Ruth Jones (I)

It's rarely a good idea to base a series on a song title.

Especially, when the next line of that song goes, "and don't you come back no more".

In an instant, Jack Whitehall manages to erase all the comedy kudos he acquired from his role in Fresh Meat with this new series which finds him travelling around the UK, moving in with a local family to learn more about regional culture.

And if you think that sounds worryingly like what the comedians in ITV's disastrous stand-up contest Show Me The Funny had to do, you'd be dead right.

Tonight, he's at a working men's club in Cardiff, making jokes about Wales (really?), learning to sing with a male voice choir and trying to pass himself off as a rugby coach.

All this is bad enough, but any show that invites Ruth Jones on and doesn't let her be funny, is asking for a slap.

The very funny Jack Whitehall launches a fairly
funny show of his own. In the way of comedians' first solo TV outings, it's a little fiddly and over-engineered (see also Sarah Millican on BBC2) but cheerful and charming, too, like the man himself.

The idea is that Jack immerses himself in a different part of the UK each week, starting in Wales, where
he joins a male voice choir and gets a cameo in Pobol y Cwm. There are pranky bits (he poses as an alternative sports guru and tricks some rugby players into pretending to be animals) and a guest (Ruth Jones) and a bit of music and a bit of stand-up and yes, it's all a bit scattered and frantic, but good fun.

At just 23, Jack Whitehall has been a fixture on TV's comedy panel game circuit for years and his recent appearance in the hit student sitcom Fresh Meat has won him a new set of fans. Now Channel 4 gives him a show of his own for the first time - in which he tours the country, mingling with locals and getting unsuspecting families to put him up before his gigs. He starts tonight in South Wales, playing a cameo role in Welsh soap Pobol y Cwm and, in inspired disguise, taking on the training session of a rugby team. It's all good fun but the broad humour definitely makes it deserving of this post-watershed slot. With guests Ruth Jones and Lethal Bizzle.

We're big fans of Jack Whitehall here at Digital Spy and we're dying to see whether he can shine in his first big solo TV outing. It's a bit of a strange premise, to be honest, blending together character-based comedy with elements of chatshows and travel documentaries as Jack sets off on a comedy tour of the UK. The first episode sees him joining a male choir and coaching a rugby team in Wales, before having a sit down with Miss Gavin & Stacey herself, Ruth Jones.

As the series concludes tonight, you might well find yourself wondering how on Earth titular heroine Stella (Ruth Jones) stays so cheerful the whole time.

Will anything make her cry? Getting dumped by toyboy boxer boyfriend Sean, perhaps?

Saying bon voyage to eldest son Luke as he leaves for Canada?

Or how about wishing farewell to Luke's father - and her first love - Rob?

A lesser woman would get through a box of man-sized Kleenex with that lot - and that's before Ruth's writing buddy, James Corden, unexpectedly turns up to whisk away yet another cast member.

Despite all this ­heartache, ­SuperStella remains ­resolutely dry-eyed and upbeat, and she's ­determined hunky Rob won't break down her defences like last week.

When the waterworks do come, it's over something entirely unexpected.

Turns out SuperStella's a regular human being after all.

The best of many, many good things about this lovely series? As it's gone on it's got funnier, even as more dramatic storylines have come in. It's because the laughs come from the characters, of course, and the finale gives all of them a resolution (of a kind - series two is coming), while slipping in more gags than ever.

As Big Alan ponders whether to tell bonkers Brummie Nancy to go away, and Emma and Sunil tackle the problem of their son's birth coming days before their wedding, we're most interested in the love triangle between Stella (creator/writer Ruth Jones), nice boxer Sean and estranged hunk Rob.

The notion of a first love never dying has been strongly handled, carried by the performances of Jones and the serenely imposing Mark Lewis Jones as Rob. There's quite a bit more of the story to tell.

Ruth Jones's enjoyable and truthfully observed series draws to a conclusion. Another season has already been commissioned and is due next year. As the family celebrate the birth of Emma's (Catrin Stewart) new baby, Stella (Jones) can't get her first love Rob (Mark Lewis Jones) out of her head. Meanwhile Emma and Sunil (Rory Girvan) decide to make up their own rules regarding their wedding ceremony, and Bobby (Aled Pugh) hands in his notice after announcing plans to move to Bristol with his new boyfriend (James Corden).

It's no surprise that Ruth Jones's great warm-hearted series has been re-commissioned for another 10-week run.

Its sense of community is what people are dreaming of in all those Escape To The Country programmes before they realise, too late, that they've swapped city life for a 30-mile round trip to the shops.

Stella may be at the centre of this universe, but we care about the other characters just as much.

Whether it's her brother Dai, who's up in court, lollipop man Alan who is dismayed by Nancy's announcement at dinner to celebrate their one month anniversary, or Stella's daughter Emma who goes into labour in the middle of a GCSE exam.

Stella is about to become a grandmother - and as tonight's penultimate episode begins she's more worried about missing her son Luke, when he goes to work with his dad in Canada.

By the episode's end, though, you realise that it's not just Luke who she doesn't want to leave.

Having created a solid set of characters, Ruth Jones has bravely loaned them to other writers for the odd episode. This week, Ben Edwards and Simon Ludders step in to deliver big developments and fantastic comic set-pieces. Sweet, stupid Karl is on top form painting Emma and Sunny's nursery, while Big Alan's crazed admirer Nancy corners him during a persistently weird meal.

Funniest of all is Dai's court appearance: moving our beloved gang of earthy eccentrics to somewhere august creates hysteria.

Ruth Jones's assured series offers another tip-top episode, in which Emma (Catrin Stewart) sits her final exam and goes into labour. Meanwhile, Stella is still upset about the revelation that her son Luke has decided that he wants to move to Canada with his estranged father Rob.