Hapless

Hapless is a British comedy television series written directed and produced by Gary Sinyor. It premiered on Amazon Prime Video on 28 February 2020 in the UK and Ireland, followed by release in the United States on 30 March 2020. It then launched on Netflix in the UK and Ireland on 1 November 2021. On 15 May 2023 the second season (8 episodes) was released on Amazon Prime Video to 5-star reviews in The Daily Mail and The Daily Star. The Sun called the second season "painfully funny". The Daily Express, The Observer and The Times compared it to Curb Your Enthusiasm. In season two, guest stars include Ronni Ancona, Sally Phillips, Linda Robson, Matt Tebbutt, and Stephen Wight.

Hapless
Written by	Gary Sinyor
Directed by	Gary Sinyor
Starring	Tim Downie Josh Howie Lucy Montgomery
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	2
No. of episodes	14
Production
Producers	Gary Sinyor Tim Downie
Editor	Des Latouche
Running time	30 minutes
Original release
Network	Amazon Prime Video
Release	28 February 2020 (2020-02-28)

Premise

Hapless follows the life of Paul Green who is an investigative journalist for The Jewish Enquirer, described as "the 4th biggest Jewish publication in the UK".^[1][2]

Cast

Source:^[3]

• Tim Downie as Paul Green
• Josh Howie as Simon
• Lucy Montgomery as Naomi
• Jeany Spark (series 2) as Naomi

Reception

The show has been likened to Curb Your Enthusiasm and Alan Partridge.^[4] Front Row called the show "Seinfeld in North London".^[5] The Times of Israel compared the character of Paul Green to Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm and John Cleese's Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers.^[6][7]

The show was scheduled to appear in British Airways' in-flight entertainment offerings starting in December 2023. Due to the 2023 Israel–Hamas War, it was pulled from the schedule, with an explanation of maintaining neutrality. After an uproar about antisemitism, the airline apologized for the misstep, and rescheduled it for January 2024.^[8]

Both series were released by Peacock in the USA in April 2024. The New York Post said it was "outrageous, unflinching and funny — but never predictable."

References

1. Guide, British Comedy. "Hapless - My5 Sitcom". British Comedy Guide.
2. "At last! A sitcom about a Jewish newspaper!". jewishweek.timesofisrael.com. 24 March 2020.
3. "The Jewish Enquirer (TV Series 2020– ) - IMDb". 28 February 2020 – via www.imdb.com.
4. Bennett, Steve. "Chronicles of a 40-something Jewish singleton : News 2020 : Chortle : The UK Comedy Guide". www.chortle.co.uk.
5. "New Comedy Series". Pressparty.
6. Hoffman, Jordan. "Find the Jangle as Jewish media goes mainstream in very funny Amazon series". www.timesofisrael.com.
7. Scullard, Vickie (1 April 2020). "A Manc director has made the UK's Curb Your Enthusiasm". Manchester Evening News.
8. Ferrer, Richard (18 December 2023). "British Airways 'sorry' it chose not to show Jewish sitcom in aircraft due to the war". www.jewishnews.co.uk. Retrieved 19 December 2023.