Dan Clark

Series two of writer/star Dan Clark's comedy project How Not To Live Your Life kicked off with half the cast from series one gone but the premise was the same. Last time, Don lusted after his housemate Abby, now he lusts after new housemate Samantha. And the 'gimmick' remains - at various points we're presented with several things Don shouldn't do in a situation, such as the opening scene of things not to do when eating alone in a restaurant. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't but it's the only thing that separates this show from the glut of other dismal sitcoms around right now.

The only actual amusement in last night's series opener came when the characters were served by a Michael Jackson impersonator at a 1980s-themed restaurant. It was a case of spot the joins as the dialogue was hastily dubbed over with lines such as 'but you're dead!' - a bit slapdash but it provided a chuckle even if the script didn't.

The problems with this show are that it isn't funny and the lead character is immensely unlikeable. It's all very well having an anti-hero as the lead but repeating unfunny lines in that annoying 'ironic' Hoxton-t*** intonation so beloved of rubbish sitcoms doesn't make the material any funnier, just much more irritating.

Poor old Auntie Beeb, she's for ever under fire. Still, credit where credit is due, HNTLYL is a decent comedy and they're giving it another series. It's the same as last series: the same dressing gown, the same Family Guy cutaways and the same awkward laughs. There is another lovely lady, the comedically named Laura Haddock, though, this time. Oh, and there's a cameo from Limahl, which will delight BBC3's target demographic.

Interview with Dan Clark

Not everyone has suffered since the economy hit the rocks - Dan Clark has thrived in How Not To Live Your Life...

Dan Clark: a likeable type

How Not to Live Your Life leapt from YouTube to the BBC. The Times ask if its star, Dan Clark, is the new Rik Mayall.

Dan Clark, who writes and stars in this, seems to have sprung from nowhere. The occasional bit-part role French And Saunders and The Mighty Boosh make up his entire CV. And yet, despite that and the fact it was on BBC3, his sitcom HNTLYL is extremely accomplished. He plays the ridiculous Dan, left a house by his Grandma, who invites the girl he fancied at school, Abby (the girl from Drop Dead Gorgeous) to be his lodger. It's a smart, quick-witted show full of cutaways, sight gags and rundowns of mistakes you shouldn't make. It also includes the sentence: "I don't believe in sheaths". Who says you need experience, eh?

How Not to Live Your Life DVD review

In parts, How Not to Live Your Life is quite amusing. It didn't have me laughing myself off my sofa, but there were times when I did titter.

I can see why people are watching and enjoying How Not To Live Your Life - it doesn't offer anything particularly new and groundbreaking, but there's some juvenile humour (hurrah!) and plenty of nice observations, and in Dan Clark BBC Three have a bit of a new poster boy. Don't even get me started on Sinead Moynihan.

Pity poor Sinead Moynihan. Okay, don't pity her too much, because she's drop dead gorgeous and clearly in demand as an actor. But it must have been galling to get the second lead in sitcom How Not to Live Your Life, only to discover that the full extent of your contribution would be to look pretty and provide a sensible foil to the show's writer/star Dan Clark. Would it have killed Clark to throw the show's only female character the occasional funny line to deliver?

This grump notwithstanding, I rather like How Not to Live Your Life. Clark stars as the self-centred, cheerfully odious Don, who inherits his grandmother's house, the debts that come with it and her live-in carer. By a twist of sitcom fate, his advert for a lodger is answered by his childhood sweetheart Abby (Moynihan), who unfortunately comes with boyfriend in tow.

Episode one was something of a slow starter, but the show hit its stride by episode two which saw child-hating Dan try and impress schoolteacher Abby by accompanying her and her class on a camping trip.

Clark's unorthodox delivery, combined with Dan's almost wilful unloveability, takes some getting used to, but this is consistently amusing, frequently hilarious and totally addictive.

Written by and starring Dan Clark as Don, this was a real hit and miss effort - with laugh out loud lines interspersed with behaviour by Don that left you wishing someone would give him a bloody good hammering. We'll probably give it a second chance.

Don Danbury drinks and cusses his way through the second episode of this buffoonery celebratus new sitcom. For those new to the drill, the show features a refreshingly unique format whereby scenes cut to a list of alternative life lessons, courtesy of Don's imagination. Waddling along with decent jokes in tow, Danbury offers entertainment and a character worthy of our hate-to-love affection. There's definitely room to grow, so let's see where he takes it next.