Ruth Jones (I)

Ruth Jones's Welsh sitcom ambles on pleasantly but uneventfully in this third episode. The death of a local rugby legend promises to revive ailing fortunes when a lavish funeral is planned. Most of the humour revolves around the fact that his name was 'Dick', an innuendo that's repeated way too many times even before guest star Neil Kinnock gets saddled with it during his speech (his performance is fine, mind you - they have the sense to put him behind a lectern where he's at home). Eamonn Holmes also appears in a tailor-made Sky News broadcast, but other than that this is decidedly unremarkable and never hilarious. Still, props for having a hot younger guy, Sean (Kenny Doughty) mooning after Jones's mumsy character, rather than the other way around.

Ruth Jones's refreshing comedy drama continues. Wedding preparations are in full swing for Emma's shotgun union to Sunil, and Stella is looking forward to Luke's homecoming from prison. But the town comes to a standstill when local rugby legend Dick the Kick dies suddenly and all attention turns to giving him a hero's funeral. All of which is good news for alcoholic funeral director Paula, who could really use the cash. A great cast and some quietly confident writing are underpinned with just enough warmth to avoid the whole thing melting to a sticky, gooey mess.

Under the guidance of Gavin & Stacey's co-writer Ruth Jones, who also stars, comedy drama Stella has fast found its mark. Quick-witted, understated and charming, the second episode finds forthysomething single mother Stella (Jones) juggling the upcoming marriage of her teenage daughter Emma (Catrin Stewart) and the imminent release of her son from jail. But first thereis the death of hometown Welsh legend "Dick the Kick", and the town is determined to give him a proper send off (cue an appearance by Neil Kinnock).

Stella, Ruth Jones's new comedy for Sky1, has a lot more emotional texture to it. It began with a horribly clunky line of exposition: "I was only 17 when I had you, remember?" Stella told her oldest son as she visited him in prison. "Not much cop, am I?... Past 40, divorced, three kids, haven't had sex for years." After that, though, it just steadily got better - a rueful account of midlife crisis that divides its affections equally between the lead character and the small Welsh town in which she lives. It got better fast as well.

"Everything's... still... all right then?" Stella asked her son hesitantly, after bringing him up to date with the number of siblings he has. "I'm not being bummed, no," he replied wearily. Stella's best friend is an alcoholic undertaker, constantly monitoring her ability to drive the hearse with her own breathalyzer and struggling not to get the giggles when her clients' grief finds wayward expression. And the thing is full of moments of untidy, unexplained comedy, such as the sequence when we discovered a male character watching Cranford, approvingly muttering, "Dirty, dirty bitches" to himself.

Stella is played by Ruth Jones, co-creator of Gavin & Stacey, and this new 10-part comedy drama on Sky 1 doesn't stray too far from the formula of that hit show. In Stella, as before, Jones is endlessly watchable. As 42-year-old Stella struggles alone with her two children (and another in prison) in a Welsh valleys village, there are scenes of wry pathos - at one point, an unhappy Stella tries to fit into her 16-year-old daughter's outfits, with unfortunate results.

The problem, so far anyway, comes in the cast of orbiting characters: Stella's dim ex, the lollipop man who lusts after her, and the libidinous older brother. By comparison with Gavin & Stacey's cutely defined personalities, each seems a bit of a cut-out here. Let's hope nine more one-hour episodes will smooth the rough edges.

If you were miffed when Ruth Jones stopped writing Gavin & Stacey with James Corden, don't worry - it freed her up to create this charming comedy.

Ruth plays the title character, a 42-year-old mum juggling her washing and ironing job with raising two of her kids, and visiting the third in jail.

She's the kind of character who could have easily become a caricature but in Jones's hands, she is nothing short of superb.

All of the other characters are brilliantly drawn, too. We especially like Stella's best friend Paula (Elizabeth Berrington), a fully functional alcoholic and a funeral director. The visual and verbal humour is sharp, but it is also subtle so you need to give the show your full attention.

You might, however, want to close your eyes when star turn Gillian McKeith appears. She's playing a Lizzie Webb-type version of herself. Gillian, lycra and a Swiss ball - we're going to have nightmares for years.

Ruth Jones has taken time over her first solo project - because she's subtly shifted genre. Stella has a friendly, multi-generational array of eccentrics, like the Welsh half of Gavin & Stacey, but it's definitely comedy drama: warm, undemanding, based on story and character more than gags.

Jones is Stella, a knackered divorcee with three kids, no money and no lover. You feel you know her within minutes. There's the odd superfluous line of exposition as we meet Stella's friends and family, because Jones is anxious that you get to know them, too. But when you do, you'll want to spend more Friday nights with them.

On Sky1 at 9pm there's a fine new comedy-drama called Stella, written by (and starring) Gavin & Stacey co-creator Ruth Jones.

Set in the Welsh valleys and featuring the impressively slimmed-down Ruth as a divorced mum of three, Stella isn't a laugh-every-20-seconds kind of show, and it's not meant to be, but it's got some strong characters and some great lines and I'm confident fans are going to warm to it.

Since James Corden pissed his claim to be a talented comic writer up the wall with Horne & Corden, it's easy to give all the credit for Gavin & Stacey to Ruth Jones. But although she created and wrote this tale of a single mum in small-town Wales - and the geographical parallels are obvious - Stella is far more comedy drama than sitcom. Gavin... was played largely for laughs with the heartwarming stuff as a backdrop, but here the laughter is secondary to the emphasis on Jones's relationships with her ex, her kids and the barren wasteland of her sex life. Jones puts in a predictably impeccable performance but - on the evidence of this first episode - this doesn't sparkle as much as you might have hoped. The jury's out for now.