Boy Meets Girl

Series finale of the sitcom about a transgender woman's romance with a younger man. Judy (Rebecca Root) and Leo (Harry Hepple) are getting married in the morning, which means mild family ructions - Janine Duvitski excels as Judy's annoying mum - and easily resolved church-on-time panics before the couple walk down the aisle. Buoyed by deserved audience goodwill, Boy Meets Girl amiably gets away with a script full of creaking, textbook jokes.

It feels like only yesterday that Boy Meets Girl returned, but sadly this week sees the final two episodes of what has been a brilliant second series play out, but not before a stag do, a hen party and a wedding. Tony and Pam fear that the stag and hen parties, organised by James and Jackie respectively, may not be very classy affairs. Whilst James' Polish trip doesn't go entirely according to plan, Judy's hen night gets hijacked by a petty (and surprisingly messy) row between Pam and Anji. It's a night full of surprises, especially when James can't resist blabbing about a recent sexual encounter. In the final episode, Peggy's boiler bursts the night before Leo and Judy's wedding. It's a disaster! But Pam comes to the rescue, insisting that the Arkleys move in with the Macdonalds for the night. Pam soon regrets her generous offer though when Jackie and Peggy make themselves a little too much at home. The following morning all seems well until a freak accident results in a seething Pam stuck in A&E, a distraught Peggy locked in a bathroom and a desperate Leo waiting at the church for his absent bride. Is this the end of the road for the happy couple?

The gentle sitcom about an age-gap romance between Leo and transgender fiance Judy trundles on. This week, Judy's friend Charlie finds himself without a place to stay, so Pam lets him in - a decision she soon comes to regret. Elsewhere, Peggy begins planning a Christmas-themed wedding for the couple and Anji has some surprising news for James. Good-natured stuff, but a sitcom this groundbreaking in terms of theme could be a little less predictable in content.

Boy Meets Girl was hailed, in its first series, as groundbreaking - as indeed it was, being the first mainstream UK programme, let alone comedy, to feature transgender people with any degree of prominence. The standout Rebecca Root still intrigues, her relationship with Leo endangered now not by prejudice but by his imminent job in London (in Geordieland this is somehow still perceived as gilded cobbles rather than the ceaseless throb of a larger, twisted normality). There's a resolution, of sorts, thanks to difficulties involving the mother (the increasingly splendid Janine Duvitski, now much older than Abigail's Party, still as magnetising). The problem is that it's not very, if at all, funny. A sitcom without the com is simply a sit. And the sit, in these lovely enlightened days, is not that interesting.

Boy Meets Girl review

Yes, it's groundbreaking, but it's also a jarringly traditional sitcom.

When this romcom about a man falling for a transgender woman first arrived, it was all a bit controversial.

What a thoroughly modern love story, and hip hip hooray to the BBC we thought as we applauded trans actress Rebecca Root for her lead role.

Now, of course, as Judy (Root) and Leo (Harry Hepple) return for a second series, the controversy has gone but we can still enjoy this wonderfully sweet comedy drama.

The plot hardly rattles along, in fact it pootles, with perhaps the odd skip. But that's fine. Not everything we watch should require an emergency manicure the next day.

As we rejoin Judy and Leo, they are in love, totally committed and making plans for a future together. But, plot twist alert, Leo has been offered a new job.

Good salary, pension, five weeks holiday. Perfect?

No, it's in London, a fair few miles from their Newcastle home. Well, we needed some kind of spanner in the works to keep us interested.

"It will be ok, we'll see each other every weekend," says Leo. Oh right, because that always goes without a hitch in sitcoms.

Meanwhile, Harry's mum Pam (Denise Welch) decides to join Judy's mum Peggy (Janine Duvitski) at a transgender support group, but is horrified when someone asks how long she's been living as a woman.

"It's the butch haircut and the way you walk," explains Peggy, helpful as ever.

And elsewhere, Anji is alarmed to discover the salon has rats. But there's a silver lining for Jackie, who takes a shine to the pest controller.

A welcome return for the cockle-warming comedy, with Judy and Leo attempting to get on with being in love while their families can't help sticking their oars in. As is customary in sitcoms set in the north, Leo gets offered a job in London, which is a cue for much pained decision-making. Meanwhile, Pam plays the stereotypical enthusiastic mother with gusto as she heads to a trans support group. Lovely stuff; Rebecca Root's laidback delivery makes Judy shine.

Boy Meets Girl season 2 episode 1 review

All things being done, this is a triumphant return for Boy Meets Girl. The charm and heart-warming nature of the first year is still present. The first season had education and acceptance very much at its core and thankfully, this second run looks set to carry on that theme.

Boy Meets Girl: A welcome return?

It's almost as if they didn't have any ideas and instead have given us a lot of well-worn cliches instead. The long distance job offer, the creation of a new business and a secret relationship are all well-worn comic tropes and Boy Meets Girl doesn't seem to what to do anything particularly new with any of them.