Doon Mackichan

BBC Two's Two Doors Down has it all. Wit, delight, long awkward silences, burps, bacon-farts. Writers Gregor Sharp and Simon Carlyle have encapsulated a satellite Scottish suburb with joy and finesse: it's crude but it's loving. Most characters are normal. Two are accidental monsters. Cathy (Doon Mackichan) and Christine (Elaine C Smith) dominate every social interaction with that sublime lack of tact that just makes you want to cheer and then put a drunken gun to your head and pull the trigger. Lovely to see Maurice Roëves back.

Doon Mackichan interview

The comic hits out at the sexism that held back Smack The Pony, the rise of rape as entertainment - and the pleather trousers she spent 11 hours in for Two Doors Down.

On The Hour: revisiting a brilliant radio comedy

Armando Iannucci & Chris Morris' BBC Radio 4 news spoof not only gave rise to Alan Partridge but also launched countless comedy careers.

Doon Mackichan speaks out against 'crime porn'

Actress and comedian Doon Mackichan has spoken out about the prevalence of rape and sexual violence in contemporary TV drama.

Binging: Smack the Pony

Anneka Harry demands we all start watching Sally Phillips, Fiona Allen and Doon Mackichan's show right now. And if that doesn't make you, maybe her Top 10 sketches might.

Two Doors Down reunites us with Eric and Beth (Alex Norton and Arabella Weir) a middle-aged Glaswegian couple who are part of a close-knit neighbourhood. From the opening instalment I got the impression that each episode of the series will be based around one crisis or another that the neighbours have with the rest of the street getting involved in the process. This time it was Eric's late night hunt for oven chips that led to Beth's freezer being left open overnight and completely ruining all the food that was in it. This prompts Beth to invite friends and family around to sample a buffet that includes everything from vegetable pakoras to apple pie. Drafted into help in the kitchen is Cathy (Doon Mackichan), Beth's neighbour who can't help but pass comment on how big her freezer is in comparison to her friend's and how it pains to even help put stuff in the oven. The other story running throughout this first episode is that of Eric and Beth's son Ian (Jamie Quinn) who is about to move in with his boyfriend Jaz (Harki Bhambra) but isn't keen to tell his parents just yet. Whilst Two Doors Down wasn't laugh-out-loud funny what I enjoyed about the show was the way in which you identified with at least one of the characters. I feel most people know an Eric or a Beth or a Cathy and therefore it's not a hard task to imagine these people living on your street. The central gag of the freezer breaking down is an equally realistic conceit and the scene in which Beth and Cathy were trying to work out what went in the oven and what temperature was very funny indeed. I feel that the sitcom's creator Simon Carlyle has a very good ear for everyday dialogue and that's true of both Two Doors Down and his work on Boy Meets Girl. The cast are equally on form with Norton, Weir and Mackichan the highlights of a strong ensemble who were all trying their best to make the show work. My only criticism of Two Doors Down at this early stage is that the supporting characters don't feel as well-realised as the main cast which is true of Ian and Jaz as well as Sharon Rooney's Sophie who doesn't get to do much at all. Overall I would say that Two Doors Down is a promising and likeable sitcom that contains believable characters and situations which is something I couldn't say a lot of other contemporary comedies.

Doon Mackichan interview

It was working on a scene on location in the rather unglamorous Glasgow suburb of Bishopbriggs that really made Doon Mackichan stop and pinch herself.

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.

One programme that I'm done with after the first episode is newish sitcom Mountain Goats which made its debut this week. Mountain Goats started life as a pilot episode entitled Miller's Mountain and after sampling that solo instalment I didn't feel it would see the light of day again. BBC One don't appear to have that much faith in the show as they've put it in the 10:35pm death slot in which most subpar sitcoms usually find themselves. Despite Mountain Goats not being as offensive as previous comedies that have occupied that slot, such as The Wright Way or Father Figure, there was still little merit to the show. The programme focus on a ragtag group of mountain rescue operatives led by the feckless Jimmy Miller (Jimmy Chisholm) who appears to have little authority over his fellow volunteers. Among the group is the young mummy's boy Conor (Kevin Mains), the rather slow Bill (David Ireland) and the cheerful Bernie (Kathryn Howden). The main problem I have with Mountain Goats is that the majority of the characters are so one-dimensional that it's hard to either care or believe in them. Although Jimmy is cut with the same cloth as a Captain Mainwaring or a Basil Fawlty at least those two characters had at least one quality you could sympathise with. Not so Jimmy who spends the entire episode being rude to everyone he meets and bizarrely alienating his new landlady by singing a Wham! song out loud. I have to hold my hands up and say that there were about two or three jokes during the half hour that at least raised a smile but that's about it. Meanwhile the cast struggle with their poorly written roles which is particularly evident when the brilliant Sharon Rooney has little to do as feisty landlady Jules. In fact the only member of the cast who seemed to be making the best of a bad situation was Doon Mackichan as Conor's mother. It still annoys me that BBC One still can't produce a decent sitcom these days as the channel was once the play to go to for a good laugh. Instead I sat them almost embarrassed by what I saw up on the screen which amounted to a very old-fashioned sitcom whose jokes were about as dated as its situation.