Phil Mealey

Early Doors review

Full of geniality and honest humour, the stage incarnation is a real crowd-pleaser, guaranteed - with the aid of an unexpected musical finale - to send the audience home with an inner glow equivalent to a couple of large brandies. Doubles all round!

Theatre review: Early Doors at the Lowry, Salford

An updating of the BBC sitcom does a fine, if predictable job of recapturing the ready wit and meandering storytelling of the original.

Craig Cash and Phil Mealey interview

Early Doors stars Craig Cash and Phil Mealey on bringing their Stockport pub comedy back to life on stage.

Video: Craig Cash and Phil Mealey interview

Craig Cash and Phil Mealey talk about returning to Early Doors.

The second of the new Comedy Playhouse season is written by The Royle Family's Craig Cash and Phil Mealey. Five seemingly disparate groups of people discuss their lives to camera, including Brenda and Roger, who run the "Brenroger" B&B, elderly couple Milton and Pearl, fixated with their smoke alarm, and brothers Martin and Tom. It's Alan Bennett with more swearing and a decent cast (Timothy West, Alison Steadman), but ultimately not quite as touching, clever or as funny as it thinks it is.

The Function Room is something which I read about earlier this year and I thought sounded really good - a possible rival for Craig Cash and Phil Mealey's brilliant pub sitcom Early Doors from the early 00s. And I have to say - aside from the annoyingly loud studio audience - I liked it.

The cast was brilliant - Trollied's Beverly Rudd, The Inbetweeners' Blake Harrison, The Vicar of Dibley's James Fleet to name just a few. There was even a great late appearance from Psychoville's and one quarter of The League of Gentlemen's, Reece Shearsmith. With such a strong cast, I had a certain faith in The Function Room before it even started... and that faith paid off.

It took a while but right from the moment a disgruntled Rudd uttered the word "Bergetw*t", I found this show very funny.

I think the key to The Function Room, and something which seems to be missing from quite a few comedies nowadays, is strong characters. From a very theatrical actor (Fleet), to a passionate busy-body who generally objects to everything (Daniel Rigby, the one who plays the slightly odd flatmate in the BT ads), and to a young, outspoken couple who only seemed to be at the 'Meet the Police' meeting 'for the craic' (Harrison and Rudd).

The Function Room definitely has legs and should be picked up by Channel 4 even just as a three-part series. It's far more deserving than Verry Terry!

Another chance to catch the under-the-radar 2003 sitcom from Phil Mealey and long-term Caroline Aherne collaborator Craig Cash, which centred around the comings and goings of a Manchester pub. Naturalistically played, subtle and well worth sticking with.