Lesley Manville

You couldn't really get much less dramatic than the essential smallness of Mum, in which, for the six-piece final series, the widowed Lesley Manville and her own batch (son, girlfriend, inept brother Derek, brother's dreadful snob girlfriend, love interest Michael, dead hubby's parents) have decamped to a mansion. Pauline, brother's dreadful snob GF, has paid for all via a divorce settlement to celebrate Derek's birthday in a "posh" rented mansion full of towels folded into swans.

Tender, foul, awkward, human, never less than hugely funny, this has been one of the delights in my job. To see the glee of an ensemble piece - as well as Manville, of course, and Peter Mullan as shy Michael - in this last incarnation. Creator Stefan Golaszewski has said Mum has probably run its course, and he's most likely right, but what an absence it will bring. The depth of talent was unveiled, and it was wholly right to condense this last series into one claustrophobic week; a week in which Pauline essentially admitted she was a bad person, and we remembered the very smallness of the nigglings that haunt our lives if they're allowed to.

The entire cast shone. Karl Johnson's grandpa Reg (his outrage at coming across a shampoo labelled "not tested on animals" was a particular joy); Sam Swainsbury as son Jason played a richly subtle balance of thick, kind and misguidedly worldly.

Mum works as drama just as much as comedy. The many moments when Jason and Michael are left alone in a room, a house, a garden, are utterly fraught: at every one of Michael's half-gambits at conversation, every silently insolent shrug from Jason, you will cringe and gently perspire at memories of your own awkwardnesses (taking slightly too long to wash a mug, or slightly too short a time to answer with a monosyllable).

Mum, Cathy, finally snaps, in her own, nice way. Rude to nobody, she simply saunters, champagne in its bucket and Michael's hand in hers, towards a long lovely lawn, her body language yelling a cheerful "fuck you all".

Mum, BBC Two, series 3 review

Welcome last hurrah for adult family sitcom.

TV review: Mum, BBC2

In the third and final series of Mum, beautifully written and directed by Stefan Golaszewski, Cathy and co are well and truly out of their suburban comfort zone.

Mum may be a saint, but the music's an unholy racket

Try as I might, I've never warmed to Mum. As with all saints, it's hard to have much sympathy for anyone who invites the world to walk over her.

Mum - magnificent TV that'll put sunshine in your heart

Guaranteed to make you cry four times every episode, the final series of the Lesley Manville sitcom miraculously turns tiny gestures into epic romance.

Mum review: Cathy & Michael's relationship like Brexit

We are still kept guessing about the status of Cathy's love life in the third and final series of BBC2's family sitcom Mum, which stars Lesley Manville as a bereaved widow embarking on a new relationship.

Mum, BBC2, review: the perfect storm

I have been felled by the smallest of moments in previous series - god knows the state I'll be in for the finale.

Mum - A love letter to a comedy

As with every series ending, I was quite trepidatious about the conclusion to Mum and how Golaszewski would handle the characters he clearly cares for dearly.

Mum, series 3 episode 1 review

Broad comedy mixed with gentle charm - we'll miss it when it's gone.

The stars and creators of Mum mull its last series

"I will miss the whole of being in this. It's very dear to my heart".