Nick Frost plays a backyard version of Fox Mulder in Prime Video‘s new supernatural comedy, which was written by him and co-star Simon Pegg. It follows a familiar format and seems to run on autopilot, says critic Sarah Ward.
There’s no better reminder that Shaun of the Dead shuffled across cinema screens 16 years ago and Hot Fuzz has reached the age of 13 than watching Nick Frost and Simon Pegg’s latest project. An eight-episode horror-comedy made for Prime Video, Truth Seekers once again takes a popular, frequently deployed concept—this time paranormal sleuthing, rather than a zombie apocalypse or small-town cops investigating strange murders—then inserts the duo, nods to and namechecks its references, and tries to strike the right balance between genre fidelity and rustling up laughs.
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It’s Frost-Pegg 101, even with Frost on lead duties and Pegg in a supporting part (both co-wrote the series, alongside Sick Note’s James Serafinowicz and Nat Saunders). But rarely has this now-familiar combination of elements felt as creaky as it does here, the pair’s 2011 alien comedy Paul aside.
Nick Frost plays a backyard version of Fox Mulder
Frost plays Gus Roberts, an affable, hardworking but lonely IT technician for the broadband company, Smyle, that’s run by Pegg’s bewigged Dave. After hours, he hunts down the supernatural like a backyard version of Fox Mulder, all for his YouTube channel The Truth Seeker. When he’s reluctantly paired with a new partner, a 20-something by the name of Elton John (Samson Kayo), his professional tasks and his hobby start to merge. At every appointment that Dave sends Gus and Elton to, something much spookier than unreliable internet access seems to require their attention.
Channelling everything from Scooby Doo to Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place to Doctor Who (the latter of which earns an explicit callout), Truth Seekers’ writing team is clearly having fun with its monster-of-the-week format. The settings are well-worn, including a haunted mansion, a haunted hotel and a haunted asylum that is being gentrified into flats; however, the minor gags they inspire earn more than a few chuckles. Those jokes canvas all things eerie, and also skew broader. At the creepy inn, the sign for one suite notes “Room 237. It’s a twin.” At the stately abode that Gus and Elton visit first, its elderly resident rebukes herself for failing to offer them “a cup of tea, a roast or a bath.”
Small moments make the biggest impact
They’re clever gags but, along with ongoing jokes about prawn cocktail-flavoured chips and Elton’s name, they’re emblematic of Truth Seekers’ big struggle. From the Ghostbusters-style premise to the usual Prime Video series penchant for conspiracy theories and ragtag groups battling sinister overall plots (see also: Utopia, Hunters and The Boys), so much of the series seems to be on autopilot that it’s the small moments, sight gags and lines that make the strongest impact.
The casting of Malcolm McDowell as Richard, Gus’ father-in-law, epitomises this issue perfectly. For most of the show, he’s given little to do, other than act cantankerous and grapple with phone filters, stair lifts and wearing pants. Then a great gory moment arrives involving his eyeball, and just why the star of A Clockwork Orange is involved becomes instantly apparent.
Apart from McDowell, Pegg’s bit part and The Mighty Boosh’s Julian Barratt—who enters halfway through as a supernatural-obsessed self-help author with a villainous plan—Truth Seekers generally makes the most of its cast; however viewers will constantly find themselves wishing the material they’re saddled with was more consistent. Playing it straight, Frost demonstrates that Gus is as haunted as the places he investigates, thanks to the passing of his wife ten years earlier, while Kayo makes the most of his more overtly comic role.
In another dimension, the series might’ve focused on Elton instead, as well as the scene-stealing Susie Wokoma as his agoraphobic sister. They’re haunted in their own ways, as is the mysterious Astrid (Emma D’Arcy), and their narratives prove the most interesting.
The genius of Edgar Wright is missing
It’d be easy to say that Truth Seekers suffers from a lack of Edgar Wright, the filmmaker who not only directed Frost and Pegg in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, but also in 1999–2001 TV series Spaced and 2013’s The World’s End. But even though the show isn’t afraid to unsettle or get gruesome (its horror elements are played straight, although they’ll hardly have viewers covering their eyes) what Truth Seekers really suffers from is a lack of nerve.
It’s happy to be as affable as Gus, rather than take any narrative or comic risks. It’s content with being the kind of show viewers binge in one go, giggle at its occasional throwaway lines, then swiftly forget. But thanks to What We Do in the Shadows, Wellington Paranormal and Los Espookys, smart and hilarious TV horror/comedies are rarely far from screens at present. They make Truth Seekers feel like the timid spectre that’s hanging around an otherwise bustling genre.
