It's just as well that the makers of this Pot Black meets The Sweeney decided to turn it into a comedy, especially as they had Mel Smith in the cast. For it's not likely to please snooker fans, with its implications that major tournaments can be fixed, or the law, with its view of the Blackpool police holding a world snooker finalist at the station so that he can play a hot-shot hustling PC. All in fun, of course, as it turns out, but with alarmingly serious undertones. Star Bob Geldof shows some skill at the table, although many of the shots are obviously faked and the black is on one occasion replaced in a most peculiar position on the table. Attempts to show the comic fate of the characters by captions at the end are as improbable as they are embarrassing. Alison Steadman is excellent, though, as Geldof's hooker girlfriend, while a good collection of East End thugs and punks effs and blinds with total conviction in the background, P H Moriarty is a stand-out in support as a 'damaged' minder called Mike the Throat.

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