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" The problem with the whole &amp;#039;dramedy&amp;#039; genre is that too often the TV show ends up being neither dramatic enough nor funny enough. Like the police force in Danny Boyle&amp;#039;s new cop comedy Babylon, who refuse to make a decision on whether to hold fire or move in, it ends up paralysed and doing neither. Babylon should have been a brilliant comedy. Peep Show and Fresh Meat writers Sam Bain and Jesse Armstrong sprinkled their laughter fairy-dust across the 90-minutes and from the opening gambit of a semi-naked man, letting it all hang out, hollering, &amp;quot;Do not taser my knob end,&amp;quot; the show spliced together silliness and biting satire.  The main touchstones, as the show took swipes at everything from social media to PR communications spin, were Twenty Twelve and The Thick of It. Unfortunately for Babylon, while those shows were as sharp as needles, comedy perfection, its own prods and pokes at the police force felt a little big saggy at times. Its second 45 minutes were definitely stronger than the first, but there were too many wasted characters (Adam Deacon&amp;#039;s gobby copper Robbie just didn&amp;#039;t work) and flab around the edges (the lining up of a romance between James Nesbitt and Brit Marling&amp;#039;s characters) to truly fall head over heels for the show.  The plot hinged around the arrival of a super slick new PR guru from America, Liz Garvey (Marling), who wanted to revolutionise the London Met communications department with her &amp;quot;360 degree&amp;quot; approach to PR. Her intentions may have been honourable, but she soon finds herself up against it thanks to scheming colleagues and a dramatic first day in the office. A shooting spree around London challenges her principles to always release information honestly and clearly as she is posed with the prospect of potentially live tweeting a man-hunt. When it was firing arrows at bureaucracy and spin, the show was frequently on the money.  Jonny Sweet&amp;#039;s hapless superintendent got a healthy helping of brilliant lines (&amp;quot;Two shootings have been near Holland &amp;amp; Barratt... Oh no, it&amp;#039;s not going to be Holland &amp;amp; Barrett-related, is it?&amp;quot; &amp;quot;Four [shootings] is so much better than five. Five sounds like half of ten.&amp;quot;) and Bain and Armstrong know how to get the best out of Paterson Joseph, who was perfectly cast as the super smug deputy commissioner. Where it all got a bit fuzzy came when it departed from frantic farce into something more ambitious and dramatic. However, any show that includes the line, &amp;quot;You can&amp;#039;t hold back time, you&amp;#039;re not Michael J Fox or f**king L&amp;#039;Or\u00E9al,&amp;quot; deserves a second chance. A six-part series has already been green-lit and if it&amp;#039;s given plenty of spit and polish, there&amp;#039;s definitely potential for Babylon to evolve into a stronger, fitter, comedy beast.  Did you enjoy Babylon? Share your reviews and verdicts below. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/review/a550006/babylon-review-all-star-police-pr-comedy-deserves-full-series/>