Interview: Kathy Burke, comedian and actress

She'll never write her autobiography, but talented actress Kathy Burke plays her teenage self - minus the horrible bits - in a new TV series.

It's the 70s, so everything is a bit brown and Life on Mars. Busby-haired "Kaff", who is 14 and lippy, pogos around her bedroom to X-Ray Spex. This is the young Kathy Burke, as remembered by the actress for a new four-part series.

The sitcom follows the tomboyish teen (a superb Ami Metcalf) and best mate Mary as they amble around the streets of Islington. Co-starring Burke as Angry Nun and Jerry Sadowitz as Jerry the Jew, it's a total delight, with realistic rhythms of girl talk, and a smile of a soundtrack.

Having made its debut in Sky1's Little Crackers series of short films from 2010, Kathy Burke's slight but charming autobiographical musings return for a four-part series, with the adolescent Kath and best pal Mary as played by Ami Metcalf and Aimee-Ffion Edwards. It's virtually a two-hander, barring an exchange from her two bewimpled teachers and a puzzling cameo from Jerry Sadowitz, so a huge amount rests on the dialogue and performances. Burke's script invokes the comedy of recognition easily enough, as the awkward teens rail against the frequently baffling yet strangely enticing adult world of French toast, pubs and romance. But the genuine warmth of their relationship owes a huge amount to the young actors: Metcalf and Edwards are both wonderful, and reason enough alone to tune in.

I found Walking and Talking (Sky Atlantic), Kathy Burke's new series about two 14-year-old girls in 1970s London who walk and talk adolescent angst to be not compelling, though this might have been because I was all funned out by the rest of Sky Atlantic's comedy output then. I know TV channels like to have themed evenings and load their schedules accordingly, but it's not how I like to watch television. I don't get home from work on a Monday evening and think, "Tonight, Matthew, I shall just watch comedy", in much the same way I don't choose to watch only documentaries on a Tuesday, crime dramas on a Wednesday or panel quiz shows on a Thursday. I like variety. And even if I didn't, almost any comedy won't seem that funny after Alan Partridge or Veep.

Walking and Talking had its moments and I suspect it will be a show that creeps up on its audience rather than wows it from the off. Personally, though, I could have done with a few more laughs. Most of the ones I did get were from Burke's own cameo as the Angry Nun in the school playground. More of her and I could be persuaded.

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We fell in love with Kathy Burke when she appeared on our screens as Waynetta Slob and Linda in Gimme Gimme Gimme. Now she's written a TV drama based on her 70s childhood that will steal hearts.

Kathy Burke's comedy, inspired by her teenage years, follows the wonderful short film about meeting The Clash as a teenager that she made in 2010. If her four-part series about 70s music, adolescent friendships and dreams has the same kind of charm - and everything suggests it will - it should be a delight.