Clive Russell

TV: Semi-Detached, BBC2

After his foray into live sitcom with Not Going Out just before Christmas Lee Mack is back in sitcomland with this all-star fast-paced one-off pilot in which the twist is that everything happens in real time.

Semi-Detached review

The first sitcom pilot of the year stars Lee Mack in this real-time story set over one man's terrible half-hour (although the pilot's only 20 minutes long).

Semi-Detached review

There may be questions over whether the furious pace can be sustained for the extra 50 per cent running time required for the traditional BBC sitcom half-hour. Or indeed whether such maelstroms of mayhem can be conjured up week after week. But this is a promising germ for that holy grail of comedy commissioners everywhere: a mainstream suburban sitcom that doesn't suck.

Radio Times review

Should we be worried? While work demands are keeping Stella and her fella apart, her ex, Rob, is very much on the scene, and a heart-to-heart shows there's still a bit of chemistry.

Meanwhile, Aunty Brenda is disappointed by her ceremony-free investiture as Mayor of Pontyberry - "Where's the pomp and circumcision?" - and then shocked by the sudden appearance of her old flame, Clem (Clive Russell).

Amid the bubbly flimflam of the dance competition and attendant romance is the well-acted grit of a big reveal.

Yes, that is Amy Nuttall in the opening titles tonight. The former Emmerdale and Celebrity Shark Bait star arrives at Babylon as the hotel's latest employee. Well, that's her story anyway. When Ben assumes she's the new receptionist she doesn't bother to correct him, even though the combination of her candy-pink lipstick and Ugly Betty-style braces make him recoil so squeamishly you'd think she was wearing a hat made out of used teabags.

But if he thinks her dress sense is bad, just wait till he sees what hotel owner Sam (Nigel Harman) is persuaded to wear at a baby shower tonight. Oh, Nigel, is this really what you signed up for?

Also checking in tonight is Hugh Dennis, who plays a comedian and an old flame of manager Juliet. And just to underline what a small world acting is, Hugh's on-screen daughter in Outnumbered is played by Ramona Marquez - the real-life daughter of Martin Marquez - Babylon's barman Gino.

Gino's overflowing with wisdom tonight as the hotel is the setting for the funeral of an Italian painter who was one of Babylon's most treasured guests.

As his widow and ex-wife trade black looks, the corridors of Babylon ring out with terrible Italian accents.

But then believability was never this show's forte - which could explain why Scottish actor Clive Russell is cast as the Italian corpse in another five-star farce.