When Sky commissioned Rotters as part of their silent comedy season they thought they had cast two recent Edinburgh Comedy Award winners. In fact it is now three. John Kearns (2014 winner) and Phil Burgers aka Dr Brown (2012) are joined by last month’s winner Sam Simmons as members of a gang of hapless thieves who set out to rob an antiques auction house run by Frank Skinner - also an Edinburgh Comedy Award winner way back in 1991. 

So really this needs no recommendation from me. The plot is fiendishly simple, there is not really that much dialogue and the cast is made up of the cream of recent live comedy - it also stars Lolly Adefope, Pat Cahill and Daniel Simonsen.

At one point this was apparently called Silent Heist, which, in a way, is a more apt title. As this crazy gang of latterday loons attempt to pull off the theft they find everything up against them from technology to traffic wardens. There are a lot of little giggles and a few delicious big ones, particularly when Burgers/Brown and Simmons get together.

It’s probably appropriate that they are robbing antiques because some of the jokes do feel pretty ancient. But don’t worry about that, just sit back and laugh as some of the best contemporary clowns do what they do best.

Rotters, September 10, Sky Arts, 9pm.