Simon Carlyle

Two Doors Down: Doon Mackichan steals the show

Doon Mackichan steals the show in this Burns Night horror.

BBC Two's Two Doors Down has it all. Wit, delight, long awkward silences, burps, bacon-farts. Writers Gregor Sharp and Simon Carlyle have encapsulated a satellite Scottish suburb with joy and finesse: it's crude but it's loving. Most characters are normal. Two are accidental monsters. Cathy (Doon Mackichan) and Christine (Elaine C Smith) dominate every social interaction with that sublime lack of tact that just makes you want to cheer and then put a drunken gun to your head and pull the trigger. Lovely to see Maurice Roëves back.

Boy Meets Girl started life as the winning script in a competition to find a comedy that portrayed transgender characters in a positive light. The majority of the press I'd read about Boy Meets Girl focused on the casting of real life transgender actress Rebecca Root and how groundbreaking the show was fore featuring her in a prominent role. So I was more than surprised to learn that Boy Meets Girl was rather a traditional romantic comedy that used Root's Judy's gender transition to explain why she's been so lonely for most of her life. Creator Elliott Kerrigan and co-writer Simon Carlyle made sure that Judy and her love interest Leo (Harry Hemple) both felt like well-rounded characters and by the end of the first episode I felt I'd got to know them sufficiently well. Crucially both Judy and Leo were likeable and relatable characters whose romance made sense despite the fact that she was significantly older than him. Any of the scenes in which these two characters were on screen together were incredibly warm with the majority of the comedy stemming for realistic situations. Both Hemple and Root were brilliant in portraying Leo and Judy as lonely characters who were looking for love and who had seemingly found it with one another. If Boy Meets Girl does have any negative qualities then its in the supporting characters most notably Leo's annoying brother James (Jonny Dixon) and his overbearing mother Pam (Denise Welch). However I feel that Kerrigan and Carlyle have time to let us get to know these characters a little more as the series progresses and I'm not going to judge his presentation of secondary characters too harshly in an opening instalment that had plenty of plot to whiz through. When it's at its best Boy Meets Girl evokes memories of Gavin and Stacey and whilst Kerrigan's comedy may not be as laugh-out-loud funny as that comedy classic its certainly as warm and genuine. I'm just hoping that Boy Meets Girl gets better as it goes on as after episode one I already think it might be one of my comedies of the year.

Boy Meets Girl: The story so far

Here we are making Boy Meets Girl the series. It's a pleasure to be co-writing the scripts with Simon Carlyle - his experience and Midas touch is going to turn the scripts into something special.

Two Doors Down was a one-off comedy drama centred around a Hogmanay party in a lower-middle-class Scottish cul-de-sac, which highlighted the many dangers of mixing alcohol and neighbours.

There was absolutely nothing new about the set-up or surprising about how the story developed, but the first-rate cast delivered some excellent dialogue, there were several memorable slapstick moments and you were left with the distinct impression that writer Simon Carlyle held his assortment of borderline-grotesque characters in great affection.

Simon Carlyle - comedy writer's star keeps rising

The idea of writing an Abigail's Party-like comedy set at New Year in Scotland sounds as inviting as your granny's soup, steak pie and black bun. And writer Simon Carlyle was perfectly placed to come up with the BBC drama, Two Doors Down.

Staying in on New Year's Eve when you'd rather be out? Comfort comes in the form of Simon Carlyle's one-off comedy, which demonstrates that Hogmanay parties aren't all prawn rings, soft light and witty banter. Alex Norton and Arabella Weir star as hosts Eric and Beth, who are hoping that their son Angus, serving in Iraq, will be home in time for a slice of Beth's legendary steak pie.

Their guests are friends and neighbours who wouldn't be an obvious social fit: Beth's sister Caroline (Daniela Nardini) is unpredictable, and teenager Sophie (Sharon Rooney) has been left at home by her parents. There's also a pair each of snobs and Norwegians, ill-suited in their own ways to traditional Scottish revelry. Will they all make it through to the bells?