Hold the Front Page (2023– ) User Reviews

Bit of a let down

[darin-13158 · 5/10 · 23 June 2023]

I like both of the comedians and really wanted to like this show, but the format doesn't really work. Most episodes are them just going around, doing fun and interesting things, and saying it's because they're doing local journalism.

I wasn't expecting a hard-hitting documentary about the decline in local journalism hosted by Nish and Josh, but I thought there would be at least a bit of focus on actual journalism. Instead, it's them going to vineyards, fancy restaurants, football matches, cool experiences, and 'reporting' on them. Then maybe a minute at the end of the episode of them rushing to meet their deadlines and word count.

Feels like it could have a better balance of Nish and Josh doing fun stuff, and coverage of the journalism aspect. By the second episode it also starts to feel too scripted.

Oh Dear.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 4/10 · 11 January 2023]

I badly wanted to enjoy this, but, unfortunately it just doesn't work, and for the most part, it was excruciating viewing. I am a big fan of Nish Kumar and Josh Widdicombe has his moments, but come on, the pair spent their entire time being too clever, too smug, what happened here guys, you're way better than this.

I'm not sure it felt natural, it was all to stagey, too artificial, I was hoping for the pair doing something a little different organic and natural, everything seemed stage managed, another Sky show just happened to be in the area, really! Were they trying to make a spoof show, a sort of sitcom? I'd love to know what Armando Iannucci could have done if he'd had some involvement here. Maybe someone like Tom Allen could have made it interesting? Perhaps not, the format itself is the major flaw.

It was at least interesting to learn how a relatively small newspaper works, we're all familiar with the big companies, a little more time spent on how the smaller tabloids operate would have been good.

The content at Sky has been decent lately, I've enjoyed some of their original stuff, but this, ouch. I got through three episodes, that was enough.

4/10.

Misleading premise

[chris_rowe-881-168820 · 1/10 · 4 January 2023]

I saw the premise and it actually sounded engaging, looking for real headlines or stories looked an achievable and entertaining possibility so thought I'd check it out.

No surprise it's just like every other contrived bit of "comedy" these new age "comedians" are putting out, within the first quarter they'd met not just one celebrity which you could pass off as real but then the filming of another sky show, like viewers are so dense to not realise they'd be aware of each other filming. It then lost any credibility as anything other than a staged forced fake effort to produce a basic light entertainment fraudulent comedy on an idea which actually could've worked! It's a very new age issue, doing the bare minimum and overrating it.

Let's be clear, every show Josh does he uses "it's my nightmare" and says "he doesn't want to" why is he on tv? He's not funny! Has an irritating voice and a monotone styling that is genuinely awful. Nish can be funny but he feels like he tries way too hard, if it's not self deprecating or acknowledging race or romesh he feels a bit average.

It's a shame how sky holds such a huge part of tv money in the uk when what it offers is the same formulaic fake boring stuff with the same bang average faces! Yet will give them 5 series because it's cheap. Yet charges people loads when most of its interface is advertising content they don't even own, on Amazon, Netflix or Disney. This show is an easy watch but it is not real, it's corny, staged and too produced, instead of making an effort and making a show on this premise feel original s d fresh they took the untalented predictable and stale route.

I watched 4 out of 6 and just grew too bored to continue, seeing people act like they don't want to do things when they get paid ridiculous money is tedious, Josh especially needs to rethink his schtick, his comfort levels are very basic so him acting like talking to others is a "nightmare" really needs a dose of reality, maybe seeing the huge paycheque for doing next to nothing doesn't enlighten him to what the people being approached who work 10 times harder for 1000 times less are thinking.

Laughed far too much at emerald scenes

[lorrainemc-02650 · 9/10 · 7 January 2023]

I loved this , yes lots set up but honestly I laughed a whole lot . I didn't realise I was big fans of the pair but I AM .

It's not a lot about journalism or learning new skills but more about the scrapes they seem to get themselves in . Josh the non swimmer face planting the swimming pool had me laughing long after the show finished. I loved the people they met and the places they travelled to. I really do have sympathy for them trying to make the word count for their articles as I try to find different adjectives to write here to meet the required 600 characters !!

Anyway , move over Rob and Rom, their is a double act in town.

Don't hold the front page

[RogerRoger77 · 3/10 · 4 January 2023]

I'm neither a big fan nor a big hater of the two presenters, Nish Kumar and Josh Widdecombe - I've seen both in programmes I've liked, but I wouldn't generally seek them out, either.

Yet here, both comedians are at their weakest.

I get that this is supposed to be a comedy programme, but with neither of the pair seeming to have any ability as journalists, or much real interest in learning the skills necessary for the job, most of the episode I watched (the first) simply left me scratching my head as to what the point of any of it was.

The episode's run time was filled with the pair flailing around to find a story to make the front page of a local newspaper, but none they tried to find made for even remotely interesting viewing. To be honest, I don't even want to read the banal stories that are the bread and butter of local newspapers, never mind watch a pair of non-journalists try to dig them up. It wasn't entertaining and it wasn't funny.

I imagine this programme was commissioned to be something like that Romesh Ranganathan-Rob Beckett series that seems to be on all the time. Yet a positive of that one is that they tackle a different challenge each episode - and they are somewhat funnier, too, in the few I have seen - whereas this series is going to be flogging the same horse every week. Personally, though, I certainly won't be watching any more.

Redeemed by an excellent season 2

[JK_James · 9/10 · 17 May 2024]

Was a bit surprised to see such low ratings for this show, although admittedly Season 1 wasn't the barrel of laughs that it promised to be. However, Season 2 saves the day... the chemistry between the two leads has developed to a point where their bantering is now genuinely funny and some of the one-liners are laugh out loud. Josh being 'lubed up' while on the prowl for a big cat was my personal favourite! The show has much better pace and the direction has clearly acted on the feedback from S.1. I suspect it may not be for everyone, but if you like a witty and clever comedy then I'd recommend giving this a go.

A Very Poor Showing

[Matt-9000 · 2/10 · 22 January 2023]

Starts off with a promising premise and had me with it for the first five minutes. It's all downhill from there, as Kumar and Widdecombe try to pull off a poor mans "Extras" with Stephen Mangan. It just didn't work, and watching Widdecombe's poor acting was far more awkward and cringeworthy than entertaining. Mangan played his brief part, but Widdecombe is no Ricky Gervais.

Fifteen minutes in and Kumar is back to his trademark "white people" routine - now absurdly insinuating that only white people are interested in trains. I watched as far as Kumar chasing the Prime Ministers motorcade while screaming and swearing before I couldn't take any more. A programme with promise ruined by seeming self-sabotage. I really don't understand the concept of alienating half of ones audience by throwing in comments about races and political affiliations in a television show where this has zero bearing on anything. If said comments were genuinely creative, funny or well thought out, this might be a different kettle of fish. Waste of time.

Easy watching and a good giggle

[clairelwhite-09622 · 8/10 · 8 January 2023]

I like both comedians anyway so thought I'd give this a try. It was good fun so I binge watched them all. It actually gave a really good account of how hard it is to be a journalist in today's fast paced way of life and some of the scenes were laugh out loud funny.

The episode where they covered a football match was particularly funny and the newspaper bosses should get a medal for managing to keep a straight face when faced with the comically incompetent pair.

It's a little bit on the silly side but then so are most of the articles in the press these days, and highlights the diversity of people and activities out there!