Dave has been on a roll lately with its original comedies. Alan Davies’ As Yet Untitled and Ross Noble’s Freewheeling have both become appointment-to-view television. I wish I could say the same for Undercover, their new sitcom, which, judging by the first episode, is more appointment-to-change-channels.

Daniel Rigby plays Chris, a police officer who has to infiltrate a vicious gang of Armenian mobsters. Of course Chris, despite having a Greek uncle, is completely the wrong man for the job. A softy thrown in at the deep end.

It’s a simple set-up, but if episode one is any guide it doesn’t really work. The action shuttles between scenes with the hard men and Chris being debriefed by fellow cop Zoe (Sarah Alexander) and comic momentum never builds.

There is no faulting the cast which is pretty top-notch. As well as Rigby and Alexander, the first instalment also features a number of familiar comedy faces including Jim Howick as an excessively sweaty suspect. 

Writers Andy Milligan and Sacha Alexander certainly cram a lot in and the pace is very fast for a comedy. In fact it might be the pace that makes this so off-putting as we are used to our sitcoms being less like Goodfellas and more like Dad’s Army.  

The narrative feels a little messy too. Maybe the team has been overambitious in trying to do something different. There’s a subplot about a racist character deserving to be bumped off, but the concept in general succumbs to a few racial stereotypes of its own, portraying the Armenians as mindless villains who lose their rag when they think someone has touched their bumhole.

Undercover was produced by Baby Cow, who know a thing or three about comedy. This is an ambitious shot at putting a new spin on the sitcom format, but a misfire. The writers might want to go undercover for a while.

Undercover, Dave, 9pm, Tuesdays.