Greg Davies (I)

Greg Davies interview

"I used my only drug trip to help play wasted dad."

This week, Ken's political dreams are dashed when his son beats up the son of a local Liberal Democrat. To add to his woes, his well-meaning wife has suggested a boys' night in with his hippy son-in-law, who wants to explore Ken's mind calendar. The evening progresses terribly, naturally, until Ken accidentally pops a couple of dodgy painkillers, declares his undying love and is soon boogying the night away dressed like one of Dexys Midnight Runners.

Comedian Greg Davies, who plays Ken, rarely underplays a gag, but tonight his demented capers put one in mind of a male Miranda (albeit
a rather manic Miranda). Far and away the funniest episode so far.

Greg Davies on gigs in Glasgow

It's the stuff of showbusiness legend now that a Glasgow audience can be the toughest crowd in the country.

Cuckoo pats his jacket-potato van lovingly. "If a fast-food van can save the world," he says, eyes alight, "and I think it can, then this is the van to do it." There's little wonder Cuckoo's father-in-law Ken is at the end of his tether.

Larger-than-life comedian Greg Davies plays Ken and gleefully overacts, his face crumpling like a toddler's, mid-tantrum. American actor Andy Samberg is his vacuous foil Cuckoo, oozing sincerity as he spouts utter tosh. Unsurprisingly, the rest of the cast can't compete with these two caricatures and when they're off screen the gags flounder.

Tonight there's a party to celebrate Cuckoo joining the family - but he's the least of Ken's worries.

It has to be said: BBC3's comedies are getting less fist-bitingly awful. This latest effort, which stars Andy Samberg as Cuckoo - a braid-wearing, full moon party casualty who finds himself married to a Midlands girl and living with her parents - is very passable. Its trump cards are the performances of Samberg and the pleasingly deadpan Greg Davies. This week Ken (Davies) is infuriated by the suggestion that he remove the World War II books from his study, so that Cuckoo can use the room for meditation without having his mellow harshed. But Ken's attempts to manipulate a house vote have awkward consequences for Dylan (Outnumbered's Tyger Drew Honey). It's not clear how long the scenario can be sustained and the show seems unhealthily reliant on the slightly incongruous star power of its lead but, for now, it's good fun.

I've tried to like Cuckoo (BBC3), I really have. I like the premise - girl goes gap-year travelling, comes back with floppy-upper-lipped American new-age husband. He's not quite what girl's family had in mind for her.

People I know and whose judgment I trust (did trust) have told me they think it's funny. But the girl (Tamla Kari) is so dippy that it's hard to feel anything for her except annoyance. The comedy is mainly based around the generational/ideological gap and tension between husband (Andy Samberg) and dad (Greg Davies); but it's overdone, forced, not recognisable or real. Nor is it surreal, or bold. It's just a little bit silly really.

Greg Davies: I have a terrible work ethic

Greg Davies - all 6ft 8in of him - is perched on a pub stool looking like a man in dire need of a cigarette.

The plot of Cuckoo revolved around Rachel - an 18-year-old who initially had a touch of the Saffy-from-Ab-Fab about her - who returned from her gap year married to our eponymous hero after meeting him at a Full Moon Party.

Hearing your daughter wed a hirsute hippy in a 'genuine Thai ceremony on a beach' and that you could have known about it earlier, if only you'd checked your Facebook messages, is not exactly every parent's dream. In fact, it's something of a nightmare. The reaction of Greg Davies and Helen Baxendale's characters was a little off in this sense, as you'd imagine the revulsion of such involved, middle-class parents at such a situation would be slightly more hysterical than the script seemed to allow for.

But generally, this inaugural episode was pretty hard to fault. It wasn't side-splitting at all times, but as amusing, smart and inventive comedies go, it worked. Tamla Kari as Rachel was the weak link here, but that's fine, because despite her story being at the centre of Cuckoo, it's not Rachel who is the point of this series; it's her parents and her new husband.

And by the looks of things, the strong performances by Samberg, Davies and Baxendale will be enough to carry this amusing effort throughout the entire series.

Back in the dark old days of 'children should be seen and not heard', there used to be a thing called the Generation Gap. I thought that, in these days when parents fall over themselves to be their kids' best mates, older sisters/brothers, anything but actually parents, that it had disappeared. But maybe not.

On the surface, Cuckoo (BBC3) was a gap year comedy, with a wacky middle-class daughter returning to her suburban home with hippy husband in tow. Cue much middle-class outrage. But for all its contemporary setting, Cuckoo is a throwback to 1970s sitcoms, parents and offspring beamed in from different planets, the old and new worlds banging heads in the hope of getting some dizzy laughs.

And there are some, thanks to a barnstorming turn from Greg Davies as the dad, Ken, appalled his daughter has hitched her wagon to New Age American airhead Cuckoo when he'd been hoping for a 'a doctor, a lawyer... an Aston Villa supporter'. It was hard not to feel Ken's pain.

There's the seed of a good idea here but the daughter is such a dipstick and Andy Samberg's Cuckoo so - Ken's description - vapid, it was hard to believe anyone, even BBC3's target youth audience, wouldn't have lined up on Ken's side of the gap. There'll be a journey - maybe they'll all learn to love each other, but it's going to be hard to swallow.

Greg Davies interview

6ft 8in Inbetweeners actor Greg Davies is starring as husband to Friends and Cold Feet beauty Helen Baxendale in a new sitcom. 'Me married to Helen Baxendale? Like THAT would happen in real life'.