Sharon Rooney shines in an incredibly moving episode

I could just copy and paste the phrase 'Sharon Rooney was fantastic in this episode' but it wouldn't do justice to such a brave performance.

Sharon Rooney continues to shine in a mediocre episode

I do feel I might be a little harsh on My Mad Fat Diary and that's primarily due to the fact that I judge it by a higher standard than I do other programmes.

My Mad Fat Diary review

Sharon Rooney gives a magnificent performance in another great episode.

The comedy drama My Mad Fat Diary brings us back to find Rae (Sharon Rooney) feeling better now that she has her new group of friends and is loved up with Finn (Nico Mirallegro). However, her therapist Kester (Ian Hart) believes that she is lying her to herself and that she isn't as well as she thinks she is. Indeed, as the episode draws on Rae starts to question her romance with Finn and in particular why someone like him would date someone like her. Events come to a head when the gang start college and Rae finally realises that her new relationships still can't prepare her for being around large groups of people. When the new series of My Mad Fat Diary began I did worry slightly that it dwelt too much on the comedic side of things and that it had lost the balance of light and shade that made it one of my favourite programmes of 2013. Even though some of the comic exchanges made me laugh out loud, particularly the line about Finn developing gills, the dark side seemed to have slipped away.

The turning point for me was the word association game that Kester and Rae played followed by Rae's beliefs about the way she and Finn were perceived as a couple. Writer Tom Bidwell really has a knack for presenting Rae's illness as a condition that she has to live with rather than something that hampers her on a scene by scene basis. Once again, the mid-1990s setting allows Bidwell to play around with previous references, namely one character getting excited after purchasing a TV with a built-in VCR. But at the heart of My Mad Fat Diary is the superb central performance from Sharon Rooney who deserves to at least be nominated for a TV Bafta. She proves herself to be both adept at delivering comic dialogue as she is in connecting with the audience on a more personal level. Even though I don't think I'm exactly the target market for My Mad Fat Diary I don't think it should just appeal to people in a similar situation to Rae's. Instead, I think anybody who has ever felt like an outcast will be able to identify with the programme in some way and ultimately the programme deals with these feeling in a funny, stylish and relatable way.

Sharon Rooney continues to shine as Rae goes to college

I do feel that My Mad Fat Diary is going from strength to strength and tonight's episode demonstrated everything that's great about the show.

After her disastrous first day at college, Rae's been skiving - and trying not to suffocate under an avalanche of self-doubt. Told by firmly-in-the-closet friend Archie that college means staying under the radar, she attempts to duck and dive out of the way of Finn - whom consensus has deemed the school fitty - lest anyone realise he's her boyfriend. Funny, but painfully so; Sharon Rooney's Rae is one of the most likable characters on TV, meaning the intensity of her unhappiness is sometimes hard to bear.

Reality is biting in a big way for Rae (Sharon Rooney) as the new college term sets all her insecurity alarm bells ringing and tricky questions keep nagging away at her hard-won confidence. Such as: why is Finn (Nico Mirallegro), the fittest boy on the planet, going out with her when he could take his pick from the popular girls? It's enough to send her back to her therapy group, where she meets a kindred spirit plagued by his own demons.

Radio Times review

Rae Earl (a brilliant Sharon Rooney) is desperate to fit in. It's the only thing that makes college vaguely bearable.

However she's dating Finn, the "fittest boy" in sixth form, and everyone has an opinion on it. Why? Because chubby, troubled girls like Rae aren't supposed to ride off into the sunset with the school heart-throb. Most painful of all is that Rae believes this spiteful chatter, allowing it to chip away at her already brittle self-esteem.

Despite cartoon scrawls and angsty voiceovers, this superbly acted drama never feels self-indulgent. Instead, its heartbreaking account of teenage growing pains will resonate with anyone who has ever navigated those precarious years.

Series two of E4's growing-pains drama is underway, with Sharon Rooney excellent in the role of troubled teenager Rae, struggling to deal with higher education, a boyfriend she's decided is out of her league, and a mother going through "the change". With Mad Fat, it's not so much catch up as pre-empt, with the series running an episode ahead on 4oD.

Sharon Rooney shines as the superb comedy drama returns

My Mad Fat Diary wouldn't be nearly as great as it was without the outstanding central performance from Sharon Rooney.