Miranda fans delighted by Gary Barlow cameo

Miranda's latest episode was marked by more 'eeeeee'-ing and 'yaaaaaay'-ing than usual on Twitter, thanks to a guest appearance from Take That's Gary Barlow who was seen sharing a kiss with Miranda Hart.

The penultimate scamper of the series is a star-crossed-loving affair, with our heroine in the novel torn between two lovers. Who's the better proposition, proper lover Mike or long-time heart-skipping object of undying devotion Gary? It's what we call a dilemma. Stevie and Penny aren't much help: the short one is obsessing over Take That's Gary while the Mum one has a legendary TV chef in her sights.

In tonight's highly strung, celeb-sprinkled outing, Miranda realises she doesn't love homely Mike, and "Queen of Pushy" Penny soon finds a way to make her dinner party the talk of the tennis club.

The episode is both hysterical and maddening, its plot riven with sitcom complication, but the outcome will make you wish the finale had followed on immediately afterwards. A word of praise for Sarah Hadland as Miranda's sparky pal Stevie, who always keeps the laughs ticking over with a sulky strut here and a beautifully tortured metaphor there. And for Dominic Coleman as a total stranger who somehow becomes entangled in every plot twist.

Report from the Gary Barlow studio recording

As an avid tweeter I couldn't wait to tweet about it, however then came this from Miranda: "You know that reaction you had when Gary walked on? We want that for the fans, so please don't spoil it. Don't tweet about it. We don't want this getting out. Thank you very much."

The Great British Sitcom Drought continues. Everything that has been wrong with the form for decades is wrong with Miranda: laboured overacting, leadenly predictable jokes, production values that could be rivalled with a camera phone, and an overriding assumption that embarrassment is amusing in and of itself. Tonight's plot, such as it is, is something to do with Miranda's neuroses about openly declaring her affection to long-term love interest Gary.

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Miranda, Stevie and Tilly come over all cougar when a gorgeous doctor (Adam Rayner - hunky Aidan from Hunted) steps into Miranda's lair to tend to her mother. Penny (Patricia Hodge) is feeling a bit poorly, so she's crashed on her daughter's sofabed. As it takes up half the flat, there's not much room left for Miranda to do anything other than pander to her mother's every whim. It's what you might call a nightmare. No - it is a nightmare!

Any thoughts that the third series would expose a lack of ideas or run out of energy have been swiftly elbowed into a pile of cardboard boxes. Miranda Hart has been on fighting form, and re-creates the mother-and-daughter two-hander that worked so well when the pair attended a psychiatric assessment.

This time Miranda is gritting her teeth as she tends to a sick, pedantic Penny ("And when I say a fresh towel I don't mean Febrezed and flapped outside the window"). But it's not long before the boot is on the other foot.

We've missed Miranda's dad and camp Clive this series, but the remaining cast have kept the laughs flooding in.

Any thoughts that the third series would expose a lack of ideas or run out of energy have been swiftly elbowed into a pile of cardboard boxes. Miranda Hart has been on fighting form, and re-creates the mother-and-daughter two-hander that worked so well when the pair attended a psychiatric assessment.

This time Miranda is gritting her teeth as she tends to a sick, pedantic Penny ("And when I say a fresh towel I don't mean Febrezed and flapped outside the window"). But it's not long before the boot is on the other foot.

We've missed Miranda's dad and camp Clive this series, but the remaining cast have kept the laughs flooding in.