Do Not Disturb

A consciously old-fashioned comedy one-off, with Catherine Tate and Miles Jupp as a couple whose stay in a honeymoon suite might save their marriage, if only ludicrous circumstance doesn't nobble them. There's quality throughout the cast, with Steve Edge and Car Share's Sian Gibson as the hotel staff, but farce is hard to write and this script falls well short. The pace doesn't gather, nothing anyone does is plausible, and the dialogue is littered with dead lines. Cringeworthy, in the wrong way.

Catherine Tate stars in this one-off comedy about an estranged married couple trying to rekindle their love after the trauma of an affair.

Anna (Catherine Tate) checks into a lovely old hotel in Stratford upon Avon for what she hopes will be a peaceful weekend but it seems the old town has been invaded by stag parties. There are medical students in Shakespearean garb vomiting into plant pots and clutching their hungover heads and groaning at the mini-bar bill which is full of drinks and Chunky Kit Kats. The town has clearly slipped into decay. In the old days the worst thing you'd see would be "method actors rehearsing for Coriolanus." Now it looks like Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday night.

And the hotel room doesn't offer much hope of romance. You could sleep in the same bed once occupied by Shakespeare, Anna is told, even though it was recently ordered from DFS.

Miles Jupp plays her estranged husband and they try to claw back some passion even though Anna suspects her husband might prefer Newsnight to sex.

Do Not Disturb review

Do Not Disturb is a perfectly serviceable hour of television, reasonably diverting, reasonably entertaining. But as a one-off you might expect something more of a landmark offering. In truth is you'd be better off with almost any episode of Frasier, for those guys REALLY know how to do great farce.

Radio Times review

This one-off looks good on paper. The idea of Catherine Tate and Miles Jupp as a married couple in a saucy farce should work, and the best scenes are when they spark off each other. ("I like sex! Is that so bad?" she cries; he says he does too, and she corrects: "I think you prefer Newsnight...")

They split up because she had an affair, but reunite by accident at the honeymoon suite booked for their tenth anniversary, because neither could bear to waste the deposit. From there, a heavy-handed script trades on crossed wires and coincidences involving escorts, a stag night and people not finishing their sentences.