Patricia Hodge

A triple bill from the queen of affable slapstick. This binge includes the episode in which Miranda's plan to take French classes backfires when she runs into a loathed former teacher, played by Peter Davison - whose occasional TV appearances are a reminder of his exemplary timing. It also includes the one with the Officer and a Gentleman ending and the usual sterling support from Sarah Hadland, Sally Phillips and Patricia Hodge.

Radio Times review

Penned by seasoned playwright Shelagh Stephenson, this comedy series pits Anna (Haydn Gwynne) and Jim (Blackadder star Tim McInnerny) against a succession of wearisome and tactless guests as they take up the couple's offer, made to all and sundry, of a quiet weekend at their rural home.

Unfortunately, most of those who take them at their word are the ones they never in a million years dreamt would turn up. And guests, like fish, tend to stink after three days. This week it's the turn of uncompromising elderly couple Joan (Patricia Hodge) and Colin (Ron Cook), who love their bagpipe music, to go rancid on them.

Miranda, Stevie and Tilly come over all cougar when a gorgeous doctor (Adam Rayner - hunky Aidan from Hunted) steps into Miranda's lair to tend to her mother. Penny (Patricia Hodge) is feeling a bit poorly, so she's crashed on her daughter's sofabed. As it takes up half the flat, there's not much room left for Miranda to do anything other than pander to her mother's every whim. It's what you might call a nightmare. No - it is a nightmare!

Our cack-handed heroine is still together with Mike (Bo Poraj), and tells us she's every inch the sophisticated girlfriend (she now owns a pashmina). But is the strain getting to her? Miranda's inappropriateness reaches new heights during a chaotic dinner party, ending with what seems like a hefty broadside at her critics. You go girl!

It's a riotous episode, and many of the best lines fall to Patricia Hodge. Thanks to her role as Miranda's eccentric mother, Hodge is fast approaching national-treasure status. Such fun.

As series three of Miranda Hart's espresso-fuelled sitcom continues, mum Penny (wonderfully game Patricia Hodge) humiliates our heroine by standing for local government. And to compound the misery, man-that-got-away Gary now has a perky new girlfriend, so Miranda goes clubbing, together with Stevie and Tilly. The friends' competitive dating, and Miranda's inability to stop singing aloud, provide plentiful laughs, but her moustache-wearing at an inappropriate moment is the highlight.

Some purists claim there's no place for slapstick in comedy. Well, humbug to that. Miranda is blissfully funny and her legions of fans are right to ignore the loftier critics.

While it may be simplistic, archaic and just a little cheesy, Miranda Hart is so tragically loveable that we won't be able to help getting drawn into her ongoing relationship struggles with Gary (Tom Ellis) or attempts to please her mother (Patricia Hodge) by getting a new job. Episode two, which sees Miranda mortified after Penny decides to stand for local government, airs on New Year's Day. Miranda haters be warned - for the next few weeks you will be hearing the phrases "what I call", "bear with" and "such fun" everywhere.

Sip that sherry and surrender to the festive charms of Miranda. Even if you think falling over again and again doesn't constitute comic genius, there's something irresistible about a Christmas special. Miranda and the impossibly handsome Gary are on the brink of romance, but will they go any further? If past experience is anything to go by, that's as likely as Miranda joining a gospel choir. Which she does. There are giggles aplenty as she spectacularly fails on her first day in an office job, before going into business with her mother (Patricia Hodge, who's great).

Miranda Hart and her troupe of japers return for a third series of the popular sitcom - and it is more delightfully bonkers than ever. Despite the Christmas rush, Miranda's toy shop has succumbed to the recession and her mother (Patricia Hodge) is threatening to cancel the festivities altogether if her daughter doesn't shape up (well, down actually, as in dieting). Worst of all, though, she and Gary (Tom Ellis) have decided to be "just friends".

Patricia Hodge likes people shouting her catchphrase

Miranda's Patricia Hodge loves fans shouting the "Such fun!" catchphrase at her in the street.