Neil Dudgeon

Artist Grayson Perry is a busy bee. The Turner Prize-winning potter picked up a Bafta for documentary series In The Best Possible Taste, dressed as alter-ego Claire. He's also announced a new series - to be screened next year - exploring contemporary British identity.

And tonight he turns his hand to drama, teaming up with writer and director Kate Hardie to create a tale which draws heavily on Perry's own experiences as a transvestite. The action follows the first faltering footsteps of Gary (Tom Brooke) as he ventures out in public for the first time as a woman, while fellow transvestite Jim (Neil Dudgeon, DCI Barnaby from Midsomer Murders) offers him moral support.

Grayson Perry is one of the names - alongside writer/director Kate Hardie - behind this touching tale of a transvestite struggling to come to terms with his urge to dress as a woman. The fear and self-loathing plaguing young Gary (Tom Brooke) are made flesh in the form of Tommy McDonnell's Frank, an obnoxious "inner voice" that adds pathos to a subtle drama that probes aspects of self-identity with wit and intelligence. Neil Dudgeon and Claire Skinner add sterling support.

I think some enterprising media student should do some work on the centrality of the live-in kitchen in the contemporary sitcom. Think how often you see them in domestic comedies (My Family, Outnumbered, Absolutely Fabulous, Lead Balloon), in part, I guess, because they provide a reasonably plausible intersection for every generation of a family. The sitting room, intriguingly, is more frequently used for quieter scenes between just a couple of characters, suggesting that it has taken on the role of an Elizabethan "withdrawing room" (which, as Dr Worsley explained, was the origin of the drawing room). Beyond that, I'm not sure I have a lot to say about Life of Riley, a blended-family comedy that stars Caroline Quentin and Neil Dudgeon. It offers some funny moments and a masterclass in comic acting from Marcia Warren, but it too often goes for retreads of over-familiar jokes, such as a daughter-mother reversal in respect of sexual censoriousness. It's the opposite of Marmite. If you like it I reckon you're going to like it in a take-it-or-leave-it kind of way. And if you don't, you're going to find it tricky to get heated about the fact. It does include a rather sweet baby, though, greeted with a collective crooning "Aahhh!" by the studio audience every time she appears. Which tells you quite a lot about the programme, actually.

To the near-universal bewilderment and depression of TV critics who must feel that their job is a futile one, Life of Riley returns for a third series and a run of eight episodes. The sort of sitcom you'd rather hoped they'd ceased to produce in this more naturalistic age, it sees Caroline Quentin and Neil Dudgeon preside over their combined brood of sons and daughters of varying ages and do battle with their neighbours, with substantially less than hilarious consequences. Tonight, Maddy braces herself to meet her mother's new boyfriend.

The BBC might have axed My Family, but it's still hanging grimly on to My Step-Family - aka Life Of Riley - to satisfy its government quota for safe, middle-class, domestic nonsense.

At the start of the third series our harassed mum Maddy (Caroline Quentin) is horrified to find out her mother (Marcia Warren) has a boyfriend.

It's the set-up for some shameless over-acting as well as a bit of comedy-by-numbers where staples like a puffy bridesmaid's dress and putting a pair of red pants in with a white wash can be expected to get big laughs.

There are some flashes of originality too - like when Maddy tries to persuade her mother not to go through with her wedding and then has to back-track several times.

There's also a lovely scene where Maddy and her husband (Neil Dudgeon) imagine how their lives would be without each other.

BBC1's controller recently announced he was axing middle-of-the-road sitcom My Family "to make room for new comedies". Yet here we have Caroline Quentin and Neil Dudgeon as harrassed mum Maddy and stoical dad Jim in a third series of the comfortable, middle-of-the-road, extended family-based sitcom. Like My Family the gags are heavily signposted yet gently delivered, and it's to the credit of the cast if you find yourself chortling. Quentin in a flouncy pink bridesmaid outfit is a vision I'll long remember. But while this has its wittier moments, it's fundamentally designed to appeal to everyone and offend no-one. Sounds familiar.

The Caroline Quentin comedy vehicle returns for a third run. She stars as a middle-aged, multi-tasking mother struggling to cope with her dysfunctional brood. Her stoical husband is played by Neil Dudgeon - aka the new Inspector Barnaby on Midsomer Murders. Perhaps he can investigate the dying jokes here and how this My Family-style sitcom got recommissioned. Tonight, Maddy (Quentin) meets her mother's new boyfriend. But her attempts to talk her out of the relationship lead to wedding plans and Maddy in a big, pink, puffy dress. My Family, incidentally, will air its final series later this year.

For those who find Green Green Grass too edgy, this inoffensive sitcom is back for a second series. Caroline Quentin plays Maddy, a hassled mother who lives with her second husband Jim and their respective children. Jim is played by Neil Dudgeon, who will be taking over the lead role in Midsomer Murders next year when John Nettles leaves. He'll find the killing fields of Midsomer positively soporific next to the frantic pace of the Riley household, where gags come thick and fast on the minutiae of family life.

Eight- to 12-year-olds will love this inoffensive family sitcom, which returns for a second series starring Caroline Quentin and Neil Dudgeon as a chaotic married couple attempting to corral their picturesquely badly behaved kids. Life of Riley can't possibly be aimed at grown-ups, what with its broad jokes about bottoms and the perils of incorrectly loading the dishwasher. The adults behave like kids, which is probably why young 'uns will enjoy it, and the kids are knowing, cheeky and annoying. It also features the world's oldest sight gag about that falling over backwards trust exercise, which even a late-developing toddler will see coming.