Two Doors Down

BBC Two's Two Doors Down has it all. Wit, delight, long awkward silences, burps, bacon-farts. Writers Gregor Sharp and Simon Carlyle have encapsulated a satellite Scottish suburb with joy and finesse: it's crude but it's loving. Most characters are normal. Two are accidental monsters. Cathy (Doon Mackichan) and Christine (Elaine C Smith) dominate every social interaction with that sublime lack of tact that just makes you want to cheer and then put a drunken gun to your head and pull the trigger. Lovely to see Maurice Roëves back.

Sunday lunch. A time to relax, loosen your belt and dispel concerns about anything more weighty than achieving optimal gravy distribution. Sadly, that doesn't quite apply at the Bairds' home. Beth and Eric abandon all hope of a soothing Sabbath when a simmering tiff between Cathy and Colin burbles into outright hostility. Not only that, but Christine won't let the lack of an invite stop her from joining the lunch table for lamb and all the trimmings. Plus chips.

In the first in a new series of the woeful Scottish sitcom, Christine is bowled over when she receives an unexpectedly sizeable PPI payout, so Cathy persuades her that the occasion should be suitably marked with some kind of party. At short notice, Eric and Beth reluctantly throw a barbecue punctuated with some souvenirs from Cathy and Colin's recent cruise around the Med. Every bit as funny as Mrs Brown's Boys (make of that what you will).

Interview: Elaine C. Smith

Elaine C. Smith says sitcom Two Doors Down has saved her love of telly comedy.

Jonathan Watson flexes his muscles in new show

His to-do list included a host of must-do jobs he needs to tackle sooner rather than later, because for the next few weeks he'll be busy preparing for a show that's become essential viewing for millions of Scots each Hogmanay - Only An Excuse? But fans of the Scottish actor who has a reputation for being a man of many faces - and voices - don't have to wait until the end of the year to see him in action for he's back on our screens next week, starring in the wonderful comedy show, Two Doors Down.

Doon Mackichan interview

The comic hits out at the sexism that held back Smack The Pony, the rise of rape as entertainment - and the pleather trousers she spent 11 hours in for Two Doors Down.

The sitcom about Scottish suburbia continues. The plot (Eric moves a bed into the garage; Sophie won't name her baby's father) is undistinguished, but makes for some strong character comedy. Colin and Cathy are a strangely believable couple, with all the idiosyncratic loyalty that that implies. When Eric sees the funny side of Cath's therapy, Colin does not - though he's not serious for long. "Women are easily distracted," he explains to Eric. "Is that a dartboard?"

Characters from last year's festive Scottish comedy are reborn into a generally funny sitcom. The premises can be pretty thin - tonight's is that evergreen plot standby "man wanting peace and quiet is constantly interrupted" - and the characters often feel as if they have moved north from Gavin and Stacey. Still, there's some good caustic humour, not least when Eric reveals he's given up drinking. His neighbour Cathy is incredulous: "Not even a beer in the morning?"

Elaine C Smith steals the show in Two Doors Down

I've written before on these pages about my distaste for Elaine C Smith's TV persona, which is loud and boisterous, but she is stealing the show in this new series.