliché lines like, "You can't go in there - it's impossible!" - but John Hannah opens the door anyway - to reveal a blank wall.Hannah was the perfect choice to head up the cast. Like Leslie Nielsen and Lloyd Bridges before him, he has played his part for real.Created as an 85 minute movie, "A Touch Of Cloth" is split into two TV episodes. And this is genius, because this formula really only works in 40 minute segments. Go for longer and "laughter fatigue" sets in - and the audience begins to anticipate the gags.This is intended to be the first of three such forays - the second is already in production - and I think there are still plenty of "...-cloth" gags left...
Mouth Box Produced by Adam Tandy (The Thick of It), Charlie Brooker's new cop show "A Touch of Cloth" (penned with TV Burp writer Dan Maier) is quite simply brilliant. In every scene, every line of dialogue, you can almost taste Brooker's bitter, vitriolic view of the universe, and that makes it very funny indeed.DI Jack Cloth is beautifully underplayed by John Hannah, who I still cannot watch without expecting him, at any moment, to utter "stop all the clocks," and burst into tears. Cloth has the usual arbitrary, drink soaked, tragic past, and he and his partner Anne Oldman (pronounced Old Man) soon find themselves at Rundowne Estate, investigating the grisly murder of a pensioner. As the murders stack-up, and the blood splatters gratuitously, the gags come thick and fast. Naked Gun meets The Comic Strip. Airplane meets CSI Miami on the set of The Bill.Brooker & Maier employ visual and verbal repetition with the flair of Seth McFarlance, and use deconstruction delightfully – like when police chief Tom Boss tells his team to get over to crime scenes "during the ad break". The script may be a little unsubtle at times, but who cares. Watch it, record it and then watch it again.For daily TV reviews visit Mouthbox.co.uk.
gh0ti-2 Procedural police shows finally get the parody they have been long asking for in this occasionally hilarious and frequently amusing offering from Charlie Brooker. Cloth, the eponymous protagonist, portrayed with a knowing degree of over-acting by the fabulous John Hannah, is that favourite genre trope: a damaged, veteran officer, called in to resolve the 100th annual murder on the unfortunately named Rundowne Estate.Wordplay and smart exchanges between the chief characters abounds as Cloth and his "Modern Lesbian" DC, Anne Oldman (say it out loud), pun their way through a series of grisly murder scenes. Ably assisting the satire are a slew of other familiar faces portraying similarly cookie-out characters, most memorably Julian Rhind-Tutt as the authoritarian, disapproving Boss.Where A Touch of Cloth distinguishes itself from other, less effective parodies is that no aspect of the gritty Crime drama TV is safe from its mocking barbs. Direction, sound-editing and pacing are subtly (and, on occasion, not so subtly) exposed to criticism. Cameras follow characters as they do pointless circuits around rooms, mulling over exposition, scenes of violence are repeatedly and unnecessarily revisited with the same sound effects repeating themselves over and over again.However, in one respect A Touch of Cloth does let itself and its otherwise highly intelligent script down, and that is the sexual humour. While not averse to the odd sex-related gag, and fully aware that this is the 21st Century, these felt out of place and really did not add anything to what is otherwise the finest spoof of procedural police dramas since The Naked Gun.
Colin Wilson I've only seen the first episode of this, but it's one to watch - and watch again, because the jokes in the dialogue come thick and fast.Combined with subtle and not-so-subtle visual gags, you'll certainly get a lot of smirks and laughs out of it !Several murders in, we find there's a link between the victims, but some of the murder scenes (and others) are simply classic.a woman in the bath reading a book called "she died in the bath", who has a "visitor"the inspector enters a tent where a murder victim has been found, and passes through your typical tea and cake stall tent, walks out the other end, and a body is being examined by a CSI with a blacklight - except it's not the victim, it's the female boss catching a few rays...It reminds me of the sort of humour in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz - carefully crafted and well executed.

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