Unfairly written off as an attempt to replicate the cult hysteria of The Fast Show, Big Train dared to push the boundaries of a genre (the comedy sketch show) which thought it had seen it all. No, not all of it worked, but the same was true of Python, Vic&Bob and all the other groundbreakers. When it did – the manager who distracted his mutinous staff with juggling displays, the Jekyll & Hyde-type scientist, the staring competitions, Mao Tse-Tung as Bryan Ferry, it was painfully, inexplicably funny. Stick with it.
