Mum, Series 3 finale, BBC Two review

Tears of laughter and sadness.

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.

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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.

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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.

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This episode is ultimately about Cathy and Michael.

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It has made us weep, laugh and scream. As Mum concludes, Lesley Manville and Peter Mullan explain why its slow-burn romance is so compelling.

Although completely different in terms of quality, Stefan Golaszewski's Mum shares similarities with Hold the Sunset as both feature women-of-a-certain age trying to balance relationships with their sons with the idea of new romances with men they've known for years. Now in its second year, Mum reunites us with Cathy (Lesley Manville) on her sixtieth birthday as her family prepare to take out for a carvery at a local pub. Golaszewski quickly reunites us with all of the series' main players most notably Cathy's dimwit son Jason (Sam Swainsbury) and his ditzy girlfriend Kelly (Lisa McGrillis) who surprise her with a collection of banners and balloons adorning the house which inform the neighbours of her age. What I love so much about Mum is the small conversations that Golaszewski is so brilliant at crafting including Pauline (Dorothy Atkinson), the partner of Cathy's brother Derek (Ross Boatman), asking her about what a carvery involves. Snobbish Pauline is a brilliant creation and her trying to figure out what the three types of potatoes served at Cathy's birthday dinner provides one of many hilarious moments. Also on hand to celebrate Cathy's 60th is Michael (Peter Mullan); one of her late husband Dave's best friends and someone who is clearly besotted with her. The last series of Mum built up to Michael and Cathy holding hands, and it appears that this series will focus on whether these long-time friends will begin a romantic relationship. However, it appears as if Michael is still reticent about whether he will reveal his true feelings for Cathy especially as Jason doesn't seem to be his biggest fan. The other big storyline throughout this series appears to be Jason and Kelly's search for a new flat and the fact that this will result in Cathy living alone. The brilliant thing about Mum is that it's set over a year meaning that Golaszewski can create realistic reasons why the main characters would be in Cathy's house all at once. It also allows the central stories to move along quite quickly with the audience having to fill in the gaps of what's happened to the characters since the last episode. Although not up there with some of the best episodes of series one, the series two opener of Mum still had some funny moments whilst also setting out the big stories that will populate the next five weeks. Manville continues to be brilliant in the lead role whilst Mullan's subtle performance as Michael is beautifully realised and Atkinson steals almost every scene she's in as the ghastly Pauline. Overall, Mum is a well-observed and brilliantly written series and I'm so glad that a third series has already been announced as I just love spending time with these characters.