The Strange Calls

The first thing that hits you upon watching the pilot is how strong their accents are. You know instantly where this is set and the tone of the show.

To label it as a comedy would be inaccurate, but thats the closest genre it fits in. There is no laughter track, and the music is subdue. You can tell they are trying to be funny with the situations and plot, but then the ruin it with ridiculous character actions that a police officer, or even a fellow human being would not do.

It feels very much like a Tuesday afternoon cable TV show, shot on a tight budget with a limited cast and crew. The beach surroundings are given limited screen time, as shooting at night they found was cheaper and had less problems. Thats fine, I suppose. But makes the show dark and the world quiet. Its hard to get absorbed into a world that you barely see or hear.

But our main character is barely interesting enough to hold your attention, being depressed for most of his scenes. His night guard / partner has his moments though and together they make the show watchable. But the way they portray the police department is embarrassing at times and how they disrespect their fellow officer is not funny.

I will say this show deserves a chance. Watch the pilot and decide for yourself whether its your cup of tea or not. I have to give the show a rating, but honestly this is one of those shows thats like marmite. Some people will love it, while others simply wont "get" it. But it ticks a lot of the right boxes and you can see the people making this have ambition to at least try and make it work.

My Aussie buddies recommended this new Aussie show to me. Haven meets Hot Fuzz as a young constable arrives in town bootless and tasting chicken blood that tastes like BBQ sauce. I know! Crazy enough to be an American show, right? He then proceeds to analyze the late night happenings from a trailer with an old man side kick, that is into DnDragons as a detective. The insanity makes sense, as a new show this gains ground as a 7.5 already. Good reviews too, pax, Murf

I read one of the previous reviews and could not disagree more! I loved the lead character, the down-on-his luck, Toby Banks. He is sent to Coolum by his dad, a high-up in the police dept. Toby is disappointed to realize that not only has he been sent to a small town in rural Australia, but no one bothered to pick him up at the bus station and he has been relegated to live in a caravan where a strange old man intrusively inserts himself into his life.

He starts getting strange calls during his night shifts and the old man, Gregor, insists that the strange occurrences need to be taken seriously and becomes his sidekick. They end up facing all sorts of strange and wacky and yet touching goings-on in Coolum. If you like Bryan Fuller comedies (Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies) I think you'd like this show. I wish there was more than one season!

I love this type of humor. Outside the USA like the U.K. ,Australia and NZ they seem to be able to catch this humor on screen very well. Once in a while Hollywood USA is able to capture a similar feel like in the tv show Battlecreek. But then they canceled the show.... I wish this was a tv series instead of a mini series so it went longer than 6 episodes. Oh well, I enjoyed it. I only gave it 8 stars because of the occasional vulgar language that's seems to be no big deal in other countries outside the USA, in a show that is otherwise family friendly. Well done.

I loved the series and can't imagine anyone who could watch without laughing! I am no fan of "Hot Fuzz" or that type of humor however the majority of the humor in this series is witty enough to actually be funny! The 'strange' is the best part! I think I can say that the show seamlessly weaves together spoofs of some epic classics in a manner that is unique, brilliant, hilarious and genuinely entertaining! Plus the characters are quite well developed and portrayed, especially Toby but also the "strange" characters and entire cast IMO! I agree the budget could have been increased yet I never found it lacking... the show would be ten stars if there were more episodes/seasons and a bit less of what I consider unsavory language/humor (though to be clear on that last thought it was still so much better than so much of the 'popular' shows out there... short stints and not nearly as much to endure, also more relevant to character and not just crammed in to gain ratings of the skin flick seekers, which is definitely refreshing) Overall this show is a rare little jewel, so sick of overdone nonsense and glad to find this! We all laughed and enjoyed it then disappointing to see it just ended! Looked it up here to see if new seasons were coming and find it doubtful. I am intrigued to see the "Strange Calls" movie (2015) but the main character, Toby Banks, is played by a different actor...so just won't be the same without the original lovable Toby!