Lock, Stock....(2000)

One major success in the British cinemas at the end of the 90's was 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' a home grown gangster movie with the right mix of comedy, action and a wickedly inventive script and plot. It made names of director Guy Ritchie and one of it's stars, Jason Statham has taken Hollywood by storm as a martial arts fighting actor. It's sequel 'Snatch' was just as successful. Chances are, if you're ages between 20 and 40 right now, you've seen them both and if you're male, you would have either or both in your top 50 films.

So what of the TV spin-off that ran for 6 episodes (plus a pilot) in 2000? Was it any good? Was it worth making? I'm a bit undecided here.

Basic idea. 4 mates own and run a pub called The Lock. They boost their cash flow with a bit of underhand wheelin' and dealin', duckin' and divin' (all to be said in a crap east-end accent). This naturally gets them on the wrong side of a few gangsters that they end up having to do favours for. By the end of each episodes, someone is dead, the 4 mates have somehow managed to stay alive and they no longer owe the favour.....just like the original film.

..and here is problem one. It feels like they take the original film plot, change a few characters, incidentals and locations, shorten the story to one hour and then call it a new episode. If you strip away the plots of the TV episodes you end up with the same basic story-board everytime. What that leads to is you will have a favourite episode out of the 6, and feel the rest are just bad carbon copies.

Then you have the cast. Not one single actor or even character from either of the Guy Ritchie films makes an appearance. Doesn't that say a lot? How Scott Maslen (currently in Eastenders) ever gets through casting auditions I'll never know - he couldn't act his way out of a soggy paper bag.

It has a bit of violence, although most is implied. There is blood, swearing and east-end gangster talk, making it feel more cinematic rather than TV fodder, but it's hard to make a case to support it, based on the fact it falls SO far short of the film it is based on.

Want a rating? OK, on the whole it gets a thumbs down I'm afraid, but I did say you will end up having a favourite episode. Mine is the finale, 'Lock,Stock and a Good Slopping Out' set in prison. That one episode gets a thumbs up.

If you are a fan of the films, then you MIGHT find something to enjoy here, but I doubt it. You'll just end up ejecting the disc and slipping the original movie in instead. If you weren't a fan of the original, then there is nothing to recommend here at all.

p.s. Look out for Martin Freeman (now Dr Watson in the new Sherlock and about to play Bilbo Baggins in the new Hobbit movies). Here he plays a Dutch 'importer' in a couple of episodes with the dodgiest accent ever! (yes, even worse than Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins)