Daniela Nardini

Everyone weary of Hogmanay's forced merriment will relish this comedy. We're told that New Year celebrations are all about spending time with family and friends, raising a glass together and opening a shortbread tin in tipsy harmony. Rubbish! Has anyone ever actually spent a New Year like that? Mine are always soured by the memory of the year before when I made a list of saintly resolutions, long since trashed. I'm so bad at keeping them that I needn't make new ones; I'll just endlessly recycle last year's list and hate myself more each time.

So those for whom Hogmanay is about guilt, despair and plain old grumpiness will find a collection of kindred spirits here.

Almost every Scottish comedy actor you can name makes an appearance: Alex Norton, Daniela Nardini, Doon Mackichan, Jonathan Watson, Sharon Rooney, a young James Allenby-Kirk and more.

The action takes place in a tidy suburban house as Eric and Beth prepare to host a Hogmanay party but things go wrong from the beginning, starting with the small matter of there being no crisps, and when the riotous family and friends descend things get worse still, ending in leaps from the bathroom window and Viking axe attacks.

Radio Times review

In 2013, Brian Cox told me that filming series one had been such a joy and he'd be back like a shot from his Brooklyn home, were there a second run. "I come from that part of the world [Dundee]. It's humour that's not seen anywhere else. It's not Glaswegian. It's not dreichy. It's about light, air and eternal optimism." Writer Neil Forsyth was "a genuine original comic voice".

Bonkers Bob is back. Broughty Ferry's loudmouth has ditched local politics and is peddling huge, noxious burgers from a van. He's thrown off kilter by council official Megan (Daniela Nardini), who tries to shut him down, and by his buddy Frank, who suddenly has a racy sex life.

Two Doors Down (BBC One) brings New Year to Scotland. Hogmanay then. The Bairds, Eric and Beth, are having a few people over: son Ian, Ian's partner Tony, not-gay darling soldier son Angus (though he hasn't arrived yet), Beth's man-eating sister Caroline. Plus a few people from the neighbourhood - a dull aspirational (snobby) couple, a pair of Norwegians, a few teenagers.

There's something of the feel of a Radio 4 play transferred to television about it. And at times it follows a path too obvious. So gay Tony asks for pear cider, which obviously Eric doesn't have. And the Norwegian woman is earnest and worthy and has a moan to Beth that she's not doing her recycling right. And all the Scots drink a lot and don't really know anything about Norway, like where it is or how it's different from Sweden.

But there are some cracking performances - from Arabella Weir, Alex Norton, Daniela Nardini (Caroline, of course) and more. And some lovely observations. Anyone with a family, or neighbours, will recognise just about everyone here. I especially like Colin (Jonathan Watson), the tedious know-it-all who knows it all about cars and malt whisky and everything else as well as the best way to get from A to B on the A this or the B that or whatever. There's a Colin in everyone's lives, and most people's Christmases or New Years, no?

As the evening goes on, and the booze goes down, guards fall away, old prejudices and secrets, truths and bitternesses start to creep out. Tomorrow's steak pie is eaten today, and the gazebo is trashed. By the time the bells go, and Angus eventually shows up, it's a glorious hell. At least as ghastly as it was 500 years ago. Happy new year.

Staying in on New Year's Eve when you'd rather be out? Comfort comes in the form of Simon Carlyle's one-off comedy, which demonstrates that Hogmanay parties aren't all prawn rings, soft light and witty banter. Alex Norton and Arabella Weir star as hosts Eric and Beth, who are hoping that their son Angus, serving in Iraq, will be home in time for a slice of Beth's legendary steak pie.

Their guests are friends and neighbours who wouldn't be an obvious social fit: Beth's sister Caroline (Daniela Nardini) is unpredictable, and teenager Sophie (Sharon Rooney) has been left at home by her parents. There's also a pair each of snobs and Norwegians, ill-suited in their own ways to traditional Scottish revelry. Will they all make it through to the bells?