When it comes to portraying prison life on British TV, the best shows have either plumped for the gently comedic (Porridge, Crims) or the brutal and disturbing (Time, Buried). When a new series set in jail comes along now, it might be wise for it to choose sides: Channel 4's Screw has opted to sit firmly on the bench and emerged with splinters all over itself.

We follow Rose (Jamie-Lee O'Donnell who will be back on the same channel this year with Derry Girls' last hurrah) as she clocks in for her first day at a men's prison. The fictional Long Marsh has all the usual problems you'd imagine (cliques, mavericks, vague overcrowding, violent undercurrents) but keeps most of its business within the officers' quarters as they shoot the breeze and talk ill of each other as well as the prisoners.

Among the staff, there's a token reactionary bigot (Stephen Wight's Gary) who clearly has issues with having a woman as his boss (Nina Sosanya's humourless but largely effective Leigh) and can be less than bothered with making a new female recruit welcome. Meanwhile, Laura Checkley's Jackie plays a quasi-Earth Mother role to all and sundry while a dour Scot named Don (Ron Donachie) just mumbles away in the background counting down the days to his retirement and Faraz Ayub's likeable Ali tries to be pals with absolutely everyone.

By the series' mid-point, a choice has been made that all of the main guards have a secret to keep with the only question being who will be exposed first. This should lead to edge-of-the-sofa tension but whenever a character has another layer of trouble added to their woes, a moment of levity will arrive which presumably aims to puncture that anxiety but merely serves to distract the audience from what's important.

We know there's comedy because most of the lines that are deemed to be funny receive a smirk from another character and we suppose there must be drama because the soundtrack pummels us with foreboding to mark most of Screw's scene changes. But whether you can feel any of it is another matter.

Screw airs on Channel 4, Thursdays, 9pm; all episodes available now on All 4.