Caroline Quentin

For those who find Green Green Grass too edgy, this inoffensive sitcom is back for a second series. Caroline Quentin plays Maddy, a hassled mother who lives with her second husband Jim and their respective children. Jim is played by Neil Dudgeon, who will be taking over the lead role in Midsomer Murders next year when John Nettles leaves. He'll find the killing fields of Midsomer positively soporific next to the frantic pace of the Riley household, where gags come thick and fast on the minutiae of family life.

Caroline Quentin returns for a second series of this dismal sitcom, which is aimed at viewers who worry that one day My Family will disappear from the schedules and there will nothing to replace it. It's the same-old format that passed its sell-by date sometime in the early 1980s, in which an ordinary family muddles along doing the best they can and being oh-so-funny. In this opening episode the husband and wife have bought a book on keeping alive the romance in marriage. They decide to spend an evening of quality time together - with entirely predictable results. Without wishing to sound negative, it is lazy, mindless, patronising, cowardly and desperately unfunny drivel. What is so frightening is that no one at the BBC thought to say: "Hang on, we ought to be aiming a bit higher than this."

Eight- to 12-year-olds will love this inoffensive family sitcom, which returns for a second series starring Caroline Quentin and Neil Dudgeon as a chaotic married couple attempting to corral their picturesquely badly behaved kids. Life of Riley can't possibly be aimed at grown-ups, what with its broad jokes about bottoms and the perils of incorrectly loading the dishwasher. The adults behave like kids, which is probably why young 'uns will enjoy it, and the kids are knowing, cheeky and annoying. It also features the world's oldest sight gag about that falling over backwards trust exercise, which even a late-developing toddler will see coming.

A somewhat surprising second series for the Caroline Quentin vehicle that isn't the one where she solves murders or works in a travel agent.

This is the one where she's married to Neil Dudgeon and they have kids from their previous marriages as well as a baby between them. The step-parent aspect doesn't generate much mileage - it just means the two older kids call her Maddy instead of mum.

Their neighbours, straight out of sitcom central, are still in residence and tonight when the kids from next-door show no inclination to go home, you might think you're just watching a remake of My Family.

Tonight, Maddy and her husband attempt to put the sparkle back in their marriage by going on a date.

Last series they were newlyweds and the spark had gone already. It's not a great sign either that the babysitter gets the best scenes.

Life of Riley: why are most family sitcoms so unfunny?

You would have to be mean, small-minded and probably a bit snobby to attack the second series of BBC1's innocuous Life of Riley, the Caroline Quentin sitcom, back on air. So let's go for it...

Caroline Quentin interview: Young at heart

Caroline Quentin talks to Daphen Lockyer about her return to television, her family and why she's a fan of teenagers.

Caroline Quentin: 'I'm canny, but not very bright'

Caroline Quentin doesn't often get recognised these days. Occasionally, a cab driver might ask, "where have I seen you before?".

Caroline Quentin, Simon Greenall and Andy Taylor star in this third series of the sitcom that takes a humorous, if not always well-aimed, swipe at modern technologies as they affect our daily lives. In for a kicking this series, as well as blogging, are social networks and Twitter.

Ouch. This is funny. But uncomfortable. Christopher Green's acutely observant play stars Caroline Quentin as a feisty realist, underwhelmed by her life. She's taken to bed, intends to stay there, safe, protected, withdrawn. This permanent bedrest is to protect the world from her torrents of contagious emotion. Anyone who's lived a little will recognise her feelings and her domestic situation. It's her house but Rob, her partner, is also in it. And she's in the spare room in the second best bed where, as time drags by, she notices drawbacks.

In Christopher Green's comic one-woman drama Caroline Quentin stars as a spirited woman who has taken to her bed, permanently. At 39, she's feeling underwhelmed by life and has definitely decided not to have children. Retreating to the second-best-bed in the dingy spare room, she feels abandoned - her husband Rob hasn't even noticed. She's tried therapy and she's in pain but she's not changing her mind about motherhood, whatever anyone else might think. A poignant monologue that leaves you pondering the dilemmas facing all would-be parents.