Catastrophe

Catastrophe is an essentially sympathetic sitcom that clearly wants us to root for the characters rather than despise or pity them, as was the case with many of the comedies that followed The Office a decade or so ago. I'm not sure that this and Detectorists, however brilliant, are enough to signify a trend -- but, if so, this might explain why Peep Show, despite being pretty brilliant itself, is increasingly feeling like a programme from another era.

With Sharon having kicked Rob out after he came clean about what happened at work with the flirty French woman, the second series of Horgan and Delaney's sitcom sees the pair thrown into a simulacrum of their dysfunctional single lives of about three years ago. Rob Delaney might be a capable foil, but Sharon Horgan is the real draw here; in her namesake she has created one of the most self-possessed, aspirational and intentionally funny women on television since Elaine in Seinfeld.