Tamsin Greig

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.

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.

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.

Episodes actress Tamsin Greig has revealed why she has given up on Hollywood - she looks too old.

The 45-year-old star of movie Tamara Drewe told how in LA women are not expected to grow old gracefully. She said: "I know I don't fit in LA because I look my age."

She revealed that she would not be tempted to go under the knife and is happy to "look pretty horrendous" when the part calls for it.