Stephen Mangan

Dragons! Goblins! Lizard men! Ogres! Harpies! Mermen! Succubi! Just some of the suggestions tossed desperately around a TV network brainstorming session when LA studio boss Merc casts around for ideas. It's a lovely scene that, like so much of the Hollywood material in Episodes, has just enough plausibility, not least because you can imagine that the show's writers - including David Crane of Friends - have been around the studio block enough times to have seen this sort of scattershot creativity with their own eyes.

Meanwhile, on the romantic side of the comedy, our separated writers try to cope with the fact that one of them is now dating, allowing Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan to squirm with awkwardness as only they know how.

Stephen Mangan talks pregnancy in new stage role

Stephen Mangan's latest stage role on stage casts him as a man awaiting the birth of his second child. But this is a pregnancy with a twist.

The penultimate episode of this sparkling comedy about two scriptwriters navigating the moron-infested waters of Hollywood. The day doesn't get off to a good start for Matt LeBlanc (playing an exaggerated version of himself) when he wakes up in bed with his stalker Labia (Sophie Rundle). But it's nothing compared to the awkwardness felt between Sean (Stephen Mangan) and Beverly (Tamsin Greig) in the wake of Beverly's date with Rob (James Purefoy).

Stephen Mangan talks about his parents dying of cancer

Stephen Mangan, 39, has appeared in TV comedies Green Wing, Dirk Gently and now Episodes. He talks openly about his experiences of losing first his mother and then his father to cancer.

Stephen Mangan: Motherhood is no laughing matter

Stephen Mangan tells Dominic Cavendish of the 'exhausting' business of giving birth in his new play Birthday at the Royal Court.

In a nice reversal of standard Hollywood sexism, tonight's slice of this enjoyable, postmodern sitcom, sees leading-man Matt (Matt LeBlanc) under pressure for piling on the pounds. The network bosses want writers Beverly (Tamsin Greig) and Sean (Stephen Mangan) to have a quiet word ("we need hot Matt, not fat Matt"). Matt takes it predictably poorly. Beverly meanwhile has issues of her own. She's off on her first date in a decade and needs some reassurance. Carol (Kathleen Rose Perkins) steps in. "They're going to give you alcohol. They're going to give you food. In two hours you're done. It's like a flight to Omaha."

Oh dear, it's really not a good day for Matt LeBlanc in tonight's episode of the critically acclaimed comedy, in which he plays an exaggerated version of his real-life self. His role in sitcom Pucks! is drastically reduced to make way for some younger, hotter, more popular talent. How will writers Sean (Stephen Mangan) and Beverly (Tamsin Grieg) break the news to him?

Pucks! takes a time out tonight when news breaks that Merc's father has died, furnishing the writers of Episodes with all the tragicomic potential of a funeral. As with so much of this series, it's a qualified success, as a procession of competitive mourning techniques (muffin basket? charity donation?) open up further faultlines in Sean and Bev's moribund relationship. Stephen Mangan, Tamsin Greig and Matt LeBlanc are now displaying the sort of relaxed chemistry that only comes with time, and the latter struts off with most of the best lines (the less politically correct, the better). But the attempts at pathos fall flat - these characters haven't done enough to earn our sympathy yet. And why sideline Daisy Haggard, whose formidable arsenal of disgusted expressions was such a pleasure in Series 1?

The satire isn't always subtle, but there's still much to enjoy in this British-led LA-based sitcom. It's the Americans who provide most of the laughs. Tonight, network head Merc Lapidus's (John Pankow) father dies, prompting a flurry of competitive condolence gifts ("a turkey the size of a Prius") that leave Brits Beverly (Tamsin Greig) and Sean (Stephen Mangan) utterly bewildered. Matt (Matt LeBlanc), meanwhile, is nervous about attending the funeral. He's having an affair with Merc's blind wife ("it's good, you don't have to suck in your gut").