Sue Perkins

Heading Out saw Sue Perkins provide the only laughs

Heading Out's premise was difficult to buy into, but Sue Perkins saved the day with her brilliant delivery.

Sue Perkins writes and stars in her first sitcom, playing a vet whose parents don't know she's gay. It's her 40th birthday and her friends have got her a surprise. It's a nice break from the whimsy-strewn stuff that passes for sitcom these days; it's full of actual gags and Perkins's extensive comedy vocabulary always throws up a surprising word when a less inventive one would do. "Your cat is essentially a windsock," she tells one distraught pet-owner who won't accept it's gone. Hugely likable.

Sue Perkins: I play a lesbian but it's not a gay sitcom

Sue insists that the series, which starts tonight on BBC2 at 10pm, is not a "gay sitcom".

Sue Perkins has been conspicuously absent from recent British cake bakes.

Now we know why - she's been busy writing and starring in this vet-based sitcom about the anxieties of 39-year-old gay vet Sara trying and failing to come out to her parents.

After a dodgy start - cat lovers beware - things perk up when Perkins's priceless comedy pals, including Dominic Coleman, Joanna Scanlan and Mark Heap, provide light relief from Sara's perplexing love life.

It's part of Sue Perkins's comic persona that behind the narrowed eyes and serrated wit lies, you can't help feeling, a thoroughly decent sort. Comedy and niceness aren't always bedfellows, but Perkins's stock as a presenter and quiz-show panellist could hardly be higher.

What we have here is more of a gamble: her first sitcom, her first series as a writer and her first venture into out-and-out acting. She plays Sara, a slightly hopeless vet who's turning 40 and still hasn't told her parents she's gay. A key early scene involves a phone call from her mother (Harriet Walter) where Sara finds herself improvising wildly about a fictional boyfriend, a French prosthetics salesman ("Legs mainly, artificial legs...").

This is someone who feels endlessly awkward, or worse: "I feel shame all the time. It's like ivy creeping round me," she tells her best friend. But is that curable? Finding out initially involves a 40th birthday party, a game of netball and a dead cat.

The recent death of Richard Briers drew attention to how wretched much of the BBC's mainstream sitcom output has become. Heading Out isn't going to reverse this downward slide, but if this opener to Sue Perkins's series is a little light on laughs, it's still sharply observed and amiably performed. Perkins, in particular, is unrecognisable from her hyper-irritating turns on Supersizers.

She plays Sara, a vet grappling with the prospect of coming out to her parents as she turns 40: animals, sexuality, family, age... Classic sitcom themes all, but the vaguely autobiographical nature of Heading Out gives it a little extra frisson. The physical comedy of the set-piece netball match is awkwardly staged and among a generally strong supporting cast, Joanna Scanlan's Miriam Margolyes impression seems to come from a different show entirely. Otherwise, a promising start.

It took me a couple of attempts, I'm slightly embarrassed to admit, but I finally managed to get past the dead cat gag at the start of BBC2's new series Heading Out (sorry to sound such a wuss, but things like that really upset me) and get through to the end of my preview copy.

I'm glad I did, too, because this Sue Perkins sitcom, where the Bake Off host plays a 40-year-old vet who still hasn't told her parents she's gay, had me laughing out loud more than once. It had me laughing out loud twice, if you must know, but that's still way above my average.

Sue Perkins: how I came out to my parents

The writer/star of new BBC2 sitcom Heading Out reveals that she is not the inspiration behind her character's story.

Comedian, Maestro winner, Celebrity Big Brother housemate, Great British Bake Off presenter and possible future Doctor Who, Sue Perkins has somehow managed to neglect writing and starring in her very own sitcom until now.

Here she plays Sara, a vet who's too afraid to tell her parents she's gay. But as her 40th birthday approaches, Sara's loyal band of friends, which includes Nicola Walker from Spooks, have a plan to give her the courage to tell her folks.

Perhaps they could show them the spread from Tatler magazine that hailed Sue as one of Britain's coolest lesbians.

Some exciting guests are lined up for the series including Dawn French and Sue's comedy partner Mel Giedroyc. Tonight the fabulous Mark Heap drops in.

Sue Perkins has become one of the faces of BBC Two in recent years, presenting all maner of food and pop-historical programming. Now she returns to her comic roots in this self-written sitcom, starring as Sara, a successful female vet about to turn 40 - but still frightened to tell her parents (Jeff Rawle and Harriet Walter) that she's gay. Her motley gang of friends set an ultimatum: if Sara fails to reveal her sexuality within six weeks, they will. To make matters even more chaotic, they arrange for her to attend a series of sessions with an eccentric life coach.

In her acting debut, Perkins is likeably beleaguered and sardonic, while there's a strong supporting cast of Nicola Walker (Spooks, Last Tango in Halifax), Dominic Coleman (Miranda), Shelley Conn (Mistresses) and Joanna Scanlan (The Thick of It, Getting On) - not to mention lots of four-legged extras. Guest stars also pop up throughout the six-part run, including June Brown, Steve Pemberton, Mark Heap, Dawn French and Perkins's Great British Bake Off co-host and original comedy partner Mel Giedroyc[/o]. Pitched somewhere between the slapstick Miranda and the sardonic Grandma's House, it's a highly promising, enjoyably daft opener.