Piglets is a British comedy series set in a police training college. The first series was broadcast on

ITV1 ITV1 (formerly known as ITV) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the British media company ITV plc. It provides the ITV (TV network), Channel 3 ...

and streamed on ITVX on 20 July 2024. Later that year, it was renewed for a second series.

Synopsis

Six new police recruits attend a fictional police training college.

Cast

Mark Heap Mark Heap (born 13 May 1957) is a British actor and comedian. Television credits include '' Ghost Train'' (1991), '' Smith & Jones'' (1997–1998), '' Brass Eye'' (1997–2001), '' Kiss Me Kate'' (1998), '' The Zig and Zag Show'' (1998), '' Ho ...

as Superintendent Bob Weekes *

Sarah Parish Sarah Parish (born 7 June 1968) is an English actress. She is known for her work on television series including '' The Pillars of the Earth'', '' Peak Practice'', '' Hearts and Bones'', ''Cutting It'', ''Doctor Who'', '' Mistresses'', ''Merlin'' ...

as Superintendent Julie Spry * Rebecca Humphries as Melanie *

Ukweli Roach Ukweli Roach (born September 1986) is an English actor, dancer, and choreographer, best known for playing the role of Jay in '' StreetDance 3D'' (2010), FBI psychiatrist Robert Borden, on the American television series '' Blindspot'' (2015–2020 ...

as Mike *

Ricky Champ Ricky Champ (born 1 July 1980) is an English actor. He is known for his roles as Paul Parker in the BBC Three sitcom '' Him & Her'', and Stuart Highway in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders''. Champ has also appeared in '' Crims'', ''Plebs'', and ...

as Daz * Callie Cooke as Steph * Sam Pote as Leggo * Sukh Kaur Ojla as Geeta * Halema Hussain as Afia * Abdul Sessay as Dev * Jamie Bisping as Paul

Production

From Monicker Pictures, the series is written by Victoria Pile, Robert Harley, James Henry, Oriane Messina, and Fay Rusling who all previously collaborated on the ''Channel 4'' comedy series '' Green Wing''. ''Piglets'' is directed by Sam Leifer and Victoria Pile and produced by Victoria Pile, Caroline Leddy, Robert Harley and Sam Leifer. The writers were also joined by ITV's Comedy Writers Initiative candidate Omar Khan and new writers Abiola Ogunbiyi, Nusrath Tapadar, Farhan Solo and Alex Bertulis-Fernandes. The cast includes

and Rebecca Humphries, whilst the new recruits are played by Callie Cooke, Sam Pote, Sukh Kaur Ojla, Halema Hussain, Abdul Sessay, and Jamie Bisping. Filming took place in London from January to February 2024. A second series was confirmed to be in production in November 2024 with filming scheduled for early 2025.

Release

The series was made available on ITVX on 20 July 2024 and premiered on ITV1 on the same day.

Reception

The Police Federation of England and Wales called the series "highly offensive" before its release, with particular condemnation being levelled at its title for referring to the derogatory slang word "

pig The pig (''Sus domesticus''), also called swine (: swine) or hog, is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is named the domestic pig when distinguishing it from other members of the genus '' Sus''. Some authorities cons ...

" used for police forces both in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. The Federation's demands for a change of title went unheeded, with ITV saying that the title was "a comedic and endearing play on words to emphasise the innocence and youth of he training college'syoung trainees".

Lucy Mangan Lucy Mangan (born 1974) is a British journalist and author. She is a columnist, features writer and TV critic for ''The Guardian'' and an opinion writer for '' i'' news. Early life and education Mangan was born in 1974 and grew up in Catford, ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' gave the series three stars out of five but concluded that after "the first couple of episodes you are longing for ''Piglets'' to stop pulling its punches and embrace the absurdity, or to cut its losses and settle into ordinary sitcom territory. As it is, it falls between two stools and lands with a bit of an uncomedic splat." Writing in the ''

Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free newspaper, free of charge in London, Engl ...

'', Vicky Jessop gave the series one star out of five, writing that its jokes "aren't funny, and it's honestly a bit insulting that the script thinks the viewers will think they are. Primary school-level toilet humour abounds, as do the bad puns ..both depressingly predictable and also just plain depressing." Nick Hilton's review in ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' rated the series as worth only two stars out of five, writing that it "looks like a rush job. The characters are underdeveloped, their relationships undercooked. The comedy is puerile and intermittent; too many of the jokes are missing a proper punchline." Reviewing the series in ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', Anita Singh gave it two stars out of five, calling it a "so-so comedy" and saying that it "has its amusing moments ..but overall it is pretty weak stuff. Too often it mistakes crudeness for humour." In the ''i'', Rachael Sigee gave the series two stars out of five, calling it "dire" and "completely unremarkable" with a script "which strived for absurdity but never came close to going far enough", deeming it inferior to the writing team's earlier ''Green Wing'', and saying that the controversy over its title was more interesting. In a more positive review, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

Ben Dowell gave the series four stars out of five, saying that comedy fans would "probably" see the series' similarity to ''Green Wing'' as "a good thing" and that it was mostly "clever, rude, decidedly weird and sharply funny", though he did note that some jokes felt "a little forced, and you can see some of the punchlines coming, if not a mile off, certainly a few feet away."

References

External links

* * {{British Comedy Guide, tv, piglets 2024 British television series debuts 2020s British sitcoms British English-language television shows Television shows filmed in England British police comedy television series ITV sitcoms