Police Cops: The Original

★★★★★
VenueAssembly George SquareStageGordon Aikman
Date10 August 2026

Police Cops: The OriginalPolice Cops is a semi-improvised story of revenge: a murdered brother’s death sends another brother into the police in pursuit of retribution, amid police corruption, 80s music and a lot of very silly humour. The whole thing is played as an exaggerated cop-movie parody, with broad physical comedy and a deliberately chaotic style.

There is not much there for me personally. The humour is deliberately broad and the whole thing leans into its exaggerated, semi-improvised style, but I found very little underneath it that really held my attention. The rapid pace and constant silliness are clearly the point, but after a while I found the show rather one-note.

That said, the audience clearly loved it, and that counts for something. This is plainly a show that knows how to find its crowd, and the performers have clearly developed a style that works very well for that crowd.

It just was not particularly my crowd. A big, silly comedy that is clearly well loved, but did not give me much beyond the silliness.

Police Cops: The Original production photograph

Police Cops: The Original by Police Cops. Credit Alex Brenner.

About the Show

Theatre CompanyPolice Cops
PerformersZachary Hunt, Nathan Parkinson, Tom Roe
ScheduleRan in August 2026 as part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Ran from 5–30 August, except 19 August as part of Fringe 26.

Review by James Fox