Amy Stephenson

Radio Times review

This domestic sitcom from Dublin comedy troupe Diet of Worms and Graham Linehan really hits its stride tonight, as meek, unassuming Graham (the excellent Shane Langan) is evicted from his bedsit in a hilariously absurd opening scene.

His only option is to fall upon the mercy of the Walshes, who hardly welcome their daughter's boyfriend with open arms. Tony (Niall Gaffney) tries desperately to prove he's as learned as the bookish Graham, while Carmel (Philippa Dunne) fixes a smile and insists "it's fine" that Ciara (Amy Stephenson) is sharing her bed with a man.

The set-up is standard but the finely crafted execution raises the comedy to great heights.

An incredibly traditional comedy, the first episode of The Walshes introduces us to the titular family as they're about to meet the boyfriend of daughter Ciara (Amy Stephenson) for the first time. However the rest of the Walsh family believe that Graham (Shane Langan) is a doctor which leads to a rather fantastic comic misunderstanding between him and Walsh patriarch Tony (Niall Gaffney).

Elsewhere mother Carmel (Philippa Dunne) is busy making a roast dinner despite the fact that Ciara and Graham are going out for something to eat. All in all, nothing much happens in The Walshes but I don't feel that that's necessarily a negative element.

As always, Linehan has presented a group of incredibly weird characters who are brought together by similar circumstances and in this case all happen to be family members. The Walshes certainly doesn't have the usual surreal edge that Linehan's comedies possess, but what it lacks in creativity it makes up for with some really well-observed moments.

Carmel asking Ciara to taste her gravy while she was having a bath was comedy gold while I loved Graham getting more and more worried as he spent more time with the Walsh family.

Though not as funny as it should have been, I really believed that the Walshes were a real family and this made me enjoy the programme a lot more. It will be interesting to see if the sitcom can maintain the standard of this first episode, but I'm definitely willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.

'An anal event' pretty much sums up The Walshes

I'm sure it's meant as an affectionate send-up of Dublin home life but there was an odd lack of subtlety about the crudely drawn characters we were introduced to last night. There was a mad Mammy, an eejit jokester Dad, a simple son, a 'normal' daughter (played by Amy Stephenson) embarrassed by the lot of them - the same characters we've seen in all sitcoms.

Radio Times review

What's that, you say, a sitcom about an Irish family with an overbearing matriarch? Well, forget Mrs Brown's Boys, because writer Graham Linehan and Dublin comedy troupe Diet of Worms's take on the tropes of Irish family life is far more restrained.

We're introduced to the Walshes - "eejit" Dad (Niall Gaffney), smothering Mammy (Philippa Dunne), feckless son Rory (Rory Connolly) - as they prepare to invite desperate-to-flee-the-nest daughter Ciara's (Amy Stephenson) new, unassuming boyfriend Graham into their madhouse.

It's a traditional family sitcom full of comic misunderstandings, some wonderful moments of silliness and there's an affectionate charm in the playing, with Shane Langan particularly good as Graham - he has the look of a young Linehan about him.