Dawn French

Roger & Val pierce the heart with happy ending: sort of

Roger & Val Have Just Got In doesn't have much chance of landing a third series, so viewers should have savoured this final episode, in which Dawn French and Alfred Molina said a fitting goodbye.

So farewell then, Roger and Val. Sadly, another series looks vanishingly unlikely for this gem of a tragicomedy. Its marital foibles and micro-tiffs have been unbelievably well performed by Dawn French and Alfred Molina. French has never been better, and if Molina's Hollywood career ever lets up, someone should tempt him back with another role like this. Anyone can chew the scenery as the baddie in a superhero film, but not anyone could be sweet, self-righteous, slow-on-the-uptake Roger.

As the vital meeting with Roger's unexpected grandson approaches, our moody couple tangle over a wendy house, Wensleydale and We Shall Overcome. It's an even more eccentric, seemingly inconsequential half-hour than usual, but there's real emotion below the surface and an ending that will dampen fans' cheeks.

It's the last in the series of Dawn French and Alfred Molina's warm sitcom, and the inaction ambles towards a climax with the imminent arrival of Roger's estranged family for tea. Val manages to convey her peevishness through the simple act of filling a kettle, while Roger responds by staging a sit-in in a wendy house.

Have you been watching ... Roger & Val Have Just Got In?

Is it a comedy? A drama with a few gags thrown in? Whatever else, Roger & Val is essential TV with fine performances from Alfred Molina and Dawn French.

Giving Roger and Val another look

It's not a knockdown, laugh-a-minute, sitcom, but it's brilliantly written and who can argue with Dawn French and Alfred Molina. I stand corrected on my snap decision prior to seeing the series.

Dawn French gets better and better as Val. Although she is the sensible one, Val can also be brilliantly neurotic. What has upset her is an unfortunate collision of dramas: they've just got back from the pub where they were supposed to meet the son Roger never knew he had. Now a bereaved relative is on the phone, there's someone at the door and Roger is breathing into a paper bag. There aren't quite the fireworks of last week, but it's still touching.

The penultimate episode of the comedy drama series sees Roger (Alfred Molina) return from a meeting to which his newfound 31-year-old son failed to turn up, while Val (Dawn French) discovers that Pam Bagnall, her chief rival for the deputy head teacher post at her school, has accidentally left a voicemail on her mobile phone. Not just any old message, but a deeply incriminating one that might yet secure victory for Val.

After last week's bombshell, the atmosphere is tense in the Stevenson household. The pair are due to attend an important dinner but Roger's (Alfred Molina) missing front tooth is causing problems while Val (Dawn French) is stressing about her job application for the position of deputy head at her school. Despite the tension, the comedy drama's warmth and homeliness are still evident - just about - along with clever dialogue which will strike chords of familiarity with just about everyone.

Dawn French seen with her new boyfriend

Funnygirl Dawn French strolls on beach with lover.

"Will you speak normally! There's nobody here!" Val implores her husband tonight.

Which is precisely what I'm usually thinking when I'm watching this series because of the way Alfred Molina keeps using that special "I'm In A Play!" voice some actors are prone to.

And it's a shame when the brilliant dialogue manages to be so naturalistic and yet so utterly eccentric at the same time.

No other series would invest so much energy in thrashing out the perfect guest list for an imaginary party or scrutinising tea towel artwork for some kind of hidden meaning

But unlike shows such as EastEnders, where you're continually bludgeoned over the head with plot, this intriguing series is all about using subtext and undercurrents, a bit like a melody in a song picked out by a bass guitar.

Even casual comments are as loaded with significance as the special saucepans that Val, played by Dawn French, is using tonight to cook a celebratory dinner following Roger's industrial tribunal.

It's a slowly simmering episode but Roger is still nursing a secret that's about to blow the lids right off.