Sarah Hadland

In an election where the Tories, to use Lynton Crosby's terminology, keep dropping dead cats on to the table, here come the creators of Drop The Dead Donkey. As they did with their 1990s news-com, Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin have written scripts with gaps, to be filled at the last minute with oven-hot satire. The action flips between various shades of panic on board the Labour, Conservative, Lib Dem and Ukip battle buses. A strong cast is led by Ben Miller, Sarah Hadland and the lord high chancellor of topical zingers, Hugh Dennis.

Sarah Hadland: I want to do a Miranda film

Sarah Hadland recently hinted that she and Miranda Hart planned to reunite - and now she's revealed that their BBC One sitcom might be getting a big screen outing. "I'm hopeful that we will do a film," she told chat show host Alan Carr.

Sarah Hadland: Miranda & I may well work together again

The comedy actresses, who played best friends Miranda and Stevie in Hart's hit BBC One sitcom, have another project in the pipeline. And it's not Call the Midwife...

Sarah Hadland interview

"We've given them an alternative to all the perfect women that they see on television"

Sarah Hadland: saying a final farewell to Miranda

"I read it all, ringing her in between and going, 'Reaaaaally? Is that what's going to happen?!'" says Hadland, who plays best friend Stevie in the hit BBC One sitcom.

Back for a second series was ITV2 comedy The Job Lot. Starring the excellent Russell Tovey (Him & Her, HBO's Looking) as Karl, an art history graduate working in a Midlands job centre. It could, you suppose provide an interesting conceit. Therein lies the problem. The high jinx contained in the wacky world of a job centre sounds so much like a neat pitch for a sitcom that it makes everything a bit too, well, sitcom-y. Tovey is straight man, longing to escape, Sarah Hadland's Trish Collingwood is a boss who actually says the line "I'm your boss. I also want to be your best friend". Stand-up Jo Enright is the supercilious jobsworth with ambitions for a promotion. It's all a bit assistant to the regional manager in its ambitions.

The opening episode is also littered with sex. And I use that verb literally. We begin with Trish having slept over at Karl's flat, we later saw her having sex behind a bin. She said: "After the drought comes the flood, and I am ready to get soaking wet." Trish also introduces a new member of staff thus: "She's a virgin [long beat] a job-centre virgin!" HAHAHAHA SEX!

Which is a shame because it has the basis of something that could be quite rewarding. If only it had a bit more confidence in its characters, like the deadpan nerdism of Adeel Akhtar's George.

Sarah Hadland, Angela Curran, Laura Aikman interview

I spoke to Sarah Hadland who plays the manager of Brownall Job Centre, Angela Curran who plays security guard Janette and Laura Aikman who joins the cast for Series 2 playing deputy manager Natalie. Here's what they each had to say...

Sarah Hadland interview

She was told she'd never make an actor - that was before shooting to the top as Miranda Hart's TV sidekick. Now Sarah Hadland is set for her debut stage comedy with Robert Webb.

This low-key sitcom set in a job centre potters along to its penultimate episode and yet again nothing much happens, though it remains mildly diverting and good-hearted. The terrible Angela (Jo Enright) buys a new coffee machine with lottery winnings, while sweet-natured Karl (Russell Tovey) falls for a minx of a barmaid who also turns out to be a claimant. And she likes taking risks, as he finds out to his mortification.

Meanwhile, manager Trish (Sarah Hadland) is doing appraisals, which means she insists on close proximity to her employees...