Emily Mortimer

Doll & Em (Sky Living) is an interesting one, semi-improvised comedy written by and starring real-life bezzies Dolly Wells and Emily Mortimer, who play versions of themselves. I don't know how far they've distorted themselves. I think - I hope - a lot because they're a bit ghastly; at times it's like eavesdropping on a pair of self-obsessed luvvie types in a Notting Hill restaurant. Except we're in LA so make that Beverly Hills (Doll is working as her actor friend's assistant after a messy breakup).

It's not lol-a-minute, it's in-jokey and in-crowdy (there are appearances by celebrity pals). It's self-indulgent. But self-aware too. And at its heart is an interesting and genuinely touching examination of friendship - the goods, the bads, the power imbalances, the cruelty, the games, the tears, the love - made all the more poignant by their friendship for real.

Oh, and it's good on the paranoid ridiculousness of Hollywood too. What is anyone REALLY THINKING? Plus I took a sneaky peak at the second one too, which is better. See, even though I was a bit annoyed, and I didn't feel it had much to do with me, I still wanted more. That's a good sign.

Radio Times review

Dolly Wells and Emily Mortimer really are best pals, a relationship they cruelly twist as they play themselves in a naturalistic comedy of subtle embarrassment and unspoken resentment. You know you're in good hands when the opening minute sets up the premise with ruthless economy: a swift montage tells us that Dolly's split from her boyfriend and invited herself to LA, where Emily's shooting her biggest movie yet. Their fatal error is to agree that Dolly work as Emily's assistant, a power imbalance that puts a fleck of poison in all their conversations.

Improvising in front of intimate hand-held cameras, Wells and Mortimer make every barb and glance scarily convincing. You might not laugh much, but it's thrilling to see a comedy that knows what it's doing so precisely, so quickly.

Emily Mortimer: 'I'm convinced I'm going to get fired'

Emily Mortimer, who sends up her Hollywood persona in the new TV comedy Doll & Em, on her beloved father John, life in America, and her very English insecurities.

Best mates Emily Mortimer and Dolly Wells play fictionalised versions of themselves in the tale of an actor (Em) who invites her friend (Doll) to Hollywood as her personal assistant. With improvisation and shaky camera-work, the promise of glossiness that comes when Em walks the red carpet with Bradley Cooper is soon blown apart. It could so easily be a jolly tale, but immediately turns dark when Doll is locked out by the pool while Em has her hair done and the best-friend sniping kicks in. Promising.

Five reasons you should watch Sky Living's Doll & Em

Doll & Em, Sky Living's new comedy co-starring and co-written by Dolly Wells and Emily Mortimer, has already received widespread praise from critics.

A comedy that you write and star in yourself sounds suspiciously like an ego trip - and in a sense that's exactly what Doll & Em is. Actress best mates Emily Mortimer and Dolly Wells play fast and loose with the notion of friendship in a sharp relationship power trip that finds Wells (Some Girls) pitching up in LA after a romantic break-up and winding up working as PA to the more successful Mortimer (The Newsroom). It's a clever case of life imitating art, with appealing turns from both Mortimer and Wells mining laughs from what could be a very touchy subject.

Doll & Em on putting their friendship to a screen test

Best mates since they shared bathtimes, how will Dolly Wells and Emily Mortimer get on sharing the screen?

TV preview: Doll & Em

If Emily Mortimer and Dolly Wells have any regrets in their lives, it's filming the pilot for their new series - minus hair styling and make-up.

Emily Mortimer and Dolly Wells interview

The two actors - who have been friends since childhood - have written a comedy drama about a star who hires her best friend as her assistant.

Radio Times review

TV action hero Kiefer Sutherland, in London filming a new series of his frenetic drama series 24, gets comfy on the Ross sofa tonight. He probably needs the rest - recent tabloid photos showed him on location running around a block of flats in the capital. After a four-year break the series returns to Sky1 later this year, with Bauer on the run from the CIA.

Also on the show is actress Emily Mortimer, talking about the faintly autobiographical sitcom she's made for Sky Living with best pal Dolly Wells, Doll & Em. And twinkly sex symbol Chris O'Dowd will tell Ross all about his role as a salsa dancer in the Nick Frost comedy film Cuban Fury.