Russell Tovey

Poor old Steve. As he battles on through his best man's speech, you can almost touch the tumbleweed. He's been hung out to dry by bridegroom Paul's indiscretions and Becky's ex Lee (Nick Blood, so creepily smooth if makes your flesh crawl) undermining him at every turn. He wants the ground to open up and swallow him - and he's not the only one. Russell Tovey stars in the terrific comedy that's an unholy marriage of Carry On and Beckett.

Radio Times review

The wedding from hell continues with the speeches: always ripe fodder for comedy and writer Stefan Golaszewski doesn't disappoint. Like many of the guests, you don't know whether to laugh or grimace at the father-of-the-bride's weak jokes and unwitting double entendres.

It's poor Steve (the superlative Russell Tovey snuffling like a puppy dog that's been kicked) who suffers the most. His off-the-internet best man's speech goes down like a lead balloon, to the delight of Becky's suave ex-boyfriend. As for the obnoxious bride, she's still reeling from last week's distressing revelation and gulps down wine like there's no tomorrow.

What would any bride do if she discovered a deal-breaking secret about her bridegroom just before they were about to exchange vows? If you're the borderline psycho Laura (Kerry Howard), you... well, that would be telling. In another terrific slice of cringe-making black comedy starring Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani, the wedding from hell takes yet more twists and turns, with bridesmaid Becky's big secret putting her under her sister's thumb with horribly embarrassing consequences.

The deliciously odious bride prances down the aisle for a ceremony as excruciating as it is funny. She preens on a throne guzzling chocolates, the groom slumps beside her texting his lover and poor old Becky must perform a surprise reading. Sarah Solemani and Russell Tovey are as brilliantly understated as ever as reluctant bridesmaid and best man who spend much of this episode shooting each other rueful looks across the marquee. Yet tonight they're upstaged by Kerry Howard, who plays the bridezilla to perfection. By the end you almost - almost - feel sorry for her.

'Have a cool one', advises Steve (Russell Tovey) breezily as the guests for Paul and Laura's wedding arrive. Just the sort of lame remark that Becky (Sarah Solemani) can't let lie, and also a warning that what follows will be anything but 'cool'.

While Becky, realising too late that chief bridesmaid equals dogsbody, is trapped in a limo with the exquisitely awful Laura (a magnificent Kerry Howard), Steve is firefighting desperately as Paul's doubts multiply. And then there's Becky's ex, Lee, charming everybody while needling the best man.

With this final series, H&H is staking a claim to be the best sitcom BBC Three has ever produced - no mean feat in the wake of Gavin & Stacey, Nighty Night and Pulling. It captures all the social awkwardness and personality clashes of a wedding with none of the actual happiness - so acute and so excruciating that you can't watch, but you can't switch off either.

Him & Her is by the far the best sitcom to have ever landed up on BBC Three, and surely the only one with roots in Harold Pinter. The swansong series, Him & Her: the Wedding, in which Laura and Paul's nuptials unfold over four episodes, is, as it should be, dominated by the bride with Kerry Howard's performance as invincibly monstrous Laura surely heading for a comedy award.

Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani are taking more of a back seat in this series. Becky quite literally as the long-suffering bridesmaids joined Laura for a limo ride from hell.

And if one sequence demonstrated the assurance of Stefan Golaszewski's comedy, it was the one where Laura had her head out of the limo sunroof, abusing passers-by and being ignored by the bridesmaids as they enjoyed a respite from her tyranny by sending text messages.

"Observational comedy" is an over-used term, but this was the real McCoy.

No doubt there are purists out there who are dismayed to see that loved-up slackers Becky and Steve have been released from the captivity of their bedsit and allowed out into the wild.

Certainly, we've never seen them looking quite this clean before.

And after three series in which almost nothing happened, creator Stefan ­Golaszewski has gone to the other extreme, by bringing us a single day that is so eventful it takes up the whole series.

But the comedy, Becky and Steve's relationship and the chemistry between actors Sarah ­Solemani and Russell Tovey are all more than strong enough to thrive in this unfamiliar atmosphere.

And that's even if in tonight's second episode the couple are physically separated for minutes at a time (let's not forget that we're talking about a man who, when he proposed, admitted that he missed Becky when she went to the toilet).

The momentous occasion that has lured them outside is the wedding of Becky's toxic sister Laura.

And while Steve is on best man duties back at the hotel, Becky is in the back of a limo watching the bride pick fights with pedestrians through the sunroof.

How Becky has got this far in life without shoving Laura's head down numerous toilets goes to show what a wonderful person she must be.

Meanwhile Paul, the terrified groom, is desperately trying to avoid becoming Becky's brother-in-law.

And all he needs Steve to do is fake a heart attack.

Can't see a problem with that.

Five reasons why Him & Her is the best sitcom on TV

The cult comedy starring Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani is back. Claire Webb explains why you'd be a fool to miss out on the fourth and final series...

Don't expect romance from the fourth and final series of this cult comedy, in which Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani play the eponymous couple: as grubby, beleaguered and endearing as ever. Do expect to wince and guffaw by turns.

For the first time, we see Steve (Him) and Becky (Her) outside their dingy bedsit. They're holed up in a second-rate hotel for her delectably odious sister Laura's big day. Sharing their pain is Shelly, sporting a terracotta spray tan; her mangy lover; Becky's dapper ex-boyfriend; and the bride's baby, who is passed from pillar to post. But where oh where is the groom? This is a perfect antidote to those sickly sweet rom-coms so beloved by Hollywood.

The jewel in BBC3's comedy crown begins its lap of honour with a final series set on a single day. The appalling Laura and the pathetic Paul are tying the knot, Becky is the main bridesmaid, Steve is the best man and chaos is sure to ensue.

We'd wondered if this scenario might be a touch too busy for a show that has often specialised in doing nothing much, very slowly and very charmingly for whole episodes at a time. But on the evidence of this opener, it should work fine: Steve and Becky (further showcasing the remarkable chemistry of Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani) are the still point around which a series of bizarre, hideous and unbelievable events seems likely to swirl - and we're sure they'll take it in their collective stride.

A word too for Kerry Howard, whose Laura is surely one of the most unbearable creations in TV history - she manages to infuse Laura's every moment of screentime with a uniquely noxious mixture of selfishness, neediness and spite. We can only hope her career survives the association...