Fleabag season two review

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's exemplary artistry shines through in the latest series of her beautifully candid comedy Fleabag.

The Fleabag debate: is the sexy Priest actually sexy?

I fear I may be about to burst the bubble. Five episodes in and, ugh, is that a pair of rose-tinted glasses slipping down my face? "I can't have sex with you because I'll fall in love with you." "We're not having sex." "Kneel." "We're going to have sex aren't we?" Christ. Eyes up, glasses down. We need to talk about Fleabag's sexy priest.

How Fleabag's second series has surpassed its first

The first series of Fleabag was a sharply written comedy with an undercurrent of sadness, coming to a head in its final episode with an unexpected gut punch. This time around, Phoebe Waller-Bridge has managed to maintain the smart, acerbic humour of series 1 while injecting more emotional moments throughout - some of them so powerful they make you want to go back and rewatch episodes as soon as you've finished them.

What makes the BBC's cult comedy Fleabag so watchable

Fleabag divides opinion like few other television dramas. Can we even decide if it is a tragedy or a comedy? Like life itself, perhaps the BBC show is a double helping of both, with a dollop of proper sauce on top.

Fleabag is comedy as high, holy art

The latest episode of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's excoriating comedy was a devastating and intense display of grief.

Review: Fleabag, Series 2, Episode 3

This second series of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag definitely feels as if it has opted for a more conventional comic tone.

Review: Fleabag, series 2, episode 2

After last week's slam dunk of an opening episode the second instalment of the second series slips into more conventional comedy territory with Fleabag's main concern being the fact that she has the hots for a hot priest, played by Andrew Scott.

Why do I get the feeling that Phoebe Waller-Bridge likes trouble? The second series of Fleabag, again written by and starring her, arrived "371 days, 19 hours and 26 minutes later", in a flurry of sex (Fleabag flirting with new character, "cool, smoking priest", played by Andrew Scott), violence (a punch-up between Fleabag and her loathsome, lying brother-in-law, Martin, played by Brett Gelman), and miscarriage - suffered secretly in a restaurant toilet cubicle by Fleabag's sister, Claire (Sian Clifford).

In the end it was almost as much of a bloodbath as the other show Waller-Bridge writes, Killing Eve. Before it all kicked off, our favourite selfish, rude, inappropriate, fag-smoking malcontent (the Dorothy Parker of the Fomo generation?) had, relatively speaking, been behaving herself at the engagement meal of her inadequate father (Bill Paterson) and snaky godmother (Olivia Colman, on fine, forked-tongue form). The show's appeal lies in Waller-Bridge's gift for jumping between casual interaction ("Claire, you've been ages. Are you pissed off, or are you doing a poo?"), to fang-deep venom (Martin to Fleabag: "I'm so intrigued to see how you're going to make this whole evening about yourself"), to surreal pathos ("Get your hands off my miscarriage!"). While I felt the first series flagged slightly towards the end, this was a dark, stylish return - the telly staple of a tense family celebration, but with sudden twists and writing so sharp it could scratch your eyes out.

Fleabag series 2 review

Snort-out-loud dark comedy that pulls no punches.

Fleabag review

An old-fashioned setup given contemporary clothing.