This is an intelligent well written comedy. It does that clever thing of taking comedy and slipping in sudden moments of despair and sadness when you least expect it. The characters are amusing on the surface but each has depth and a set of feelings that belies their seeming shallow behaviour. There is also plenty of feelings you get of frustration and embarrassment that make for such good observational comedy.

.....which is a bit of a handicap for a programme advertised as a comedy. Miss Manville and Mr Mullan just about save it as they underact whilst the rest of the cast chew the scenery. I'm afraid I'm not clever enough to see the subtle understated depths so many other reviewers rave about. Every character descends from a whole slew of earlier sitcoms,but is simply a little more extreme or offensive as the case may be. The youngsters appear to have the intelligence,perceptiveness and critical faculties of pre - pubertal molluscs. The older members of the cast speak their lines as if they were written by Oscar Wilde. Peter Mullan appears genuinely stupefied by the antics of his fellows. Either this is great acting or he has managed to keep his brain in neutral. Apparently "Guardianistas" have greeted "Mum" as one of their own,heaven knows why. I gave up on wondering what they seize upon to give their seal of approval. Perhaps the awfulness of most of the characters strikes them as irony. Personally I just think they're awful.Occam's Razor.

I also missed this the first time around and, after catching a promo to the second series (which looked like something I would enjoy), I quickly caught up on the first series over the course of last w/end courtesy of iPlayer, and I am hooked. Reminiscent of the Detectorists in that the comedy is subtle and underplayed. The characters are well written and the acting is top-notch. You really feel as though you're eavesdropping on a real suburban set-up in Chingford.Would recommend to any fan of Damned or Detectorists.

I somehow managed to miss this during its original transmission, so have just watched every episode and I have to say I'm hooked.Cathy is recently widowed and just trying to get on with life, but it's the others around that keep throwing her curve balls, whether it's her well meaning son Jason, who perpetually walks around the house in his pants, his well meaning if absent minded girlfriend Kelly, or considerate brother Derek and his social climbing girlfriend Pauline. Cathy is the one who's world should have fallen apart, but instead is a level headed, strong woman, who is basically just a delightful woman.Lesley Manville, an actress I've always loved shows that comedy is as easy for her as drama, she is superb. I'm hooked on Kelly's character, Lisa McGrillis is a delight with great comedy timing. The whole cast are great, the parents in law always cause a few laughs, so realistic.I'm reminded of Grandma's House from a few years back, it's a suburban comedy, nothing slapstick or outrageous, just great character play, coupled with top notch scripts.A joy. 9/10 Roll on Series 2 and 3.