Craig Cash

Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash's wonderful observational sitcom about a working-class Manchester family who seem never to leave their sitting room is now going the way Only Fools and Horses did, with an eagerly awaited one-off episode each Christmas. Tonight's instalment, for which no preview discs were available, is deliberately unfestive, with Jim (Ricky Tomlinson) and Barbara (Sue Johnston) wondering whether to spend a cash gift from their children on a satellite HD box or their first trip out of the UK. Afterwards, at 10.00pm, the final series of Gavin & Stacey - a sitcom which owes more than a nod to the Royles - begins to wind down, as the Essex crowd go on an eventful trip to the beach.

Early Doors is easily the best thing on telly tonight. It's the first episode of Craig Cash's sublime pub-based sitcom. From the moment that Ken starts up singing 'The Greatest Love Of All', while swearing at cigarette butts in the urinals, it feels classic. From Eddie's boring stories about temporary traffic lights ("Better go and get that door, it might be Michael Aspel for you") to the policemen complaining about the curtains, it's all so beautifully observed it feels like art.

Writers Craig Cash and Phil Mealey had a hit with the comedy drama Sunshine last year. But this 2003 sitcom is finer and more satisfying: the jokes are earthier and less obvious, and the pathos is subtle rather than being sentimentally spooned on. It all takes place in a Manchester pub.

Another chance to catch the under-the-radar 2003 sitcom from Phil Mealey and long-term Caroline Aherne collaborator Craig Cash, which centred around the comings and goings of a Manchester pub. Naturalistically played, subtle and well worth sticking with.

Sunshine was a three-part BBC series from the pen of Craig Cash and Phil Mealey, starring Steve Coogan. Never quite sure what it wanted to be, the show was diverting enough, but had a tendency at times to be overly mawkish and sickeningly sweet.

Pros and Cons for the 2008 Christmas Special

A little too long but this was full of great moments to bring alive the horrors of a family Christmas.

We reach the conclusion of the tear-jerking comedy drama about a likeable layabout's gambling habit and its effects on his family. What should have been a top-class affair, co-written by The Royle Family's Craig Cash, hasn't quite turned out that way. While Coogan's retired roadie Tommy was a brilliantly observed has-been in the overlooked Saxondale, bin man Bing has been left to drown in a vat of family bonding.

In the final episode, the inveterate gambler (Steve Coogan) seeks help for his addiction and tries to find a job. Many viewers may find it cloying and sentimental, and no doubt parts of it are. This addict, after all, remains charming despite his destructive behaviour and even the worst of the misery is ameliorated by laughter. But look at it another way. Thousands of lives are destroyed by addictions of one sort or another, and television plays an important role in passing on information. Sunshine uses jokes and warmth to suggest that addiction doesn't have to be a terminal illness. If it sugars the pill, is that so terrible?

From comedy to pathos to sentimentality - this has been on a slippery slope from the start and tonight we tumble into a steaming bowl of sunshine-yellow emotional custard. You'd expect sweetness like this from a Hollywood movie with a Bette Midler soundtrack. To find it pouring from three generations of bluff northern males certainly bucks the trend.

This lovely little drama from Craig Cash and Phil Mealey comes to an end as Bing (a rather excellent Steve Coogan - which is a relief after last week's criticisms of his live show) attempts to beat his gambling addiction once and for all and win back his wife. He has a lot of hurdles to overcome, and then there are his dad's problems waiting to come to light - will they send Bing spiralling back into the grip of addiction? There'll be tears and laughter before bedtime, mark my words...