talkmagic.co.uk

If you found Channel 4's Green Wing too knowingly quirky and surreal, steer clear of Campus. It is in every respect the heir to the earlier series but set in a university that is, as East Hampton Hospital was, staffed with fast-talking oddballs on the edge of desperation. If, though, you loved Green Wing as the freshest, strangest comedy in years, then it has been a long wait for this sequel, but it might be worth it. We're in Kirke University, a concrete jungle overseen by appalling vice chancellor Jonty de Wolfe. Andy Nyman's performance as de Wolfe is somewhere between David Brent and 30 Rock's Jack Donaghy, but way more extreme than either, a grasping, racist bully with disturbing hair and, possibly, magical powers. Sometimes, for no obvious reason, he wears a big green dress. There are many other surreal touches - swallowing cigarettes, wedgies, relentless references to vaginas - and, as with Green Wing, a promising central romance. It takes a while to get into the groove (don't expect to laugh out loud for half an hour or so) but, after that, the brilliant performances will sweep you along.

The Telegraph wrote:At first, you may take this university-set sitcom for a rip-off of The Office: the main character, the vice-chancellor (Andy Nyman), is a suited slob in a goatee who makes casual quips about "spastics". The first difference, though, is that David Brent wasn't offensive on purpose, whereas the vice chancellor is malicious, crude and racist to a frankly implausible degree. The second difference is the standard of the dialogue. "At school they called me 'the big s---'," says one female lecturer, "cos I was a big s---, and I do big s---s." Tonight the VC wants his staff to write best-selling books, because he thinks this will attract rich overseas students, or, in his word, "foreigns".