In the years gone by a series would get to the end of its run of 6 or 8 episodes, its ratings would be assessed and if it was liked it would be brought back. Now however about 5 minutes into its first episode a show can be dead in the water thanks to Twitter and other such social networking sites. The Wright Way is a prime example of this and after a critical mauling on the internet and from critics it has been axed.You can understand why the BBC felt confident about this show. It was after all written by Ben Elton a man who can claim credit for bringing us Blackadder and Mr Bean, it was about so called 'lovable losers'(isn't every sitcom these days?) and it was by and large family friendly despite being dumped in a late slot (another bad omen).However when people started taking glee in the fact that Elton had seemingly lost his touch and listing the weak jokes the axe looked set to loom. The Wright Way isn't actually a bad show, it just was never given a proper go.

I think many who have ripped this new sitcom apart are overlooking the fact that it's meant to be risible. Elton is lampooning the councils who have given us this silly culture of fear of doing anything. The H&S team are zealous idiots who go to great lengths to justify their own jobs and importance. It was a subject itching to made into a sitcom. How you make a subtle sitcom of this subject I'm not sure, so the bold almost cartoony approach was justified imo.But it is this bold style which has turned many off, and Elton certainly hasn't held back on the cartoon like characterisation and dialogue. Also he dives deep into his juvenile love for puerile sixthform humour, with little regard for its suitability here, he just throws it all in without really examining whether it's a good match or not for the sitcom.So it's a very long way from being great but it does the job effectively for me and I've laughed watching every episode as well as cringed a bit. Best of all it sets up punchlines and payoffs aplenty and has proper sitcom story lines that have a beginning, middle and end. A throwback style sitcom and a bit too cartoony it may well be, but I laugh at this more than I do many so called modern day sitcoms.

In these enlightened days of clear and prominently displayed health and safety signs, I think I should warn you about this programme right from the start: Danger! Comedy Free Zone! Ben Elton used to be a bold,funny, intelligent, era-defining stand-up. He co-wrote Blackadder, one of the most finely crafted and hilarious sitcoms of his generation. He wrote books that became instant best-sellers. So, who is the man behind "The Wright Way", and what the hell has he done with Ben Elton? I didn't really like Gordon Brittas the first time around, and I like him even less in his apparent reincarnation as Gerald Wright, a stressed-out health and safety executive working at Baselricky Town Hall. But, like Shakespeare's comedies, every episode of The Brittas Empire had at least one laugh in it. The Wright Way has no laughs in it at all.There's no room for subtlety in David Haig's performance at Gerald Wright. He shouts, he pulls funny faces, he puts on a silly voice. But whatever he does, Haig cannot alter the fact that the script is not even mildly amusing, and the underlying structure of the show is fatally flawed.The setting feels hackneyed, the characters are badly thought out, thinly drawn, and utterly two dimensional.There's a mayor who speaks only using backwards sentences. There's a man-eating, middle-aged Asian woman. There's a vaguely camp guy who looks a bit like Alan Carr, and another bloke who doesn't appear to possess any character traits at all, other than the handy ability to pick up any line of dialogue that Elton hasn't allocated to one of the others.At home, there's Wright's daughter and her lesbian partner. Another box ticked for the right-on commissioning editors at the BBC, who probably spent more time deciding how many gay and ethnic characters there should be in the series than they did actually reading the script.It all feels very lazy indeed – even the title of the show is indistinct and will be easily confused in the TV listings with The Wright Stuff on Channel 5.Perhaps Mr. Elton should spend less time listening to pimply comedy executives and focus groups, and more time following his instincts and listening to the little voice in his head that used to tell him the right way to make people laugh. I'm reminded of the old adage that the camel was designed by committee.Unfunny is too small a word for it. If anyone happens to find Ben Elton's Mojo, please be kind enough to put it in a jiffy bag and post it back to him immediately.Read more reviews at Mouthbox.co.uk

If anyone thought Ben Elton had still got it 5 minutes of this show will change your mind. For his latest outing Elton decided it was time for some cutting edge comedy about something everyone hates, Heath and Safety, right kids!?Unfortunately what we get are endless cheap knob gags, achingly slow predictable punchlines, patronising ethnic caricatures presented with a Brent-esque misguided attempt to be politically correct and finally a Mayor who repeats every line backwards. There are some fine actors in this show and it's painful to see the likes of Robert Daws and David Haig slogging through such garbage in a vain effort to bring Elton's script to comic life. 'Health and Safety is not a subject for levity' remarks Haig's character, this show certainly seems to prove the point