Dan

Dan's world is at near collapse: his girlfriend has left him; his two friends are as dysfunctional as he is; his teaching career consists of delivering a version of the same drama lesson every day; and his father spends most of his time working out how to pull pranks on his son.

His ineptitude would seem to know no bounds.

Jo

Jo is one of Dan's two best friends.

She has the loosest of grasps on reality and bounces from one job to the next. Her relationships follow much the same pattern.

Brian

It is hard to see why Dan and Brian are friends as they are nothing alike... but Dan counts Brian as one of his two best friends.

Brian is as straight-laced as they come. He works as a financial adviser and his idea of a good weekend away is a tour of the European Union Headquarters.

Brian is regularly dumbfounded by the complete idiocy of Dan and Jo.

Mum

Dan's mother, Polly, very much loves her son... to the extent she is still happy to wash his underwear for him.

Somehow she seems to have failed to spot that her husband keeps coming up with more and more elaborate ways to humiliate their son.

Nesta (Series 2-4)

Nesta is Dan's aunty. She administers her unique brand of tough love on Dan.

We first met Nesta in the 2014 Christmas special when Dan went to visit his aunt on her farm in order to tell her about the death of her brother (Dan's dad). She since seems to have moved in with Dan and his mum.

Emma

Emma is the headteacher at the school Dan works at... so is Dan's boss.

Despite witnessing Dan repeatedly failing to deliver a rounded curriculum, and on one occasion seeing him failing to turn up to school with any trousers on, somehow she hasn't yet fired him. Is there a spark between them?

Dad (Series 1)

Dan is tormented daily by his father, whose driving motivation in life seems to be to ensure his son is humiliated at every turn, and physically injured whenever possible.

In Series 2, Dad is dead and very much missed by the family.

Naomi (Series 1)

Naomi is Dan's girlfriends. Actually, sorry, correction - she was.

Having run out of patience with Dan's inability to navigate the simplest of life tasks, she has ended their relationship.

Even if Dan won't accept it, Naomi has moved out and is now attempting to go somewhere in life... without Dan.

Can Dan win her back?