Hard Cell review: Catherine Tate’s prison mockumentary is the last place to be if you are looking for a good laugh

2/5

Story: This mockumentary series set inside a fictional prison follows its inmates and workers over a six-week period. Laura runs the prison and comes from an event background and firmly believes that arts, and creativity is the way to reform the inmates. She decides to have the inmates star in a production of West Side Story and have camera’s document it. 

Review: Where to start. If you are looking for a few genuine laughs, and an overall fun few hours to spend, stay as far away from Hard Cell and find something else. Unless you are into potty/poop jokes. Because that’s all Catherine Tate’s Hard Cell has to offer for its viewers. 

The six episode mockumentary is set in HMP Woldsley, a fictional female prison where Laura, played by Tate, is the governor. Coming from a creative, events background, she believes this is the way to help the inmates turn a new leaf and hires Cheryl Fergison to direct a musical with the inmates as its stars. 

Firstly, the story has a women’s prison as its main setting, but it is safe to say the show does not make the best use of this. There are no stories from inside the prison that stay with you or even move you, there is no prison comedy made use of and most importantly, there are no characters that are inspiring, entertaining or funny. 

It's safe to say Catherine Tate is in her element. So much so, that she ends up playing six characters in the show. What makes this gimmick work at least a bit, is the fact that she plays a few of them so convincingly, it's scary to think what the comedian can become given the circumstances. While Laura is nowhere near memorable, all her characters offer something different to the story. While her role as inmate Ange gives a little drama to the story towards the final few episodes of the show, Tate as the harsh Big Viv is exciting to see, to put it as nicely as possible. 

Coming to the comedy in the series, that's right, it simply does not exist. Most of the comedy the show tries to deliver comes from poor potty jokes and the “number two” joke. At one point, you are confused as to feel excited about Tate playing all these different characters, or to just stop and leave because each character is annoying one way or the other. Cringe, badly timed and out of order, most of the jokes from her characters are misses than hits, and one would even say criminal, pun intended. 

Also, the final few minutes of the final episode of the show is as lively and compelling as the entirety of the show, and this is never a good thing to say about a series. But sadly, this is the case with the comedian’s first hand at a sit-com, and it does not look good on her. But just to clarify, the blame is not on Tate, but the tasteless setting, bland characters, unsettled story and overall unfunny jokes that were handed to her. She does her part well and one could argue that she is the only thing that works for Hard Cell. But then again, it's all a matter of perspective and taste. If you are into cringe-worthy comedy and a few poop jokes, this could work for you, but I highly doubt it. The show is a hard sell for me, and thats just a bad joke from my side to give you a bit of context about the humour in the show. 

Verdict: Catherine Tate’s show is not funny and lacks any genuine laughs to keep anyone occupied and engaged. The setting is wasted by the writers, who fail to deliver anything real. Tate’s performances as all the different characters is the only good thing about Hard Cell.