Sky 1's latest sitcom The Cafe, written by and starring Ralf Little and Michelle Terry, is set in a family run cafe on the Weston-super-Mare seafront. "This really is the arse end of nowhere" observes one visitor into his mobile phone, all within the hearing of the diners and staff (frequently one and the same thing).
That may be so, but the unprepossessing location is home to a truly fresh, funny, romantic and charming show, populated by believable, likeable characters. Terry plays Sarah, recently returned from London nursing a broken heart, bruised ego and ambitions as a writer of children's books. Little is Richard, care home assistant by day, putative rock star by night. Former childhood sweethearts, the pair have settled into a comfortable platonic friendship. As if.

Director Craig Cash imposes his trademark naturalism and attention to detail to the proceedings whilst terrific dialogue, always funny but never forced, pings around the walls of the cafe like a demented squash ball. I sat through the first two episodes sporting a delighted grin, disturbed only by the occasional guffaw. Comparisons with Gavin & Stacey are inevitable, but favourable. The Cafe might just prove a similar comedy classic.

Is it wrong to judge a show by its theme tune? The folky version of Somewhere Beyond The Sea which opens The Cafe is sung by Kathryn Williams in a voice so wistfully fairy-like she makes Janet Devlin off The X Factor sound like Joe Cocker.

The second impression you'll get of The Cafe is that it's a bit Early Doors On Sea because it's directed by Craig Cash and is set, as you could probably guess, in and around a pretty beach-front cafe in Weston-super-Mare called Cyril's.

It's written by and stars Ralf Little and Michelle Terry (who is actually from Weston) and it makes a nice change to see Somerset getting a bit of a look-in, instead of the North West.

Having said that, many of the eccentrics who frequent the cafe run by Carol (Ellie Haddington) could have just stepped off the bus from Doc Martin territory. One of them, Kieran, who works as a living statue, is actually a different colour every day (a bit like Gold Guy in the short-lived sitcom Angelo's). Michelle Terry plays Carol's daughter Sarah, who's reluctantly living back home after a stint in London and is trying to become a writer.

Little plays her ex-boyfriend Richard who works in a care-home.

But a potential new relationship arrives tonight in the shape of an old school friend who has just zoomed down from the capital in a Porsche.

John is played by Daniel Ings from Pete Versus Life, who now seems in danger of being type-cast as the handsomest man for miles around. Poor thing. Must be tough for him.

This is the kind of show for which the word "bittersweet" could have been invented. A social hub, wry chitchat among the regulars and the occasional ripple of pathos - it's all here in this new seaside-set sitcom written by and starring Ralf Little and Michelle Terry, and directed by Craig Cash.

Yet while The Café does, at times, capture the loneliness that people can experience when everything around them is all-too-familiar, it's not as subtle as the best of the genre, such as Cash's understated Early Doors. In fact, the programme it most resembles is the short-lived Angelo's, a 2007 comedy set in a greasy spoon that, oddly enough, also featured a living-statue among its patrons. As for whether The Café will disappear as quickly, there's a danger that viewers will find it all a little bit too inconsequential.

If you've yet to visit the Victorian seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare, now's your chance: it's home to the debut sitcom from Ralf Little and stage actress Michelle Terry, and yes, its precinct is a café in which Terry's struggling writer Sarah and her loveable mum, Carol, banter with dotty grandmas, schoolboy sweethearts and sexy visitors from the capital. Gentle but endearing.

Royle Family actors Ralf Little and Craig Cash collaborate for a gentle sitcom set in a seaside café in Weston-super-Mare. Cash directs a script by Little and actress Michelle Terry in a story revolving around three generations who run a struggling café: Gran (June Watson), divorcee Carol (Ellie Haddington) and daughter Sarah (Terry). The characters are nicely observed - in particular some of the café regulars such as Richard (Little), a care-home assistant and Sarah's ex, and Keiran (Kevin Trainor), who works as a "living statue" - but The Cafe's sedate pace does make it a bit dull.

A new sitcom from director and executive producer Craig Cash (The Royle Family) that is co-written by Ralf Little (The Royle Family and Two Pints...) and Michelle Terry (Reunited). It's a classic British sitcom set-up - take an institution (in this case a seaside cafe) and use it as a hub for characters to interact and to tease out class, inter-generational and social observations. The comedy and characters are gentle, if at times familiar, but there's a nice pace to it, as though pitched somewhere between Gavin And Stacey and Alan Bennett.

Michelle Terry introduction

When we started writing The Café, Ralf Little and I were mostly influenced by what we didn't want to write...

Yes, it's yet another brand new comedy from Sky! The Cafe's been written by Ralf Little - you know, him off The Royle Family and Two Pints of Lager. But what's it about? Well, the clue's kind of in the title - we meet all the different people coming to a cafe in Weston-Super-Mare. Sarah (Michelle Terry) wants to be a writer, Little's character Richard is her former childhood sweetheart, and John (Daniel Ings) is Richard's old love rival. Obviously, there are loads of other characters as well - it might be worth checking out this double bill to see if you want to stick around.

The Cafe: Hoping for a big splash

Co-writers Ralf Little and Michelle Terry talk about their new Sky1 offering, The Cafe, a comic take on life in a typical British seaside resort, in which they both play leading roles.

The Cafe interviews

The Cafe is a new comedy series on Sky1, written by and starring Ralf Little as Richard, and Michelle Terry as Sarah. The six-part series is directed by Craig Cash...