Tamsin Greig

I feel pathetic for thinking how nice it is that Matt LeBlanc has deigned to star in the British sitcom Episodes (BBC Two, Friday). I suppose he's not exactly slumming it, giving that it is a big-budget, joint British and American production, written by David Crane, the co-creator of Friends. And the first series won LeBlanc a Golden Globe. But still.

LeBlanc plays an insensitive, sexually rampant, self-absorbed version of himself, who comes between a British husband and wife (Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig) by sleeping with the wife. It's play-within-a-play stuff, or rather sitcom-within-a-sitcom, a bit like Extras. It also represents something of a mini-genre in which stars play versions of themselves, such as Larry David in the glorious Curb Your Enthusiasm.

The first episode of this second series of Episodes got off to a slightly wobbly start with a gratuitous scene in which LeBlanc was given hand relief by a blind woman in a screening room. Sub-American Pie that, I thought. But it had its moments. I even laughed out loud at one point when LeBlanc began smiling during a telling off from his former mate Mangan. "I miss this," he said... Perhaps you had to be there. My favourite line though was this from a TV executive: "No one cares about TV reviews. They hate most of the crap we've got on the air and people still watch it."

Episodes combined sadness, comedy and sexual compulsion

Episodes returned with another round of sterling performances from Matt LeBlanc, Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan in an episode that was pleasingly full of shock and upset.

The transatlantic sitcom of Brit writers transposed to LA returns. It's four months since Beverley (Tamsin Greig) slept with Matt LeBlanc, and she's now separated from husband and co-writer Sean (Stephen Mangan). Meantime, with their comedy Pucks! about to debut on US TV (sample review from the critics: "Pucks! sucks"), all three have to work together. If the first series was uneven, there's plenty to suggest its successor will be more consistent.

"What is a blimey?" That was arguably the best gag in series one of this Anglo-American culture-clash sitcom, which has now been sold to 186 countries.

The big attraction must be seeing Matt LeBlanc playing a crasser version of himself, because if you thought series one got off to an unpromising start, series two gets under way with even less verve.

After ending up in bed with LeBlanc, Beverly (Tamsin Greig) is now living apart from her husband and writing partner Sean (Stephen Mangan), but they're forced to remain in LA to work together on Pucks! their hit British sitcom that has been twisted beyond all recognition into a US remake.

But the problems carried over from series one aren't just in the on-screen marriage.

Mangan and Greig are still hog-tied by a script (written by Americans) that doesn't play to their comedy strengths, while all the sex scenes just come off as crude instead of funny.

Hopes were high for the first series of Episodes. Combining a writer and a star from Friends (David Crane and Matt LeBlanc) with Britain's finest (Tamsin Greig and Stephen Mangan) for a comedy about a writing duo whose sitcom is remade in Hollywood seemed like bankable comedy gold. Then the first episode aired and it wasn't even comedy silver or comedy bronze, more comedy pig-iron - a wobbly, ill-paced clunker.

But if you gave up, you gave up too soon. Halfway through, the series flipped. As it became less about fish-out-of-water jokes and more about sex, drugs, love triangles and car crashes, it came good. It became the clever, filthy, self-lacerating show we'd hoped for, even if the ratings didn't soar.

Thankfully, it's back. Four months after Matt (LeBlanc) so disastrously slept with Beverly (Greig), Pucks! (the show-within-the-show) is about to get its network premiere, but for its writers, all is not well.

The first series of this US TV industry satire starring Tamsin Greig, Matt LeBlanc and Stephen Mangan eventually found a groove after an awkward start, so it's good to see it back. By the end of this smartly scripted opener, the ratings are in for Sean and Beverly's Pucks!, the sitcom-within-a-sitcom that has LeBlanc gloriously miscast as an exaggerated version of himself. Good or bad, they won't help the rift caused by LeBlanc bedding Beverly last season.

As Episodes returns, we begin with a blast of shadow sitcom Pucks!. It's everything this mannered, tasteful show isn't - crass, clichéd, in thrall to a laughter track and utterly unconcerned by its own superfluity. Episodes has the opposite problem; it's stylish and smart, but too self-conscious to really zing. Still, Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig are excellent as Sean and Bev, the English scriptwriters struggling with Hollywood banality; living apart but working together, they are a study in frosty cordiality. Matt LeBlanc's 'Matt LeBlanc' remains a blithe, selfish, strangely likeable idiot version of himself. And - coming as the ultimate mixed blessing - the Pucks! ratings are good. So the exquisite torment of a career in mainstream US TV continues...

The first series ended with a fight involving Matt LeBlanc's self-titled cologne, a lampshade and the immortal line "He hit me with a cactus!" - tonight Episodes is back. Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig's marriage is on the rocks after the latter's indiscretions and John Pankow's morose TV exec Merc is still stealing scenes, but as ever it's Matt LeBlanc's odorously smug, well-endowed pastiche of himself that makes it. One of the best BBC comedies in ages.

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.

Tamsin Greig: Kissing LeBlanc was technical operation

Episodes star Tamsin Greig talks to Metro about canoodling with Matt LeBlanc, what inspired her to become an actor and the worst job she's ever had.