Ashley Jensen

Review: After Life, Netflix

What is the new six-part Netflix series from Ricky Gervais? After Life is certainly funny but it is no sitcom. There is too much going on here that isn't funny to file it snugly under that genre. It's not that safety net catch-all "comedy drama" either though. It's something totally unique. And it deserves a category of its own.

Scotland's funniest 60 people

As the Glasgow International Comedy Festival prepares to launch with a gaggle of giggles later this month, we count down Scotland's funniest 60 people.

TV preview: Catastrophe, C4

This is the third sitcom I've reviewed in two days and with the greatest respect to BBC Three's Cuckoo and BBC Two's Semi-Detached, which are both extremely watchable, Catastrophe is by far the best of the trio.

Q&A with Ashley Jensen, aka 'Agatha Raisin'

In advance of the premiere, we had the great good fortune to sit down for a few minutes with Agatha Raisin herself -- Ashley Jensen -- to talk a bit about what viewers can expect from series 2.

How Ricky Gervais's Extras went off-script

In the second series of the meta comedy, its lead and creators found fame, making it a sanctimonious sitcom rife with celebrity schmoozing.

Catastrophe starts its third season where the last one ended: with a whiff of unfaithfulness. On Sharon's part, with that little rock star, half her age, but she was so drunk she doesn't remember what exactly happened. Now she's feeling guilty ...

Hey, good news, she didn't cheat! Unless kissing him - OK, and holding his penis, but just holding, nothing more - counts as cheating. "I should have known; I gave my knickers a good sniff the next day, and they just smelled like, you know, normal bad," she tells Rob, reassuringly, at A&E, because their son fell off a chair and cut his head open while they were arguing.

The brilliant thing about Sharon and Rob (Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney) is that they're almost certainly going to be all right. It'll take a while - two or three months he reckons - but he'll learn to forgive her. It's the brilliant thing about Catastrophe too that, under a pile of knickers and all the filth, it is actually very sweet. Romantic, even. That and the fact that it is hilarious; the filth is top notch, glorious filth.

So many choice moments and lines: the browser history snooping, which found nipple hair electrolysis and fat Johnny Depps; the lame attempt to blame the unfaithfulness on Brexit, and Trump. ("Fuck you for a second, OK? Fuck your guilt or whatever"); and "Do I want to break up with you? What are we, 14?" No Rob, but her new boyfriend is (nearly) ...

Actually my favourite moment of all belongs to Ashley Jensen and her character, Fran. Sharon's on the phone to her, seeking advice and comfort from an old pal. "I have to go because my life coach has just arrived," says Fran. She hangs up, reaches for the remote control, and puts on Loose Women, which has Katie Price talking about drinking. Fran lifts a left cheek from the sofa and lets out a little fart, while making an "I'm-farting" face. Lovely.

The village seems suspiciously deserted one sunny morning; all apart from the local vet's waiting room, where a rugged new locum is attracting the attention of pet owners all around town. It's Agatha (Ashley Jensen) who finally manages to blag a date with the local heart-throb, with resultant ill will from elsewhere culminating in an untimely demise for the young vet. Could the killer be an under-appreciated lover, or is a resentful spouse of same the one to blame?

Ashley Jensen interview

Underneath, Agatha Raisin is rather fragile.