Romesh Ranganathan

In Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023), Nick and Fetcher are the rats supplying the kit for a break-in. Ranganathan voices Nick opposite Daniel Mays as Fetcher, and his familiar dryness fits a supporting player with a practical job to do. We enjoyed the break-in most, because the team has clear tasks and the film gets on with letting them do them. It is a useful setting for him, though the sequel remains more pleasant than sharp.

He established that delivery on panel shows before taking it into scripted comedy. In The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan (2018), the reluctance belongs to a traveller; in Rob & Romesh Vs... (2019), the partnership with Rob Beckett gives the dry delivery more to react to. The self-mockery is important, because uncomplicated contempt would soon become tiresome. Co-creating and co-writing Avoidance (2022), in which he plays the conflict-averse Jonathan, meant asking that familiar persona to sustain a sitcom.

The break-in in Dawn of the Nugget shows how much the surrounding craft can do for a restrained comic performance. Editor Stephen Perkins cuts between the teams inside and outside, keeping each problem under time pressure. Harry Gregson-Williams supplies muted brass and a ticking rhythm, so the scene has momentum without everyone needing to shout. Ranganathan's dry delivery sits comfortably in that busy ensemble, although Nick is too small a part to tell us much about what he might do with a more demanding role.

The limitation is that the grumbling can become predictable, or simply sound unkind when the self-mockery drops away. Avoidance has a promising central character, but its meandering storytelling suggests that reluctance alone will not keep a programme moving. There is pleasure in recognising Ranganathan's voice, and there is also a point at which we want the writing to make him do something less familiar. We would choose work that gives him someone funny to argue with.