Sharon Horgan

This latest pilot has enough comic pedigree to split the funny atom. David Cross (Arrested Development) and Monkey Dust's Shaun Pye write - the cast includes Sharon Horgan, Will Arnett, Russell Tovey and even a blink-and-you'll-miss-it shot of Kristen Schaal. Cross is Todd, a desk monkey who's sent to London by Arnett to promote a hideous energy drink. It doesn't quite hold together, and is short a laugh or five, but the talent suggests it could still be worth a series.

The second sitcom try-out in C4's Comedy Showcase season, and this one packs some more heavyweight comedy credentials. It boasts Ricky Gervais as script editor - a solid gold seal of approval. Disappointingly, there's no sign of former EastEnders Dean Gaffney or Shaun Williamson who manned the phone shop in Extras. This one is staffed by Ashley and Jerwayne (Andrew Brooke and Javone Prince).

Emma Fryer's in it too, still wearing that dazed, sleepwalker expression that she used in BBC2's Home Time.

Tom Bennett is new boy Chris, trying to make his first sale in the cut-throat world of 24-month contracts and impress his sex addict boss (played by Martin Trenaman).

Written, directed and produced by Phil Bowker (who also produced Sharon Horgan's Pulling) I hope this one gets the go-ahead as a series too.

The cast gel together as if they've worked together for years and even manage to turn BNP leader Nick Griffin into joke fodder.

BBC3's amazing comedy Pulling tied up all its loose ends with an hour-long special. With a schedule littered with Two Pints of Lager and Freaky Eaters, the Sharon Horgan sitcom was one of the best things to come from BBC3 since its launch.

The great thing about Pulling is that its never afraid to push boundaries. It reminds me of the great early days of Shameless where you were never sure where it was going but the ride was always fun. Among the twists, this final episode featured a man jumping out of hot air balloon and ending up in a coma, a man tied to a chair with tampons stuffed in each ear, and Donna posing as an escort to get into a swanky London club.

I've loved Pulling since the start and had high hopes for this bittersweet finale. It lived up to them and I'll even admit screaming with laughter in places. I guess if It has to end there was no better way. I loved it but I can't help think what a shame it is that something so genuinely funny and relevant should be axed when we find it so difficult to produce decent comedies.

BBC3 execs are so desperate to stick to their demographic of young adults and I guess Pulling didn't fit perfectly into that brief but this was one of the best hours of television I've watched in a while. Even though the conclusion was left open, I'm grateful Sharon and Co were given the chance to give the series the end it deserved.

Video: Sharon Horgan talks to Tim Lovejoy

Sharon Horgan talks to Tim Lovejoy about the cancelling of Pulling. She explains that the BBC said to her that they weren't cancelling the show, but "continuing it in another form... by cancelling it."

Last night's Pulling was a special, hour-long episode to bring to an end a sitcom that, for two series, has been the anti-Friends: single men and women in their thirties who are not cuddly and chummy and cute, but washed-up and bitchy and sour as vinegar.

The episode was a rush of couplings and un-couplings. Donna (Sharon Horgan), the harpy at Pulling's shrivelled heart, rowed with her boyfriend, made a play for her ex, proposed to her boyfriend, went back to her ex... By the credits their fate still wasn't resolved. Well, Pulling was never likely to give us a happy ending.

The most crass lines were sometimes the weakest: "I'm a lot deeper than I thought," bragged Donna. Comedy pause. "Does this dress make my nipples stick out enough?" The best lines tended to be the lighter, sillier ones, such as when the drippy Greg (Tom Brooke) simpered, "What's your favourite kind of puppy? I like brown. They're more loyal."

It's a pity Pulling's gone. Supposedly the commissioners scrapped it because it looked out of place on BBC Three. Pulling was funny, smart and generally well-written. So yes, the commissioners were right.

Not a few people were puzzled that Pulling should have been shown the door while lesser comedies thrived, but BBC3 obviously felt bad enough about it to give Sharon Horgan's comedy a farewell special. It was funny and - for fans wishing to clutch at straws - ended with a scene that screamed To Be Continued.

Shame on BBC3 for axing its best sitcom by far. The only consolation for Pulling's few but devoted fans is a one-hour special to wind up the chaotic stories of our three flatmates and their shoddy boyfriends. As we rejoin them, Donna (co-writer Sharon Horgan) is in an uneven relationship with a yuppie who pretends she's an escort, while Karen (Tanya Franks) is in an even worse set-up, baking pies for a selfish, classically male monster. It's so bad she's stopped wearing make-up. From there, a disastrous plot unfolds. Billy (Paul Kaye) reappears in all his raddled glory and sweet-talks Karen ("You, me, alcohol, narcotics - the old team?") while Karl's return from Italy rocks Donna. The mutual bafflement of the sexes is as richly hilarious as ever. Say goodbye to the blackest, filthiest unromantic comedy you could hope for.

Sharon Horgan's Pulling power

BBC Three is scrapping Sharon Horgan's critically lauded sitcom Pulling, but America, it seems, wants more of her.

Filthier than Ray Mears' armpits after a week swamp snorkelling, the sailor's vocabulary peppered throughout the fractured romance between Stephen Mangan and Sharon Horgan has kept sappiness at bay. There is some affection in here somewhere, but thankfully it's been buried under a barrage of cynicism and damaged personalities, which is such a change from the usual romantic comedy. And there's certainly nothing usual about Anthony Head's wedding in this series closer, where he's all set to marry a high-class hooker...

A reasonably tittersome sitcom that has largely kept its head above water thanks to some good performances from the leads (although Sharon Horgan irritates me intensely and I can't work out why). But the real star of the show has been Anthony Head as slimy agency boss Stephen, who manages to do sleazy better than any other actor on TV. It's no Peep Show - nor is it in the same league as The IT Crowd - but, Free Agents hasn't been dreadful, and a second series would be welcome.