Emma Fryer (I)

Home Time is another excellent Baby Cow comedy where the basis of the story is completely believable, and the narrative drags you in. It starts with a very obvious joke and, for a minute, you think that you are going to watch a BBC3 version of Sorry - but by the end you are completely drawn into this comic hell.

I am sure that if one of my best friends was a reincarnation of Badger from The Apprentice, I would have disappeared for 12 years, which is the premise for the series - what and where has Gaynor been since 1997 when she ran away on her 18th birthday?

Now 29, she's back, and I for one will be following her journey mainly because, like Gavin and Stacey, you completely care about the characters. It is written by, and stars, Emma Fryer, who plays Gaynor with a sensitivity and vulnerability that brings out the comedy brilliantly. First episodes are notoriously hard to do but the team behind Home Time have cracked it.

Our friends at Baby Cow may have another hit comedy on their hands with Home Time. The six-part series centres on lead character Gaynor Jacks (played by Emma Fryer), who returns home to her parents' house at the age of 29 after having run away 12 years earlier. Life hasn't changed much - her mother is still obsessively nosy, her father is narcoleptic and it's impossible to do anything without the rest of Coventry knowing about it.

We don't know why Gaynor ran away on the eve of her 18th birthday, or why she returned, but her crew of Sex And The City mates demand an explanation before taking her back. It's a charming comedy with some hilarious moments and taps into the trend of young adults returning home to live with their parents.

Co-Writer Neil Edmond's blog

"First off, I'm not Emma Fryer. What with her being leggy and funny and a talented oil painter, I wish I was. I dare say you'd prefer to read a blog by her, too, with its implicit waft of perfume and a hint of knickers. Sorry."

Hold on to your remote control units, Home Time is that dispiritingly rare thing in a new comedy: it's funny. Gaynor, beautifully played by co-writer Emma Fryer, is a mixed-up 29-year-old who left her native Coventry at 17 and hasn't been seen since, even by her parents. Her old friends, still furious with her for doing a runner and not having the decency to come back even when Diana died, have stayed, stagnating, in "Cov". It's slickly and engagingly done, as we might expect of Baby Cow, the production company that gave us Gavin & Stacey. Of course, expectations are routinely dashed by television. But these might just last the course.

With the exception of BBC4's Getting On, British comedy has been suffering from a lack of inspiration lately, with sub-par sketch shows sucking the life out of it. It's a pleasure, then, to come across Home Time, which is as smart and original as it is sad and funny. Ideal's Emma Fryer co wrote the series and stars as Gaynor, the 29-year-old Coventry native who suddenly returns to her home town after 12 years in London: "A lot's changed . . . We've got an Ikea now." It's perfectly observed and deserves to do well.

This was a promising idea for a comedy series. Gaynor returns to her parents' home in Coventry after ten years in London. She left home on her 18th birthday to start a new life, burning her bridges and losing all contact with family and friends. Now she's back with her tail between her legs, feeling bruised and vulnerable and unsure about how everyone will react to her return. It was co-written by and stars the comedian Emma Fryer, who says: "I realised anyone can move away and re-invent themselves. But the people you grew up with know the truth. They've seen you doing a rap about recycling in school assembly." Unfortunately, it sounds better than it is. Comedy and drama can work together seamlessly, but it is unsettling when the two are jostling for pole position.

Everyone says new comedies should be allowed a few episodes to bed down, though I've never understood why - who has the time to stick with something just in case it gets better? Which brings us to Home Time, from the Baby Cow stable that brought you Gavin & Stacey. It's an odd one - strangely flat and with a very irritating central character: a woman who left Coventry for London aged 17 and returns 12 years later to live with her parents. Her room hasn't changed, the East 17 poster is still on the wall and Oasis are still in the CD player. And her parents still treat her as if she's a wayward teenager. Most of her friends have stayed trapped in a 1997 time warp. Despite its shortcomings, there's a germ of something in Home Time that could turn out to be quite good, if you do have time to stay with it. There are some funny lines and writers Emma Fryer and Neil Edmond have captured the horrors of going back to an old life. But it should have been tried out on BBC3 first.

This promising new sitcom comes from Baby Cow - the same company that gave us Gavin & Stacey. And on the strength of this first episode it deserves the same kind of success.

Emma Fryer (who co-wrote it with her mate Neil Edmond) stars as 29-year-old Gaynor Jacks. Gaynor left her home in Coventry just days before her 18th birthday for the bright lights of London. Now, 12 years later, she's come back to her home town with her tail between her legs - to face the smothering, over-protective love of her mum and dad and the wrath of her three former best mates.

They're furious with her for leaving without a word and also resentful of the notion that London might possibly offer anything you can't get in Coventry. It's the sort of understated, subtle and very clever comedy that you really need to discover for yourself.

And, like Pulling and Getting On, it's a joy to see another sitcom about real women.

With the exception of BBC4's Getting On, British comedy has been suffering from a lack of inspiration lately, with sub-par sketch shows sucking the life out of it. It's a pleasure, then, to come across Home Time, which is as smart and original as it is sad and funny. Ideal's Emma Fryer co wrote the series and stars as Gaynor, the 29-year-old Coventry native who suddenly returns to her home town after 12 years in London: "A lot's changed . . . We've got an Ikea now." It's perfectly observed and deserves to do well.

There's something wonderful struggling to emerge in this new comedy with Emma Fryer as Gaynor, a washed-up 30 year-old returning to the home town she fled with high ambitions when she was 18. It's a great premise and even if much of the humour feels more adolescent than adult there's still plenty to enjoy in it.