Ashley Jensen

One sitcom I won't be sticking with is Sky One's Agatha Raisin and in fact I'm surprised I made it through the first episode. I have to say I didn't have a lot of knowledge of the central character played by Ashley Jensen as I missed the pilot episode 'The Quiche of Death.' But I was intrigued enough to give the first episode partly as I believed it to be a pastiche of Agatha Christie whodunnits and Midsomer Murders-esque small town crime shows. How wrong I was, as instead of giving us a gentler A Touch of Cloth, writers Stewart Harcourt and M.C. Beaton seem more focused on concentrating on their heroine's love life. From what I could ascertain from this first episode Agatha was a rather ditzy PR woman who people believed had a good ability to solve crimes. However a lot of what happened in this instalment saw Agatha stumbling around in the dark for the majority of the time before realising that the answer was under her nose from the outset. In fact Agatha's main aim throughout the episode seemed to be to snag James Lacey (Jamie Glover), the attached man of her dreams who was posing as her husband as part of an undercover operation to root out the murderer of the head of the local rambling society. I personally feel as if crime shows such as Midsomer Murders are in need of some sort of spoof but Agatha Raisin doesn't even attempt to do that. I found it instead to be a strange mix of crime drama, romantic comedy and full on slapstick humour with none of these elements really being given time to breathe. In fact I would go as far as to say that the funniest sequence in this first episode of Agatha Raisin was the sequence in which Agatha was trapped inside a Wendy House with several other characters. It's a shame that the show is such a dud as I'm a fan of Ashley Jensen but she's ill-served here by a rather annoying character and a poorly written script. The rest of the cast don't fare much better with Matthew Horne being given a one-note character as Agatha's camp assistant from London. In fact it's only Katy Wix as Agatha's formidable cleaning lady Gemma who's able to rise above the awful material and produce something vaguely resembling comedy. Apart from Wix's performance there's very little positives that I can bestow on Agatha Raisin and between this show and Rovers it seems that Sky One has currently gone off the boil when it comes to producing decent comedies.

Ashley Jensen is back as the sleuth whose life is packed with just-moved-to-the-country-based cliches. Former colleague Roy (Mathew Horne) turns up after being dumped, bringing a naked yogi with him. Agatha joins a rambling group and is soon dragged into a murder investigation after one of their members is found dead on a landowner's estate. And so begins a flimsy but entertaining whodunnit in which Agatha is reunited with her ex, James (Jamie Glover), as they go undercover.

Could Ricky Gervais bring back Extras?

Could Ricky Gervais bring back Extras after David Brent's big screen return? Speaking to Digital Spy at the BAFTA TV Awards, Ashley Jensen revealed that she wouldn't need much persuading if Extras was to return in some form.

Radio Times review

Radio Times Top 40 TV Shows of 2015, #3:

Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney gave birth to two series of this deliciously rude and crude sitcom. They played an Irish primary school teacher and a US ad man, called Sharon and - yep, you guessed it - Rob, who decided to give coupledom a go when their fling ends in an unplanned pregnancy. A motley crew of hilariously hideous friends supported them, including Carrie Fisher as the mother-in-law from hell, a silkily obnoxious Ashley Jensen, and Line of Duty's Mark Bonnar, who deserves a spin-off for his deadpan ripostes. But what really marked Horgan and Delaney's baby out is its bravery: Catastrophe gleefully made comedy out of delicate issues, like Sharon's decision to take a screening test for Down's syndrome, without making light of them.

Radio Times review

It's Sharon (Sharon Horgan) and Rob's (Rob Delaney's) third anniversary, but this episode of this gloriously honest, filthy and funny comedy focuses a lot more on their circle of friends - most of whom are dipping their toes into the singleton market and finding how tough it is. Chris (Mark Bonnar) cavorts with a prostitute while his estranged wife Fran (Ashley Jensen) is finding her clingy new boyfriend a bit much.

Rob's fabulously obnoxious American friend Dave (Daniel Lapaine) is also finding things tricky with pretentious new squeeze Catherine (which may make you warm to him a bit more). It's lonely and tough out there and it's comforting when we're back in the tender bosom of the main couple.

Ashley Jensen interview

Ashley Jensen on motherhood and new films.

Sharon receives more worrying news as she's told, thanks to her "geriatric" pregnancy, that her baby has a relatively high chance of being born with Down's syndrome. As she waits for test results, Rob must make amends with Chris's weird wife Fran (Ashley Jensen) after she rumbles the pair's secret bromance. Delaney continues to be likable - if a little one-dimensional - but it's Horgan's anxious, very funny mum-to-be who lends the couple's journey towards parenthood most of its laughs, and all of its emotional weight.

Radio Times review

Sharon and Rob's odd life together has at last settled down, with Sharon Horgan's hormonal and pregnant Irishwoman enjoying a dinner date with an annoying ex she still seems to hanker after. We also find US ad guy Rob pursuing clandestine drinks with Chris (Mark Bonnar), the intense husband of Sharon's ghastly friend Fran (Ashley Jensen).

But despite the potential mishaps of their mild deceits, the sweetness and laughs continue unabated, with neither party showing any sign of being anything other than charming, fond, funny and understanding in this ground-breaking and grounded gem.

Despite adhering to an overused setup (two lovers cope with an unwanted pregnancy), Channel 4 comedy Catastrophe overcame its hoariness because, frankly, it was funny and well-performed by writer-stars Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney. They played, um, Sharon and Rob--middle-aged, transatlantic lovers who become expectant parents following a crazy week of passionate sex after meeting in a London bar.

Horgan's loathe to stray from her comfort zone (there's scant difference between her roles in Pulling, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret and Dead Boss), while Twitter-star Delaney's a cut-price Jason Sudeikis with added facial hair, but they work fantastically well together and have strong chemistry. I grew slightly bored once the premiere's plot progressed into a dinner party scenario with dumb homeopath Fran (Ashley Jensen) and her taciturn husband Chris (Mark Bonnar), but Catastrophe's leads are so strong that I'm aboard for the ride.

Although I hope the remainder of the series takes the story down a path that justifies the bleak title, because I don't see what's so catastrophic about these two soulmates having a child together.