Empty is a six-episode BBC Two

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

 sitcom

British sitcom

A British sitcom tends, as it does in most other countries, to be based on a family, workplace or other institution, where the same group of contrasting characters is brought together in each episode. Unlike American sitcoms, where twenty or more episodes in a season is the norm, British sitcoms...

 first broadcast on 28 February 2008. It stars Gregor Fisher

Gregor Fisher

Gregor Fisher is a Scottish comedian and actor.-Early life:Fisher was born in Glasgow and following the death of his parents was brought up in Edinburgh, Langholm and Neilston and attended Barrhead High School...

 and Billy Boyd as Jacky Allen and Tony MacBryan respectively, two men who work for a property maintenance company 'Greater Glasgow Building Services'.

Situation and plot

Each episode mostly revolves around the dialogue of the two main characters as they discuss their lives (and unseen wives) and the things they find in the houses they clear. Jacky and Tony are also given to re-enacting silent comedy

Silent comedy

Silent comedy refers to a style of acting, related to but distinct from mime, invented to bring comedy into the medium of film in the silent film era before a sound track on film was technologically practicable...

 and music hall

Music hall

Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...

 routines, and always take a polaroid

Instant film

Instant film is a type of photographic film first introduced by Polaroid that is designed to be used in an instant camera...

 photo of themselves which they date and hide in a crevice somewhere. The pair also like to guess what they will find behind each door before they open it. As befits their personalities, Jacky's guesses are usually amusing and fanciful, while Tony's are often gruesome, even macabre.

Although the main duo interact with various other characters over the course of the series, the only supporting character to appear in more than one episode is Barry, a plumber who dresses like Super Mario

Super Mario

Super Mario may refer to:*Mario , a video game series by Nintendo- Video games :*Mario, the star character of Nintendo's Mario series...

 and is nicknamed "Super Barrio" by Jacky and Tony (though he has never heard of the character and doesn't understand the joke). Barry is played by Tom Urie.

The series is written by Robert Florence

Robert Florence

Robert Florence is a Scottish presenter, comedian and writer from Glasgow, Scotland, best known for starring in the popular BBC comedy sketch show Burnistoun, and the video-game review shows Consolevania and Videogaiden. He was a core writer of Chewin' the Fat and with Iain Connell wrote the...

 and Iain Connell, who wrote the series Legit

Legit (TV series)

Legit was a Scottish sitcom produced by The Comedy Unit, written by Robert Florence and Iain Connell and broadcast on BBC One Scotland. The pilot episode aired on 16 September 2006 to much critical acclaim and positive reviews. The first series started on the September 7, 2007 with the pilot...

and several episodes of Chewin' the Fat

Chewin' the Fat

Chewin' the Fat is a Scottish comedy sketch show, starring Ford Kiernan, Greg Hemphill and Karen Dunbar. Comedians Paul Riley and Mark Cox also appeared regularly on the show.Chewin' the Fat first started as a radio series on BBC Radio Scotland...

, also produced by BBC Scotland

BBC Scotland

BBC Scotland is a constituent part of the British Broadcasting Corporation, the publicly-funded broadcaster of the United Kingdom. It is, in effect, the national broadcaster for Scotland, having a considerable amount of autonomy from the BBC's London headquarters, and is run by the BBC Trust, who...

.

Episode list

1. "Nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors" - Tony and Jacky clear a house in which they discover a room full of elegant hand-crafted models of sailing ships, and are shocked by the callous attitude of a woman to comes to "collect" one.
2. "Is is" - The duo clear a house in which they find a number of curious objects, including a dada
   Dada
   Dada or Dadaism is a cultural movement that began in Zurich, Switzerland, during World War I and peaked from 1916 to 1922. The movement primarily involved visual arts, literature—poetry, art manifestoes, art theory—theatre, and graphic design, and concentrated its anti-war politics through a...
   
   mural and a motorcycle in the bath, prompting a competition to provide the best explanation of what had been going on in there.
3. "Happiness" - Tony and Jacky do repairs at the home of an elderly woman and become concerned that her dementia may put her in danger, but cannot agree on whether to tell her son.
4. "Protection" - The pair are sent to clear a crime scene, but are surprised to find it has been taken over by squatters.
5. "Night Moves" - Tony and Jacky spend the night in the office, setting practical jokes on their new boss.
6. "Ghosties" - While carrying out repairs in an old theatre, Tony tries to persuade Jacky that they should leave the company and go into business together.