Elizabeth Berrington

Camping review: a gloriously bleak comedy masterpiece

I'm not yet sure that it's quite up there with Nighty Night or Hunderby, but there's no better comedy around at the moment. The only pity is it's on Sky.

Radio Times review

This post-watershed Pobol y Cwm has dawdled a bit lately. That all changes with the return of a Pontyberry favourite. Stella sees a woman loitering in her road, swigging from a vodka bottle. "It can't be." It is: Stella's sister-in-law and best friend Paula (Elizabeth Berrington) - back, she says, to pay the recovering Aunty Brenda a visit. How we, her friends and the show, have missed her.

In spite of an unsavoury storyline for Luke that paints Stella in unnecessarily EastEnder-ish colours (in hock to a loan shark; becoming a male escort), it's a warm and luminous episode, with reunion and resolution, Steve Speirs in Spanx and, perhaps, a subtle nod to Julie Walters's decrepit waitress sketch from As Seen on TV. I suspect that the more you love these characters, the more you'll be dabbing your eyes at several moments.

This sweet natured comedy is turning into a nice little midweek highlight. Chris Addison and Jo Joyner are completely at ease and convincing as Matt and Meg as they continue to try to patch up their marriage. And the wonderful Elizabeth Berrington may be Stella's loss but is this show's gain as Matt's flaky sister who takes centre stage after a car accident.

Radio Times review

Chris Addison and Jo Joyner leave behind The Thick of It and EastEnders respectively and make a left turn. They come together to star in a romcom about a young-ish couple in Kendal, who are bearing up after her recent affair and attempting to rebuild their relationship.

The premise is meant to make Trying Again edgier and more emotional than comedy dramas like Stella and Mount Pleasant, which it resembles on the surface. This doesn't come through much in these first two episodes, since they're too busy being funny: writer Simon Blackwell fills them with strong gags and neat plotting (the callback pay off at the end of episode one is a killer), while Alun Cochrane, Elizabeth Berrington and Alex MacQueen are all on form as cartoonish, traditional-sitcom supporting characters.

The show's identity problem scarcely matters. In particular, Joyner is a revelation as the funny, energetic foil to Addison's nervous, cowardly weed. A new comedy star is born.

Michael decides to take Stella as his date to the charity dinner to annoy his ex-wife. Stella's vow to steer clear of men for the foreseeable melts in the glare of Michael's twinkly eyes, even though he's a tool with no consideration for her feelings. Meanwhile, daughter Emma treads on dangerous ground with Marcus and Big Alan loses his nerve with Celia. Still good but this was more fun with Elizabeth Berrington's alcoholic, sexually voracious funeral director. When's she coming back?

The last in the series of the Sue Johnston-led family comedy. It's the day of Liam's pirate-themed birthday party, and he is terrified of pirates. Everything is going to plan, until Paula (Elizabeth Berrington) picks up a cordless drill and all hell breaks loose. Which is less exciting than it sounds. Eileen's friends arrive to save the day and Ray (William Ash) gets ready for a rare visit from his parents, while Maurice uses the occasion to butter up Eileen. It hasn't been the subtlest of comedies, but the cast were great.

Looking for a clean, warm-hearted laughs? BBC1 has made viewers work for them, scheduling this family fare in a deathly slot where you need to stay awake past 11pm to see a whole episode. It's almost as if they regret commissioning it. They needn't worry: while Being Eileen doesn't start any comedy fires, it's solid, likeable and peopled by extremely good comic actors. Sue Johnston is the titular granny, supported by Dean Andrews, Julie Graham and the terrific Elizabeth Berrington.

Ruth Jones's poignant, charmingly observed Welsh Valleys comedy drama continues. Tonight sees a search organised for Dai (Owen Teale), while his estranged wife Paula (Elizabeth Berrington) deals with the issue in a more proactive way - by expressing her feelings at the Got to Dance auditions in front of Ashley Banjo (a shameless bit of Sky1 self promotion). Elsewhere, Bobby (Aled Pugh) conducts his first solo funeral but there's a problem when two families arrive at the cemetery and find only one burial plot.

The enjoyable series continues tonight with a friend encouraging Eileen (Sue Johnston) to join a group of local widows for emotional support. Meanwhile, Paula (Elizabeth Berrington) and Mandy (Julie Graham) set up rival classes in the latest keep-fit dance craze, Ay Carumba, and Ethan shows signs of being a future judo star.

'She's phoned me from her bag again,' says Paula of her mother Eileen, setting the tongue-in-cheek tone for this spin-off comedy series from 2011 Christmas drama Lapland. Eileen is feeling her age and determined not to go quietly into the night, so she heads to the planetarium to gaze at the stars - has she gone off her head? Sue Johnston shines as the matriarch, orbited by fellow TV stars Elizabeth Berrington, Dean Andrews and William Ash.