Peter Kay

Peter Kay's Car Share is a direct descendant of Victoria Wood's brand of northern soulful comedy: deceptively simple, heartwarming, and delighting in the inherently naff. The first series garnered loads of praise and became one of the most watched shows on BBC iPlayer thanks to its basic but lovely premise: two colleagues who fancy each other a bit commute to work in a car. Now back for a second series, though with only four episodes, it's more of the same, though Kayleigh has moved in with her sister and, for the first half of the episode, commutes to work by public transport. In such a small upholstered world this counts as a major plot shift.

They share about a million phone calls as John (Kay) listens to the Now That's What I Call Music! (48) CD Kayleigh has given him, singing lustily along to Hear'Say's Pure and Simple and picking his nose and looking at it. There's a road rage encounter with an elderly cyclist that by the end of the working day has gone viral on YouTube, and a singalong to Bardo's One Step Further playing on Forever FM (which is still "playing timeless hits now and forever"). Mostly, though, this is comedy so gentle I didn't actually laugh.

What Car Share needs is a pair of jump leads

The slowest-moving love affair on telly is back. A traffic jam on the M62 shifts like Concorde compared to the romance between John and Kayleigh in Peter Kay's Car Share.

Preview - Car Share

Car Share is a brilliant sitcom, in that thanks to it that it became cool to like Peter Kay again.

The beautifully observed comedy returns and, since we have been away, Kayleigh (Sian Gibson) has moved in with her sister. This means she's not commuting to work with John (Peter Kay), so the two instead wibble away via mobile. Barring a spot of bother involving a cyclist and a water bottle, not much happens, but the will-they-won't-they dynamic and dialogue are more than enough in themselves. Kayleigh: "I thought you'd gone all Darren Drown." John: "Derren ..."

What Peter Kay's Car Share playlist can tell us

Stuart Maconie has been a friend of the comedian for decades - here he reveals how they bonded over pop music and being altar boys.

Peter Kay's Car Share Series 2 preview

Car Share is predominantly more 'warm feeling inside' comedy than the laugh-out-loud sort, though it certainly has its moments of the latter.

Peter Kay's Car Share playlist by the numbers

Here are the tracks pumping out of John's car - with a bit of statistical analysis thrown in.

TV preview: Car Share, BBC1/iPlayer

If you are looking for romance to blossom you will have to wait a little longer.

Peter Kay: comedy grafter gets back in the driving seat

The crowd-pleasing performer who runs all his gags past his mother returns with the Bafta award-winning Car Share.

10 people you didn't expect to find in Royston Vasey

Given that the 100+ characters in the turn-of-the-century comedy horror The League Of Gentlemen are almost entirely played by three actors, you will probably be surprised to learn about these A-list cameos.