Stephen Mangan

We recommend: Episodes

Matt LeBlanc's performance, self-deprecating without being cartoonish, was a highlight, and he's still on good form. Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig are more comfortable in their parts, finally, and there's some fun with TV reviews that may or may not be a jab at the response to Episodes itself.

It was a slight surprise whenthis transatlantic sitcom was recommissioned for a second series. It had a clever enough concept. British screenwriters Sean and Beverly Lincoln (Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig) were excited to see their successful television show snapped up to be remade for an American audience. However, their Hollywood dream turned sour when their subtle comedy about a boarding school headmaster, Lyman's Boys, was turned into a brash sitcom about an ice hockey coach called Pucks!, a vehicle for former Friends star Matt LeBlanc (playing an exaggerated version of himself).

It was smartly written and beautifully played but not the broadest of subjects, perhaps too knowingly in-jokey, and duly saw its audience fall to just over one million. Still, critical acclaim and the calibre of its stars has seen Episodes return for another run. It's four months later and Bev's still separated from Sean after her fling with Matt. The two men's friendship also seems unsalvageable. However, when Pucks! gets its premiere on US TV, the tense trio must find a way of working together. With genuine laughs, bittersweet moments and two rather rude scenes, Episodes might now be hitting its stride.

Video: Stephen Mangan on the real Matt LeBlanc

Actor Stephen Mangan has told BBC Breakfast he expected his Episodes co-star Matt LeBlanc to be a "monster" but he insists Matt LeBlanc is "really nice".

Former Friends actor LeBlanc is back for a second season as himself in the TV series alongside Mangan and Tamsin Greig.

Mangan says it is hard to tell the actor apart from the character in the show, especially with the insights from former friends writer David Crane - who now writes for Episodes.

Matt LeBlanc: F*** all that, I'm having a good time

Digital Spy caught up with Matt LeBlanc to talk about season two of Episodes, letting go of Friends and putting salami in Stephen Mangan's scripts.

Did you stick with the first series of this show-within-a-show starring Matt LeBlanc, Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan? No, neither did I, although apparently it got better. This is the second season and it begins with the "prem-eer", as the Americans would have it, of Pucks! amid all the off-screen drama of Bev (Greig) having bonked the big US star. Sean (Mangan) reads out the first-night reviews, typical of which is: "I was totally prepared to hate Pucks! Well, the good news is I was prepared." That's pretty funny, as is "Pucks! sucks. LeBlanc shoots le blank", so maybe Episodes doesn't suck after all. Then the ratings come in: they're great. "No 1 show of the night," smirks LeBlanc. "This is gonna kill Schwimmer." But can the husband-and-wife writing team continue on a business-only footing?

We feel that this US/UK comedy-drama got a bit of an unfair reception first time round - it may have taken a little while, but Episodes grew more confident as it went on, and by the time the first series ended, it was firing on all cylinders. We're certainly glad to see it back - series two picks up four months after Beverly (Tamsin Greig) slept with Matt LeBlanc (the man himself) and that fight. Pucks is about to launch on US TV, but relations are frosty between the show's star and its creators. Will Matt's particular brand of charm win Beverly and Sean (Stephen Mangan) round?

Did you stick with the first series of this show-within-a-show starring Matt LeBlanc, Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan? No, neither did I, although apparently it got better. This is the second season and it begins with the "prem-eer", as the Americans would have it, of Pucks! amid all the off-screen drama of Bev (Greig) having bonked the big US star. Sean (Mangan) reads out the first-night reviews, typical of which is: "I was totally prepared to hate Pucks! Well, the good news is I was prepared." That's pretty funny, as is "Pucks! sucks. LeBlanc shoots le blank", so maybe Episodes doesn't suck after all. Then the ratings come in: they're great. "No 1 show of the night," smirks LeBlanc. "This is gonna kill Schwimmer." But can the husband-and-wife writing team continue on a business-only footing?

Episodes cast interview

Friends and Joey star Matt LeBlanc, Dirk Gently's Stephen Mangan and White Heat's Tamsin Greig are back for a second series of the Brits-in-Hollywood sitcom Episodes.

Now in its 43rd series, amazingly, little has changed since Have I Got News For You was forced to ditch scandal-hit Angus Deayton as host for the successful but problematic "guest host" format. The thinking is that HIGNFY is kept fresh by having different celebs hosting the show every week, Saturday Night Live-style, and that's true to an extent-but it also means you have boring "safe pair of hands" episodes (here Stephen Mangan, usually Alexander Armstrong) more than the truly memorable hosts (like Boris Johnson or Bruce Forsyth). It also irritates me that the show still keeps in the "mistakes" a guest hosts make during the live recording, as if it's still a novelty having a "non-professional" sitting in the hot-seat and a fluffing a line or two. Isn't this the accepted format of the show now? Why are the still showing us what amounts to bloopers in the show itself?

HIGNFY is still incredibly popular and remains an entertaining watch, but I find myself wishing it would be overhauled. Ian Hislop and Paul Merton have been team captains for so long their shtick is fairly predictable, especially in the latter's case with his surreal meanderings. But more worrying than that, if we're honest HIGNFY is a much less perceptive satirical show than its reputation has us believe. If you note the type of jokes that are made off-the-cuff, or the writers have scripted for the guest host to read off the autocue, the majority of them are silly jibes about a particular famous person's public persona or physical looks. (Politician Eric Pickles is a particular target these days, just because he's fat. I guess Pickles is John Prescott's replacement because they've had the ex-Deputy PM on the show and now we know he's actually a straight-thinking and amusing man.)

Obviously not every joke can be a vividly perceptive gem that tackles the hot issues of the day in a fresh way, but I get the feeling that HIGNFY has less and less to say of real merit these days. It's like everyone who appears on it just follows the pattern they've seen play out hundreds of times, afraid or just unable to take the show down a different path. Why not alter some of the rounds, ditch some of the weaker ones, or bring in a few new ideas? For instance, why is there still a "guest publication" in the Missing Words round? Wasn't that a one-series joke that never got retired? Its weekly inclusion just removes the opportunity for a politically-based joke when the missing word has something to do with a niche topic like raisins instead of something topical and of public interest.

It just feels like HIGNFY could do with a facelift, because it's been around for so long that viewers find it comforting (some people have never known a world without HIGNFY, remember!), and treat it with a reverence it perhaps doesn't deserve anymore. It probably helps that there's no admirable challenger out there, with Channel 4's disappointing 10 O'Clock Live and Adrian Chiles' That Sunday Night Show its closest competitors. In comparison to both, HIGNFY remains genius.

If you were thinking Friday nights had become a little joyless lately, here's good news. The best panel shows around are back to make BBC1's end-of-week comedy desert bloom again.

Unbelievably, this is the 43rd series of Have I Got News for You sifting current events or, put another way, the 364th episode - and so far Ian Hislop hasn't missed one. He'll be renewing hostilities against Paul Merton here, with likeable wit Stephen Mangan in the chair as guest host (coming later in the series: Alastair Campbell!)