Critic Reviews

The show’s best energy and ability to subvert expectations of a show set in this time and place is evident right from the pilot. Even still, there’s a sense that this series’ best moments could still be ahead of it. ... What’s on offer right now from “Year of the Rabbit” is a chance to see some very gifted performers add a goofy curveball to the London of centuries past.

Year of the Rabbit is not quite as funny as Berry’s sitcom Toast of London. One the most divine comedies ever crafted is Toast, and no mistake, so there’s no great shame in that. Year of the Rabbit is best thought of as a sitcom concoction comprising one part Ripper Street, one part The Sweeney, plus a dash of Murder in Successville and a few crumbs of Toast of London.

All of it orbits around Berry, an actor whose luscious baritone and intricate wordplay can sometimes mask his talents as a rubber-faced physical marvel. His Rabbit is familiar in his blustery qualities, his blunt-force behaviors and explosions of pent-up emotions. He’s also, however, continually surprising.

The character of Rabbit is a little hard to invest in: junkyard-dog mean, cartoonishly dissolute, coarser than wholegrain mustard. ... It may simply be a question of Year of the Rabbit finding its feet, for relationships between the characters to develop beyond the mere exchange of insults, and for the plot, which extends across the series, to take hold. There is too much proved talent behind the enterprise to write it off at this stage.

Merrily grody send-up of Victorian crime cliches. [17 Feb - 1 Mar 2020, p.9]

Year Of The Rabbit has Berry hitting the right comedic notes, helped by a funny supporting cast and a setting that’s always ripe for comedy.