The first series of David Renwick's Love Soup spent six hour-long episodes following two people who were clearly perfect for each other - but who, teasingly enough, never met. Three years later, series two has now turned up with some bad news for romantics. Far from getting together with Alice (Tamsin Greig), Gil (Michael Landers) has disappeared from the scene completely.

So it is that the show has become largely a one-hander - and, with 30-minute episodes this time, more of a conventional sitcom. Renwick does his usual professional job with the script, and Greig is as good as ever at registering various shades of disappointment. Yet, Saturday's programme, while charming, never really took off.

For one thing, when the chips were down, the professionalism frequently turned into straight sitcom contrivance. For another, some of Renwick's targets felt rather old-hat - such as his satirical observation that the portions of food in nouvelle cuisine are very small.

Most importantly, though, he seems far too much in love with Alice himself. In the first series Gil's job as a TV scriptwriter meant that Renwick could always add a bit of edge by attacking modern television. Without that, and with Alice remaining so utterly lovely, the tone is often surprisingly soppy.

Observer Review

David Renwick gets the tricky balance of light and shade, comedy and drama, potential romance and its itchy underbelly absolutely right.