Alan Davies

Grandma's House, Rev, Roger and Val Have Just Got In and now this. It's the latest artful, up-market sitcom from BBC2, written like a comedy but filmed like a drama. It will leave some viewers disappointed if they're expecting big gags or hearty laughs, but it will draw others in because (a) it's got the lovable Alan Davies in the lead, and (b) there's something engaging about its setting and characters - the staff of a swanky rural restaurant. The establishment is called The White House after its chef Roland White, played by Davies with a straggly hair-do and a patchy beard that may or may not be modelled on Marco Pierre of the same name. Unusually for a chef, Roland is laid-back and apparently lacking in passion - he's more interested in recording notes for his meat-based memoirs ("Chapter Two: Black Pudding," he announces into his dictaphone) than helping out in the chaotic kitchens. Katherine Parkinson plays his long-suffering maître d', who struggles to keep him in line, and Darren Boyd his uptight sous-chef. As ever with the first episode of a new sitcom, there's more appetiser than entrée, but it bodes well for flavourful fare to come.

Alan Davies is a love him or hate him kind of actor, but Whites shows just how likable and nuanced he can be. More surprisingly here, perhaps, since he stars as Roland White, an "executive chef" in a high-end restaurant. White is, needless to say, an offal-crazed gastronome with mad hair, but he's not a monster, and that speaks well of the subtleties of this very funny show co-written by Matt "Super Hans" King. Able support comes from Katherine Parkinson and Stephen Wight as weird, ambitious new chef Skoose.

Few people would dream of casting mild-mannered QI dunce Alan Davies in the role of a fiery gastronomic hellhound à la Gordon Ramsay or Marco Pierre White. But it is one of the many delights and revelations of this enjoyable new comedy that Davies so excellently fleshes out the role of Roland White, a fictional, once-pyrotechnic chef now fizzling out his days at a country house hotel. He's accompanied by his loyal and long-suffering sous chef, Bib (nicely played by Darren Boyd), flame-haired (and tongued) restaurant manager Caroline (Katherine Parkinson of The IT Crowd), sinister wannabe genius Skoose (Stephen Wightp) and clueless hotel owner Celia (Maggie Steed). It's co-written by Peep Show's Matt King, and much of the comedy is based on his pre-fame experiences of working in restaurant kitchens. Enhancing the ring of truth, the cast spent days training at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant in London. Despite the infernal kitchen setting, this is mostly gentle character-based comedy, but with an edge of sharpened steel that keeps the laughs coming all the time. Roland gets a lot of the best lines, though in the great British comic tradition he also manages to be the butt of most of them - as in tonight's opener, in which he records his never-to-be-commissioned memoirs. A very welcome addition to Tuesday nights.

He's a versatile man, is Alan Davies. He plays the fool in QI, a magician/detective in Jonathan Creek and has just relived his revolutionary teen years for documentary purposes. For this new sitcom he's in actorly mode again, playing a hotel head chef called Roland White - any relation to Marco Pierre? - who goes against the grain of the highly stressed Gordon Ramsays of this world by being a bit of a slacker.

Talk about a sitcom whose time has come. Thanks to series like Hell's Kitchen, The Restaurant, Kitchen Nightmares and MasterChef, restaurant kitchens are now as familiar to us as the inside of our own fridges.

We know they're all run by shouting egomaniacs who hate vegetarians and love the sound of their own voices, so we need no further introduction to the world of Whites. Whites (as in chefs' whites, as opposed to Marco Pierre) is written by Oliver Lansley and Matt King - best known as the sublimely surreal Super Hans from Peep Show. It's based on King's own experiences working in a Michelin-starred restaurant and he also appears briefly in this episode as a delivery man. It's just a pity that he's not in it more.

It's hilariously well-observed but, because it isn't straining for belly laughs every single second, characters also have room to breathe and just be themselves.

Alan Davies is perfectly cast as head chef Roland White, (again, no relation to Marco) who is too busy to help out during service because he's dictating his memoirs. Sample, genius quote: "If God didn't want us to eat animals he wouldn't have made them out of meat."

White's put-upon sous chef Bib (Darren Boyd), who is left to soldier on alone, is initially delighted when Roland takes on an apprentice to help out. But his happiness quickly dissolves into panic when the newcomer, Skoose, turns out to be a borderline sociopath.

Also in the mix are The IT Crowd's Katherine Parkinson as front of house manager Caroline, the excellent Maggie Steed as eccentric hotel owner Claudia, and Peep Show's Isy Suttie as terminally thick waitress Kiki.

Watching this, you're reminded of why good chefs bang on about only using topquality ingredients. This recipe brings out the best in all of them.

Video: Alan Davies swaps QI for kitchen

Alan Davies talks to BBC Breakfast about Whites.

He's a versatile man, is Alan Davies. He plays the fool in QI, a magician/detective in Jonathan Creek and has just relived his revolutionary teen years for documentary purposes. For this new sitcom he's in actorly mode again, playing a hotel head chef called Roland White - any relation to Marco Pierre? - who goes against the grain of the highly stressed Gordon Ramsays of this world by being a bit of a slacker. Also stars Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd) and Isy Suttie (Dobby from Peep Show).

Along with Stephen Fry's quiz questions on the letter H tonight, it would be quite interesting to find out why the erudite Gyles Brandreth has taken seven years to make his second appearance on this show as a panellist. Also risking the blare of the klaxons for only the second time is comedienne Sue Perkins, who appeared earlier this year. Bill Bailey completes the trio of promising guests lined up to discuss esoterica with Fry and Alan Davies.

Tonight one of QI's infrequent female panellists, Sue Perkins, fresh from dusting the flour off her dainty hands in The Great British Bake Off, joins the boys. She's sparky and funny and will be more than capable of holding her own with those noisy, competitive lads. They are, of course, question master Stephen Fry and genial regular Alan Davies, here with Gyles Brandreth (so garrulous he never knowingly uses two words when he can use 20) and frequent panellist Bill Bailey, who is always good value as he dallies with the esoteric, the surreal and the downright daft.

Davies doesn't like TV swearing

Alan Davies has urged foul-mouthed TV chefs to stop swearing.