I have only one complaint about this show - they don't make enough of them! Each and every episode has been a comedic tour de force, with everyone in the show - every member of the cast - being so straight-faced that, if the lines were not utter farce, you'd think you were watching a genuine drama.The brilliant John Hannah gives us a demonstration of his versatility. From his role as Batiatius in Spartacus, he now gives us the 'Cracker' type character, only with a script of pure hilarity, almost from the word go. In every scene there are also subtle little bits and pieces - signs, pictures and props - that only serve to lend to the surreal, silly goings-on behind the hard exteriors of the characters.It's one of the best spoof shows I've seen in a long time, and please, please, can they offer up more?

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...

This is, quite simply, one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. I was chuckling, giggling, and howling with laughter throughout most of the show. When I wasn't, I was most grateful; these small pauses allowed me to breath again.There's an abundance of visual and auditory gags in every scene, each one as funny as the last. (Very) That, combined with unnecessary stunts and scenes that are funny without needing the above makes a show that most people will watch again and again.Overall, unless you have had a sense-of-humour bypass, I suspect that you'll be in hysterics after watching this.

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.