Chris Morris advances on the agitprop satire of Brass Eye, and the ambient weirdness of Jam, with the wonderfully caustic and gleefully vicious Nathan Barley. As others have noted, 'Barley' is probably Morris's most-subtle creation yet... a seemingly conventional sitcom about life in the world of the media, with cutting edge magazine publishers, idolised DJ's, crusading digital filmmakers and techno-wiz-kids all standing in as the centre of attention, complete with their own annoying txt-speak characteristics, daft costumes, anti-establishment opinions and ever-so-trendy idiosyncrasies. However, the joke here is not what is written into the scripts (though, more often than not, this is incredible funny), but rather, the notion that these kind of characters - which do exist in real life - will no doubt buy into the whole joke, watching each episode eagerly before going into the office the next day to confront their friends and co-workers with the usual one-liners.Morris, writing here alongside Charlie Brooker, is to television what Luke Haines is to pop music... someone who can work within the confines of an industry, gathering acclaim and a legion of devoted fans, whilst simultaneously trying to bring said industry down from the inside!! Morris and Brooker seem to have a genuine contempt for the characters that they write about, and - as with Brass Eye and The Day Today - the joke sometimes becomes so scathing and so accurate, that you actually forget that you're watching a satire (a notion continued by Morris's faux-edgy directorial style, which has swerving hand-held cameras and random zooms to, I would hope, rip the pip out of all of these trendy new TV shows that want be challenging - in a Dogme-style sense - so bad, they can practically taste it!!). Some of the media pastiches are fantastic too, like the so-chic it hurts art gallery that consisted of nothing more than pictures of celebrities urinating, or the Russian underground website, which includes pay-per-view downloadable clips of "tramp marathons" and tooth-pulling competitions, complete with armed police threatening anyone refusing to take part with assault rifles and teargas.The madness of the show works because Morris and Brooker tend to anchor the shows to the character of Dan (The Preacher Man) Ashcroft, a cynical and fairly down-to-earth sort, who seems at odds with the backslapping and self-congratulatory cretins who populate his office. As a result, the jokes work because we can relate to Dan's anguish at being celebrated by these fools, who find humour in irreverent spreads on child molestation, have chainsaw ring tones and have a unhealthy habit of composing raps while they get it on with the opposite sex (Nathan's seduction of Claire is absolute comedy genius... "yeah, well plastic, man!!"). My favourite gag would have to be Dan unintentionally creating a new trendy hair-style when he falls asleep under the paint table. "What's it called?" asks Nathan. "Errr... Geek Pie" replies Dan. Cut to Nathan on Japanese TV promoting said hair-style without a shard or irony or good humour.Most of the jokes work on multiple levels, often acting as an out-and-out parody of the kind of pretentious, novelty, tabloid-bating nonsense that seems to be continually spat out of these nu-media outlets (digital television, on-line publishing, underground advertising, or remnants of the shallow mid-nineties art scene, etc)... but then, there's also the integration of the characters, the disgust and contempt that Dan has for his colleagues, and the sheer genius of the word play used by these bizarre caricatures (typical Barley invitation, "you should come doll snatch, it's gonn'a be Mexico!!"... all this and more from the man who gave us "fact me till I fart"). The cast is great, padded out with characters form The Mighty Boosh and the brilliant Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, so you know the timing and delivery will be pitch perfect and the plausibility spot on.Nathan Barley may not scale the comedic highs of Morris's more on-the-nose satires like The Day Today and Brass Eye, but it is, nonetheless, very funny, not just in the way the jokes are constructed, but in the believability and plausibility of the characterisations and the recreation of that kind of self-conscious, self-styled universe. Morris (and Brooker) should be commended for taking a risk with this serious, creating something that almost passes for a normal sitcom, but with that much loved/much needed Morris contempt always lurking, just beneath the surface.

Everyone who says that Nathan Barley is trash(bat.co.ck) never known anyone like Barley or Ashcroft. These days you can not help but be bombarded by the idiots who are going to inherit the world. I didn't have to watch this show. All I had to do was go outside of my apartment in London to see the idiots with massive amount of money and no direction.For me it wasn't funny watching my life portrayed by Dan Ashcroft who seems to be the only one who sees through the idiots persona. He is the only one who realizes that there is no escape, there is no turning back, there is nothing you can do to avert the rise of the Idiots.This is a sharp commentary on todays idiot youth. Its funny and to the point. Everyone should watch it and see if they know any 'Idiots'

Well, I thought this was just great. Starting as a light hearted satire then slowly, inexorably descending into darker and darker territory, right up until the very end. The final scenes going beyond comedy and pathos, Dan resignedly saying "Shut up" as he lets himself drop out the window, the Jam-like rewinding of the camera and the freeze frame of Pingu diving out the window, the final image retreating as Dan lies motionless in hospital...What's not to like about this series? The original music alone is incredible, a mix of IDM/electronica that's too convincing, too good to be just pastiche. Nathan's electro clash rap at the club is ... I don't possess an ounce of the wit necessary to describe it… "A night down the pub, with your mates, and its f--king mental!"… There are few conventional gags, but there are plenty of moments when I get a cold thrill down to the marrow that only comes from watching utter, deft genius on display. A desperately funny series, perhaps misunderstood. I think people may have watched this with far too many preconceptions, about Morris, about sitcoms, and were very quick to judge after just watching the first episode. People may have been upset recognizing themselves unflatteringly represented here, or irked that they were wrong footed in the way the series developed. Morris is a dark, dark, dark writer. A very funny writer too, and far, far more intelligent than 99.9% of his audience. That he lets any of us peasants see his work is a miracle, and we should be thankful for whatever he gives us.

Perhaps because Chris Morris has maintained such high standards for so long, this dreadfully embarrassing, unfunny and achingly off-the-mark satire feels like even more of a let down than expected. But even the most die-hard of Morris devotees would struggle to raise the slightest titter.Morris is synonymous with cutting edge commentary of popular culture. So why did he choose to mimic a dot com coterie that is already five years out of date? And where is the characterisation, plot - or jokes? And WHAT is that direction? It's barely audible, barely intelligible and utterly bereft of humour.TV and cinema are littered with the corpses of those who tried to jump from one genre to another and didn't make it, because they didn't understand the different rules of the new genre. Perhaps this is what happened here. Morris is a great satirist. Charlie Brooker is a great, er, TV columnist. But neither of them seem to have the slightest idea as to what a sitcom is. In comparison to other contemporary sitcoms such as Spaced and Black Books, Nathan Barley looks like the work of a couple of stoned sixth formers with a DV camera.Here's hoping it's a blip. But next time, let's hope Morris works alone. Meanwhile, I'm assuming that Brooker crawled back into his box, proving once again that great critics do not great creatives make.*update* I see that from a very poor start of 1.2m viewers, by episode 3 NB is now down to an extraordinarily embarrassing 700,000. For a programme on primetime Ch4 and written by such a cult hero as Morris, that's a shocking slap in the face from the viewers. Who can blame them? I couldn't face another minute.