The verdict

Are they any good?
Yes! The Moving Wallpaper half-hour is proper funny, and features a delightfully vile and over-the-top performance from Ben Miller as the monstrous producer. The support from the other members of the fictional production team is all solid and the celebs enjoy the chance to poke fun at themselves (on their own terms, of course) à la Extras. This isn't the comedy of the cringe, though, just a good caricature romp.

Echo Beach is rather hard going – there's one moment in Jason/Martine's big emotional reunion where you''re left wondered if they are hamming it up for comic effect, althought that probably isn't the case. The soap is meant to be taken as is, leavened with the little in-jokes carried over from Moving Wallpaper. But even on those terms, Echo Beach is still better than rivals such as Hollyoaks.

The real reward, though, is in watching both together – and the ambition of the project is to be admired. It has been suggested that it will be a bit too meeja-centric and in-jokey for everyone's taste, but we'll see. In the meantime, it's definitely worth watching.

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