Awkwardness and confusion abound as Caroline (Sarah Lancashire) and Kate's romantic country weekend doesn't pan out quite as intended, John's designs on Gillian turn into a busy night down on the farm and Alan and Celia fret over skeletons in the closet. The plot of this engaging saga doesn't so much advance as entertainingly whirl round in circles - with a spot of teen bondage threatening to send Celia (Anne Reid) over the edge.

By the end of the episode you'll probably be so overwhelmed by some big poignant moments involving Derek Jacobi that you'll have to be helped up the stairs to bed. Make sure there's someone to plump your pillows and take care of you, you're going to need it, as Alan (Jacobi) comes to terms with loss. Jacobi is so heartbreakingly good it's hard not to stand back, nod sagely and say to yourself, yep, that's acting, proper acting, all while you're having a good old cry.

Absence is very much a theme as Caroline (Sarah Lancashire) embarks on her weekend with girlfriend Kate (Nina Sosanya), a mini-break that proves unexpectedly lonely when Caroline has a failure of nerve. They meet the old friend who Kate wants to sire her child, and he's a self-centred, garrulous bore.

Sarah Lancashire shines in an uneven instalment

In my recent reviews of Last Tango in Halifax, I've made much of the changing tone of a series which I believe has become a lot darker in its second run. But, in the last ten minutes of tonight's episode, I got the sense that the storm clouds were lifting.

Are events in Last Tango in Halifax too bad to be true?

I have no doubt that families can behave that badly, but can they behave so efficiently badly? There's a danger that this may undermine the portrayal of Alan and Celia's relationship itself.

Jasmine, Poppy, Grace, Rose? The birth of Gillian's granddaughter is all the push Kate needs to fantasise about names for the hypothetical baby she dreams of having with Caroline. New parents Ellie and Raff are way out of their depth and behaving like spoilt brats. And with the stresses and strains rippling out through the family, emotional fractures open up to reveal hurtful truths and lies buried beneath the surface in Celia and Alan's extended family.

Too many people give too much away in Sally Wainwright's masterly drama, as Last Tango in Halifax takes some very dark turns. Emotional scabs that have never healed are ripped away by unwitting hands and the families at the heart of the drama pulse with the pain of open wounds. Celia (Anne Reid) inadvertently, though very thoughtlessly (and typically, as Reid told RT recently, because Celia is not a very nice woman), throws light on a bleak corner in the grim farm on the hill that illuminates a past sadness.

Soon relationships start to sunder under the pressure of exposed secrets and long-buried lies. Even that absolutely gorgeous house in Harrogate (oh, that kitchen! Those gardens!) is quietly starting to foment when it appears that lovers Caroline and Kate (Sarah Lancashire and Nina Sosanya) might want very different things, and a moment of tenderness sparks a crisis.

Last Tango in Halifax, series 2, episode 3, review

Melodrama is threatening to undermine the carefully built characters in Last Tango in Halifax, says Neil Midgley.

Learning of Alan and Celia's plans for clandestine nuptials, headstrong offspring Gillian hits the Yorkshire roads to make her feelings known before the knot is tied. That's not the only shocking news in store for Gillian, with son Raff revealing that girlfriend Ellie is just weeks away from giving birth. Alan offers financial help to see Raff complete his studies, but with Caroline also needing a financial leg-up from Celia to wrest her home from duplicitous husband John, resources are stretched tighter than an overworked whippet's hamstring.

This is why housework is a mugs' game. If Gillian hadn't been hoovering she'd never have found the appointment card for her dad's secret wedding to Celia. And she wouldn't now be speeding to the register office demanding to know why she wasn't invited.

Even though she doesn't know the real reason for Alan and Celia's haste in tying the knot, Gillian is forced to admit later that she may have over-reacted.

For Celia's daughter Caroline (Sarah Lancashire) her best laid plans are also threatened when her girlfriend Kate throws a massive spanner into the works.

While you're sympathetic to Caroline and Kate's feelings, I can't help thinking that they shouldn't be having all these intense heart to hearts in the middle of school assembly.

Celia and Alan head to the register office for their quickie wedding - all they want is to be married with as little fuss as possible and doing it in secret might be fun, romantic even. But the rose-tinted spectacles get a rude jolt by the mercenary nature of the witnesses they drag off the street. And they've horribly underestimated the hurt it would cause to their offspring, particularly Gillian, still smarting from her dad's comment about her being an ongoing disappointment...